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Тут лежат тропы, для которых есть или хотя бы предполагаются русские аналоги. Будут переводится в первую очередь.


  • Автомат фон Неймана — Агатины «диньботы», которые умеют конструировать других диньботов и затем толпой ремонтировать большие механизмы. Правда, каждое следующее поколение проще предыдущего, и где-то на третьем-четвёртом перестают размножаться.
  • Безумные оружейники — состоят на службе у любой мало-мальски знатной и влиятельной Искры. Да и сами влиятельные Искры нередко воплощают собой троп с педалью в асфальт.
  • Диссонирующее спокойствие — мало что может заставить Хиггса сменить его постное выражение лица.
  • Засадный полк — механизированные цирковые фургончики, окружившие солдат Вульфенбаха, окруживших Агату и её друзей. Барону ещё повезло, что Агата не успела достроить городосносящую карусель…
    • Педаль в пол — сам Клаус Вульфенбах умудрился под прикрытием якобы «неудачного» штурма привести и спрятать посреди окружающей Механиксбург равнины целую армию. Причём отдельные подразделения этой армии за считанные дни подтянулись аж от самой Турции. И всё это в режиме полной секретности.
  • Заявленная слабость — Виолетта считается неумелым дымчатым рыцарем, а Ардсли Вустер — неудачливым и бесталанным шпионом. Вот только эти двое сражаются бок о бок с Агатой, демонстрируя в самых опасных ситуациях нехилое мастерство выживания и применения разнообразных навыков.
  • Злая королева — Альбия, правящая Англией из находящегося под водой (аки Ото-Гунга) Лондона уже третье столетие по всем правилам Тёмного Властелина. Предположительно является одной из самых сильных (если не сильнейшей) из известных Искр на планете.
  • Из пушки по воробьям — принцип мышления всех Искр. Они даже письма писать не могут.
  • Концепция изменилась — супруги как-то признавались в интервью, что Гил изначально должен был быть злодеем.
  • Крутой авиатор\Лётчик-ас — Гильгамеш фон Вульфенбах и Аксель Хиггс.
  • Крутой генерал — Ягер-генерал Гкика, да и вообще все Ягер-генералы.
  • Народный герой — Парни-Гетеродины. Педаль в пол — они стали народными героями при жизни. Их бывший подручный Клаус Вульфенбах очень не любит читать книжонки об их подвигах — его там форменным идиотом выставляют.
    • Отар Тригвассен, авантюрист и джентльмен. В том смысле, что народу его геройства нравятся.
  • Помыли и одели — протагонистке на протяжении комикса приходится не раз представать перед знатными особами и, соответственно, не раз переодеваться. Где-то троп играется прямо, где-то — фансервиса ради.
  • Первый гражданин — Клаус фон Вульфенбах, диктатор всей Восточной Европы, носит скромный титул барона.
    • По мнению Мартеллия, назвался бы Клаус Императором — знать бы стала в очередь выстраиваться за вступление в его Империю, вместо того, чтобы пытаться его скинуть.
  • Проклятое золото — амулет Агаты. Молох фон Цинцер постоянно жалеет, что они украли этот чёртов амулет, его брат Омар пожалеть вообще не успел… но больше всего пожалело Иное, когда надело.
  • Раскрыть тайну усыновления — инверсия с Гилом. Большую часть детства был уверен, что он лишь один из многих способных сирот, которых Клаус приютил в замке по доброте душевной. Когда внезапно выяснил, что он законный наследник Вульфенбаха, предсказуемо впал в ГЭС.
  • Усики самоуверенного юнца — самая, наверное, опасная деталь внешности, страшнее красной рубашки. Живут одну-две сцены.
  • Языковых барьеров не существует — оправдывается тем, что Агата (и предположительно, все остальные персонажи) знает все сколь-нибудь распространённые в Европе языки. По крайней мере, немецкий, румынский и венгерский (официальные языки империи Вульфенбаха). Судя по парижской арке — ещё и французский. В новеллизации упоминается, что все уважающие себя учёные владеют латынью, (древне)греческим и немецким, а также английским (языком торговли) и французским (языком дипломатии). В дополнение к этому, некоторые направления в математике удобнее всего обсуждать на арабском, а русский всегда хорош «для посмеяться». Агата свободно владеет всеми перечисленными языками.

Посмотреч/Упоминания

  • Аналогия подвела — Когда ягер Огги вконец достал своего праправнука Рассказчика вопросами о том, почему тот не женат, Рассказчик в сердцах ляпнул: «Я женюсь, когда ты найдёшь Гетеродинов!» (От всех, кто женщиной рождён). Огги уже заранее радуется прапраправнукам…
  • Антивосставательная фича — Агата получает такую во время плена для предотвращения побега. Фича не сработала: Агата ведь тоже искра.
  • Архитектурная доминанта — замок Гетеродин доминирует властвует и унижает над Механиксбургом. Замок Вульфенбах умудряется делать то же самое, будучи циклопическим дирижаблем, ибо постоянно окружён роем цеппелинов помельче. Доминирует везде, куда бы ни прилетел. И не только архитектурно.
  • Бакенбарды крутизны — Мартеллий фон Блитценгаард, Король Бурь.
  • Барашки и овечки — подсвечена игра слов. Когда Агате докладывают, что на крепость движется осадный баран (Осадный таран), она (и читатель) ожидает стенобитное орудие, а уж никак не генномодифицированного мериноса величиной с мумака, который пытается рогами вышибить ворота.
  • Безумные оружейники — как ни удивительно, ближе к аверсии, или как минимум спорный случай. Конечно, в этом мире много шизотеха, включая боевые машины и прочую военную технику. Но с другой стороны — как раз к оружию как таковому это относится в наименьшей степени: мы видим вполне обычные мечи, ружья/пушки, ну максимум лучи смерти (Агата побегала немного с супер-дезинтегратором, но он как раз блестящее супероружие и не особо-то и безумен). Иногда они выглядят довольно вычурно, но на фоне прочих искровых творений не очень-то впечатляют. Если и встречаются отдельные образчики, достойные статьи — то мимоходом и не влияя на сюжет.
  • Бета-пара — шоу внутри шоу, а именно — «Гетеродинские истории». Практически все народно-инородные баяны-бабаяны заканчиваются, после всех приключений, свадьбой Билла на Лукреции и Барри — на «Верховной Жрице, кем бы она ни была в этой истории», дежурном, так сказать, компоненте бета-пары, «приправе по вкусу и по сезону». Агата, устраивая для ширнармасс шоу с гигантскими изображениями отца, дяди и матери, грамотно укомплектовала бета-пару в меру своего художественного вкуса, дабы польстить всем стереотипам.
  • Война в городе — попытка захватить Механиксбург со стороны всех кому не лень. Сперва жители города прячутся и бьют из-за угла, но затем Агата и её команда приводят Замок в норму и горе-завоеватели полностью осознают, что такое злонамеренная архитектура, которая способна мыслить и действовать.
  • Война и апокалипсис — суперзлодей(ка) Иное устраивает в Европе зомби-апокалипсис, а местные князьки знай грызутся между собой. После того, как Иное приструнили братья Гетеродины, а Клаус Вульфенбах навёл в Европе порядок единственным понятным Искранутой знати способом, это всё притихло, но после временно́й самозаморозки Клауса всё мало того, что пошло по-новой — сама эта заморозка вызвала пришествие ещё каких-то новых ктулху из четвёртого измерения.
  • Воздушный авианосец: Замок Вульфенбах — дирижабль-город размером больше километра, способен базировать на борту другие дирижабли (в том числе те, которые сами несут эскарду летающих дронов) для ремонта и заправки, а также в качестве челноков, потому что сам никогда не приземляется. Единственный в сеттинге самолёт также стартует с Замка.
  • Волшебный водоём — именно это из себя представляла река Дин, будучи ключом и вытекающим из него ручьём, который убивал или превращал в сверхсильных монстров всех, кто в него окунался. По крайней мере, до тех пор пока первый из Гетеродинов не решил выпить воды из него, выжил, и построил на месте источника свой замок (а один из его потомков расширил источник, сделав ручей рекой). Теперь вся «волшебность» забирается замком на свои нужды, и из него вытекает уже просто вода.+колодец памяти Альбии.
  • Все женщины — распутницы — ну не то что бы совсем все, но это явно норма в суровом мире сумрачной науки. При этом проклятье вынужденного воздержания бедняжкам довлеет не на шутку — у них же приключения, им толком перепихнуться некогда. Даже если голый Гильгамеш уже мысленно перед глазами плавает. Про Скифандрийский Матриархат вообще не говорим — единственная известная его представительница, узнав про Зум-Зумский марафон «налить в одну чашку из 50 чайников» (организованный невинного вида хрупкой брюнеточкой), не упала с отвалом челюсти, а просто похихикала и рассказала, что у них тоже «весёлые праздники».
  • Гигантская женщина — вульфенбаховские конструкты Пантагрюэлла (Грита) и Сьюза, дуэт гигантской и крошечной девушек. У одной соразмерная силища, вторая пролезет везде, где её надо и особенно где её совсем не надо.
  • Два тебя — суперзлодейка Иное занимается перезаписью своей личности в головы подходящих носителей (включая собственную дочь, по совместительству главную героиню). Технический вариант: оказавшись в двух телах, перво-наперво визжит от восторга в два голоса и обнимается сама с собой, а потом рассуждает в стиле «Эта я помню важные факты, надо рассказать их остальным себе, а потом моя жизнь станет не такой важной». Да, она вполне может пожертвовать собой ради самого дорогого ей человека — ради самой себя.
  • Декольте до пупка — Агата ненадолго появляется в почти расстегнутой белой рубашке, на которой видно ее обширное декольте, когда она просыпается после событий в Штурмхальтене.
  • Диссонирующее спокойствие — Барри во флэшбеках отличается спокойствием каменной глыбы в стрессовых ситуациях. Хотя чего у него там в душе́ творится на самом деле — одно Иное знает.
    • Как минимум в прологе первой книги — он жутко напряжён и с огромным трудом удерживает себя в руках, понимая, что если потерявшего жену и ребёнка Билла переклинит — Барри не сможет его остановить. Но держится, да.
  • Жертва моды — зигзаг с Агатой Гетеродин. Тут даже можно сказать, что «Мода является жертвой Гетеродинки». Но и самой Агате проблемы это приносит.
  • Закон Осмозиса Джонса: аверсия, внесюжетная история про Ласковую Королеву (хитрый хорёк) — о соблюдении закона в отношении кота Кроспа позаботился безумный учёный Дмитрий Вапнупл, но главная героиня напомнила ему о его происхождении, заставив рефлекторно схватить верёвочку, как это сделал бы любой кот. Такой оплеухи его самолюбие давненько не получало…
  • Извращенец — это смешно — эпизодически упомянутый Искра-аристократ герцог Д’Ома. «Его вкусы в плане женщин были… странными. Ему повезло, что он, при всём таланте, одну себе всё-таки смог сделать. Не известно никаких его потомков, кроме как сохраненных в банках с формалином». От последних слов веет также чёрным юмором с оттенками топлива ночного кошмара. Ибо неизвестность, как мы знаем…
  • Кризис веры:
«

О, да. Он вбил себе в голову, что силы небесные решились его покарать… Правда он так и не определился, за какой именно грех. На этой почве у него случился кризис веры. Ему не понравилось. Поэтому он разломал машину, и эти… кто бы они ни были… исчезли. А потом он откушал пирога. Конец кризиса. В ряде отношений хозяин был весьма прост.

»
— Гетеродины знают толк в сабже.
  • Левитация могущества — впоров волшебной водички, Агата включает режим левитирующей магички со светящимися глазами. Да-да, это хоть и «газоламповое», но фэнтези, а не стимпанк. И вокруг неё проблемы разрешаются чуть ли не взмахом руки. Собственно, как «Genius» она в этот момент в основном заканчивается, и дальше сюжет скачет в фэнтезийные дали.
  • Лизать нож — шутки ради. Ножи Дымчатых покрыты чем-то нервно-паралитическим и в микродозах не особо фатальным, потому что фраза «ты что, лизал ножи?» намекает на крайнюю упоро неадекватность поведения у вопрошаемого.
  • Лишние детали — Агата Гетеродин как-то чинила самолёт (уже падающий) отсоединением и выкидыванием буквально лишних деталей. Успешно.
  • Лови!: обнаружив себя в одной клетке с очень злой Гейстердамен, Агата метнула той в руки маленького клаца, который незамедлительно шарахнул гейстершу током.
  • Любовь мешает творчеству — Гил обвиняет Агату в этом после того, как она ломается из-за смертельной болезни Тарвека. Она удивительно сильная и умная сумасшедшая ученая, но так сильно беспокоится, что не может придумать изобретение, которое могло бы помочь.
  • Магический пейджер — медальон Зиты, повторяющий выражение её лица. Поначалу считали за визуальную шутку, ан нет, действительно копирует и может использоваться для передачи.
  • Метод утёнка — инверсия: взбешенная Агата орёт на Гила, перечисляя все свои проблемы: я, мол злобная искранутая девица с гиперболоидом, полным городом прислужников, ордой ягеров, замком, набитым всякой смертельно опасной хренью… и осознаёт, что это не так уж и плохо.
  • Многорукое существо — леди Стальноподвязкина, обладательница четырёх рук. У Бориса Долохова, советника Вульфенбаха — тоже четыре руки.
  • Небесный океан — троп используется с упоительнейшей наглостью. Впрочем, некоторая отмазка в сюжете есть: глазастые фанаты обнаружили на полках Вульфенбаховских складов аж кейворит! Ещё бы им не плавать в воздухе, с такой-то сумрачной наукой.
  • Некрасивых девушек не бывает — во всём комиксе есть полторы «пацанки», погрязшие в технике до потери женственности, но и те не относятся к «некрасивым». За весь комикс вспоминается только одна полная дамочка с вуалью, и та — застреленный выпирающий статист.
  • Неправильное применение флеботинума — способности Искр позволяют им при наличии знаний и инструментов делать с физикой вообще что угодно, но Искры в порыве вдохновения циклятся на пришедших им в голову идеях по поводу целей и форм реализации своего таланта. В результате они создают всяческий шизотех, и хорошо ещё, если этот шизотех — хотя бы оружие или транспорт, а то ведь могут и совершенную кофеварку на полном серьёзе собрать.
    • Чтобы были понятны масштабы: как-то раз Агата Гетеродин изрядно заработалась в лаборатории и забыла о еде. Ей принесли сэндвич, а потом ещё один. Из первого она сделала высококлассный конденсатор для очередной своей машины («Это всё горчица»), а второй пришпандорила к этой же машине, и он теперь зачитывает вслух из Кристофера Марлоу («Я всё же использовал отборнейшее масло»).
  • Непреднамеренное совпадение — аристократ из стимпанкового мира летает на чудовищных размеров дирижабле и железной рукой усмиряет смутьянов, повстанцев и прочих леворюционеров, не считаясь ни с честью, ни с обычаями — лишь бы не нарушалась стабильность. В масштабах вселенной его титул не так уж велик, и уму, таланту и военной мощи нашего антизлодея (или всё же героя с плохой репутацией?) в нём заметно тесновато. Нестор дер Фунье, впоследствии Нестор Гуда из пановского «Герметикона» или барон Клаус Вульфенбах?
  • Нестандартная красота — матёрый рисовальщик женских фигур Фил Фольо/Фоглио даже откровенно упитанной главной героине придал такую стать, что в кругу фанатов практически нет разногласий насчёт её «каллипигической» задницы (ну, может, есть, но близки к единичным).
  • Отвлечь с помощью женщины — на Замке Вульфенбах Жульенна за кадром пытается провернуть это с охранником, а когда не получается, из уязвленной гордости просто вырубает его гаечным ключом по голове.
  • Подергунчики — Агата впорола могучего кофе и врубила режим кофеиновой белки. Вроде бы и вся такая положительная няшка, но когда она проходит стадию этого тропа (перед тем, как начать бегать и всё чинить) — народ аж с лица спал, потому что понять, что Искра в таком состоянии может выкинуть, нереально. И самое надёжное — отбежать метров на сто-двести и упасть ногами к эпицентру. К счастью, энергия пошла на мирные нужды — приготовление ещё более забористого кофе, который ей попробовать не дали, а то порвёт ещё хомячка на лоскуты.
  • Поезда — это круто! — единственная трансконтинентальная организация, которую никто не сломил, занимается именно этим. Вся безумная наука их ордена служит тому, чтобы поезд пришёл в назначенное время в назначенный пункт с назначенным грузом, зачастую — живым, причём вокруг много могущественных сил пытаются сделать его неживым. И он придёт.
  • Пополнять армию врагами — в Империи Клауса Вульфенбаха сдавшимся солдатам противника предлагают вступить в армию Империи или валить домой с месячным жалованием.
  • Поцелуй на удачу — когда Гил собирается выйти из условно (очень условно) безопасного замка и прорваться через битком набитый врагами город, его соперник в делах любовных Тарвек сам же просит Агату: «Дай ты парню мотив сражаться!» Поцелуй сработал как надо: окрылённый юноша мчался через город, круша всё и вся на своём пути.
  • Привязан к кровати — Мартеллий предусмотрительно оборудовал кровать в своей тайной лаборатории кандалами. Агату они задержали страницы на три, после чего в тех же цепях оказался уже сам Мартеллий. Тоже ненадолго.
  • Просвещенный деспот — барон Вульфенбах. Какие там у него отношения с искусством — неизвестно (вернее, известно, что ему не нравятся пьесы о Гетеродинах, в которых он сам обычно присутствует в роли разрядки смехом, но эти пьесы он не запрещал), но однозначно просвещённый: у других правителей-Искр в лучшем случае инженеры и исследователи-не-Искры на подхвате, а этот на своей передвижной базе устроил целый НИИ с участием множества Искр. И деспот тот ещё, конечно.
  • Сам себе парикмахер — комическая вставка, где Агата в пылу борьбы с непослушной торчащей прядкой хватается за ножницы и обчекрыживает себе макушку, после чего в панике майстрячит сумрачный прибор для выращивания волос обратно. Прибор сработал так хорошо, что отросшие бог знает на сколько метров волосы пришлось укорачивать уже садовыми ножницами.
  • Сверхвыносливость — героиня может приключаться неделями, отдыхая максимум в режиме «поспав на кулаке». Отъесться и отоспаться больше одного привала подряд она смогла разве что в бродячем цирке.
  • Сверхфункциональный протез/Искусственная конечность — в Сумрачной Европе подобные протезы настолько обычны, что персонажи (в отличие от читателей) на них и внимания-то не обращают.
  • Сверхчувствительные чувства: супер-нюх — стандартная фишка ягермонстров.
  • Сёма, шоб ты сдох! — Я спасу вас обоих, не сомневайтесь, — взволнованным шепотом обещает Агата в очередной раз рискнувшим жизнью ради неё Гилу и Тарвеку, обнимая парней. А потом продолжает на полной громкости, ухватив их за воротники: — А ПОТОМ Я ВАС ПРИБЬЮ!
  • Сильнее, чем кажется — что сами Искры, в состоянии сверхконцентрации тягающие туда-сюда центнерные детали и швыряющиеся вражескими боевыми роботами, что их разнообразные конструкты (в первую очередь — ягермонстры, хотя самые сильные ягеры — самые большие и брутальные, кроме авиатора Хиггса и леди Йенки, конечно).
  • Сладкоежка — не оставляйте Зиту рядом с тортиком, если не хотите, чтобы в ней проснулась бездонная и бессовестная обжора! А учитывая, что она молниеносная смертоносная неудержимая амазонка, анекдотическая фраза «когда я ем, я глух и нем, хитёр и быстр и дьявольски умён» — как раз про этот случай.
  • Смертоносный врач — доктор Сан. Доктор сказал: «Постельный режим» — значит постельный режим! А если пациент добра не понимает и пытается сбежать из больницы на войнушку на боевом роботе, то доктор разломает робота голыми руками и всё равно заставит соблюдать постельный режим!
  • Смешное событие на фоне — несколько раз, например.
  • Со второго взгляда/У меня есть Х? — Агата Гетеродин: «У меня есть Дипломатический корпус?»
  • Страшный медведь/Героический медведь — ягерша Йенка везде берёт своего ягер-мишку.
  • Стимпанковские развлечения — цирк мастера Пейна. После двухлетнего таймскипа стал ещё более стимпанковским, крутым и «Агатоцентричным».
  • Такой серьёзный, что уже смешно — вечно невозмутимый авиатор (и Ягер-генерал) Хиггс. Например, когда с совершенно серьёзным и торжественным видом надевает своему начальнику совершенно смехотворную шляпу (без оной Гильгамеша не признают). Из-за этого моменты, когда он всё же теряет эту свою невозмутимость, смешны вдвойне.
  • Технократия: альтернативная история, где миром правят Искры — люди, способные к сверхконцентрации на определённых задачах науки (или попросту, сумасшедшие учёные). Увы, большинство Искр специализируются в нескольких областях и чхать хотели на всё остальное (Жертва сверхспециализации), в том числе и здравый смысл, так что данный мир представляет собой не очень-то уютное место. Поскольку сюжет идёт по нарастающей, самые могучие Искры уже давно перешагнули Третий закон Кларка и творят уже какую-то сумеречную техномагию.
  • Толпа с вилами — толпа с вилами просто-таки бич всякой начинающей Искры не из династий. А для особо одиозных династий типа Гетеродинов (которые даже в среде психопатов и отморозков имеют дурную славу), судя по флэшбэкам стандартной процедуры вступления на престол очередного наследника — любимое развлечение. Пошумят, пар спустят и разойдутся, а из окна посмотреть забавно.
  • Убийство любовного соперника — не то что бы Сеффи не готова была ради своей любви идти по трупам, отнюдь. Но она понимает всё, что написано в теле статьи и план у неё намного более рабочий: нейтрализовать конкурентку при помощи парня, который её отобьёт! Получается троп Дорисовать до квадрата, который по суть есть вариант этого на тормозах. Ведь когда гипотенуза уходит к четвёртой точке, вожделенный катет не только освобождается, но и может возненавидеть гипотенузу, выбравшую не его! Не в пример решению а-ля пещерный человек с дубинкой, это имеет шансы сработать.
    • В своей ситуации-то она до квадрата может и дорисовала, но тут может получиться еще один треугольник из Агаты, Тарвека и Мартеллия. Политика, дело такое…
  • Убодритель: Искры и без стимуляторов — личности, мягко говоря, увлекающиеся, а тут Агата впервые в жизни попробовала кофе… Прежде чем её отпустило, успела задавить харизмой всю кофейню и собрать супермегакофейный автомат, готовящий идеальный кофе. После которого всё кажется идеальным (Пивной балдёж). Впрочем, от этого был и плюс — все свидетели сразу поверили, что она настоящая Гетеродин.
  • Унылое разоблачение: кто такой авиатор Хиггс, флегматичный и нечеловечески живучий? Фанаты думали на Короля Бурь Андроника Валуа, отвергая более очевидный вариант: что он — ягергенерал, с которым Агату не познакомили. Ну да, это оказался ягергенерал, отвечающий за разведку и контрразведку в армии Гетеродинов (но не мутировавший с возрастом, как остальные, и потому имеющий человеческую внешность и лишённый йагерскава аксценту). А Король Бурь — это совсем другой персонаж.
  • Фамильяр — в принципе, Кроспа вполне можно записать в фамильяры Агаты. А уж хорёк-осоед и вовсе подходит на все сто! Хотя вообще-то формально это Агата — вассал Кроспа.
  • Херой — бессмертный, бессменный, бессовестный Отар Тригвассен, Авантюрист и Джентльмен. Сумасшедший тип, вообразивший себя героем и постоянно ставящий, что характерно, настоящим героям палки в колеса. При этом от долбанутого норвежца очень трудно избавиться: он пережил падение с дирижабля и многочисленные ранения и не собирается умирать. Точнее, определённый список геройств у Отара действительно есть. Только вот, когда вы узнаете его получше, вам захочется выбросить его в окно.
    • И кстати, кто это тут настоящий герой?
  • Шрифт характеристики — речь Замка Гетеродин выделяется не шрифтом, а уникальной формой пузырей (прямоугольники со скруглёнными углами и сдвинутой двойной рамкой, с неправильными фигурами по краям). Искры не отстают — в сумеречном состоянии плывут границы пузырей. Также свой стиль пузырей как минимум у ягеров, Франца и Зверя (угловатая линия вместо ровной, пока Зверь был полноценным поездом, углы были намного острее), муз (скруглённая прямоугольная рамка, у сломанных — условно овальная из прямых углов, с осыпающимися прямоугольниками), и дрин (ягеровская угловатая линия, но двойная рамка и собственный шрифт).
  • Это часть представления — инверсия: Агата в самом деле выступает в шоу. И её грозный глас, изображающий страшную Монгфиш (а именно — «На колени, жалкие приспешники!») — это всего лишь её слова по сценарию. …И с чего это зрительный зал в полном составе рухнул на колени? Неужели актёрская игра так тронула? Или Агате пора заподозрить, что с ней самой что-то нечисто?
    • Зигзаг в Париже: раскрытие древних тайн, убийства, массовые разрушения? Это будет бал десятилетия!
  • Эффект Ворфа — как прямо заметил один из читателей: «Бедная Зита служит индикатором крутости для всех, кому не лень. Надо показать, что Барон — очень крутой фехтун? Пущай легко зафехтует Зиту. Надо показать, что Зола — опасная штучка? Нннаа Зите мечом в живот. Надо показать, что Гейстердамы правда опасны? Нннаа Зите пяткой в нос»…
  • Эхо могущества — Муза Времени говорит и так зловеще, а тут ещё и эхо. А самые мурашки побежали по спине, когда Ван Рейн заговорил в ответ и понял, что от его-то слов никакого эха нет!
  • Я этого не делал: Мартеллий фон Блицгаард уверил аббата, что он не посылал Сельникову проникнуть в святилище ордена и разбудить древнее чудище Гетеродинов. «… но идея отличная!»

Лиса/Упоминания

  • Гидравлическая единица власти — пол-Механиксбурга, в том числе сам замок, и то «пол-» только потому что весь — было бы слишком однообразно и поэтому скучно, так что плющилки перемежаются ямами, сверхбыстрым цементом, боевыми роботами и прочими увеселениями семейства самых маньячных Искр Европы. Когда его наконец удаётся починить и зарядить, замок за несколько минут разбирается со всей находившийся в его пределах враждебной армией, в том числе этим образом — раздавив отряд «ударников» (самоходных буквальных танков с боксёрской перчаткой наверху, заполненных какой-то зелёной жижей вокруг пилота).
    • И весь Париж, но он больше по энергиям.
  • Грандиозное зимнее платье — в рождественской главе Агата, Тарвек и Джил одеты в рождественские платья, отделанные мехом, а над их головами парит дингбот, несущий омелу.
  • Нельзя просто так взять и… — негласный девиз абсолютно всех Искр. Одна из страниц вообще посвящена тому, что Агата не может просто взять и послать своему другу письмо, ей обязательно надо выдумывать всякие переусложнённые агрегаты.
  • Падение равносильно смерти — Агата ногами добивала лежачую полуобморочную Гайстердаму, и это даже не тянет на «я хорошая, мне всё можно» — обычный прагматичный боец.
  • Папа римский — далеко не главный, но показательный вотэтоповорот истории этого мира: в римские папы умудрился избраться Жан Кальвин. И вообще, католицизм то ли раскололся, то ли реформировался по модели православия, но папских престолов в Европе не меньше семи: упомянуты, собственно, римский, авиньонский и белфастский.
  • Боевой монах — служащий белфастскому папскому престолу (в сеттинге авиньонский раскол со времнем только усугублялся и ко временам событий конкурирующих папских престолов семь) Орден Корбеттитов, монахов-железнодорожников, имеющих свои железнодорожные войска.
  • Был когда-то человеком — все ягермонстры, боевые конструкты князей Гетеродинов, некода были человеческими слугами князей, которых те превратили в чудовищ с помощью своей безумной науки.
  • Ваша мерзость — самый зловещий представитель злодейского клана безумных учёных, властелинчиков и Тёмных Властелинов Гетеродинов был известен как Влад Богохульник.
  • Великолепный мерзавец:
    • Барон Клаус Вульфенбах. Начинал как простой трансильванский барон, вассал вконец тёмновластелинской династии секейских князей Гетеродинов, однако после таинственного исчезновения своих сеньоров неожиданно обнаружил себя сильнейшим феодалом в княжестве, захватил власть в Трансильвании и в ходе ряда завоевательных кампаний объединил «железом и кровью» земли Восточной и Центральной Европы, создав на их территории огромную империю, порядок на территории которой он поддерживал железной рукой (в чём ему здорово помогали пошедшие ему на службу после исчезновения Гетеродлинов ягермонстры — суперсолдаты трансильванских князей). По мелочи — занимался жестокими экспериментами над людьми (например, вырезал кусочки мозга у Искр, чтобы понять, где именно в мозге находится «искранутость», и довырезал как минимум одного до полной идиотии) и держал ручную шарашку из пленных Искр.
    • Князь Мартеллий фон Блицгаард — формально один из вассалов Вульфенбаха, на деле — один из главных его конкурентов в деле объединения Европы под своим флагом. Будучи изначально одной из ключевых фигур в тайном обществе Рыцарей Юпитера (заговоре потомков династии Валуа), Мартеллий смог интригами пробиться сначала в самые перспективные кандидаты на титул Короля-Бури, положив в процессе кучу народу, а потом и короноваться в таком качестве, но амбиции Мартеллия не останавливаются на этом и сейчас он планирует породниться с чудесно обретшейся наследницей Гетеродинов, желая создать династию, которая будет править панъевропейской империей от Бреста до Константинополя. Согласие самой наследницы при этом абсолютно не обязательно.
  • Вор — Виолетта формально не воровка, а Дымчатый Рыцарь (мокрушница на службе у местных масонов), но специализируется именно на отвлечении внимания и ловкости рук: злодею, держащему нож у горла заложника, достаточно на секунду отвести взгляд, чтобы Виолетта подменила нож в его руке безобидным цветочком. А самого заложника — соломенным чучелом или дымовой гранатой.
  • Все это время он был мёртв — Аневка Штурмфораус. После несчастного случая её тело было сильно повреждено и лежало в капсуле с системой поддержания жизни. К капсуле был подключён робот-аватар (точнее, «клац» — местный аналог робота), через которого Аневка взаимодействовала с миром. Но помаленьку личность Аневки отпечатывалась на роботе, и тот всё больше и больше обретал собственное сознание и чувства. В результате Аневка стала конгломератом двух своих тел — биологического и механического, и её сознание было распределено между ними. А потом за некоторое время до событий комикса биологическое тело Аневки умерло, но она даже не заметила этого. В результате то, что исходная Аневка Штурмфораус уже мертва, оказалось сюрпризом для всех, кроме её брата.
  • Замена огнестрела — вообще рядовые солдаты враждующих армий вооружены вполне узнаваемыми револьверами, пулеметами и винтовками со скользящим затвором, и даже ОБЧР таскают с собой автопушки, похожие на «Пом-пом»[1]. Но вот техномаги-Искры используют всякие энергетические вундерваффен вроде тесла-пушек или лучей смерти.
  • Злобный белый — гейстердамен, приспешницы Иного, имеют вид зловещих белесых женских фигур.
  • Злодейская организация — Рыцари Юпитера. Учитывая чёрно-чёрный конфликт, превалирующий в сеттинге, не особо злее той же Восточноевропейской Империи Вульфенбаха, просто хотят заменить власть одного Тёмного Властелина (собственно, барона фон Вульфенбаха) на власть другого (Короля-Бури, на чьё место в рядах Рыцарей имеется много претендентов из числа многочисленных наследников династии Валуа).
  • Злодейский розовый — Зола, фальшивая Гетеродинка и впоследствии (вероятно) Королева Зари. Появляется в сюжете не то что в розовом платье — на розовом дирижабле, старается вести себя как эталонная «девочка-девочка» или как «дева в беде», но под этой личиной прячется та ещё расчётливая тварь и садистка. И вломить трем Искрам или боевым конструктам одновременно, будучи обычной, просто хорошо подготовленной девушкой, она может.
  • Империя зла — империя Гетеродинов во всех её ипостасях. К счастью, никогда не существовала слишком долго — всякий раз, когда Гетеродины захватывали пол-Европы, оставшиеся пол-Европы объединялись и гнали без меры агрессивных князьков обратно на их историческую родину в Трансильванию. На момент событий комикса как империя, так и сам род лежит в руинах, зато свою Восточноевропейскую Империю приблизительно в тех же границах построил вассал и ученик последних Гетеродинов Клаус фон Вульфенбах.
  • Мальчики бьют, девочки стреляют — сама Агата предпочитает разносить вражин из огромных энергетических орудий собственного производства (которые только она и может таскать), а вот её кавалеры Тарвек и Гил используют меч или кинжалы — впрочем, они тоже Искры, так что и пострелять не против.
  • Не магия — тут это называется Искра. Обладатели Искры в Средние Века были аналогами колдунов и волшебников, но на момент действия комикса (конец XIX века) переквалифицировались в безумных учёных. Могут создавать разумных сущесв, как роботов-клацев, так и биологических конструктов, создавать самые разные устройства на экзотических источниках энергии, поднимать в воздух целые города или взрывать горы… Технологии Владыки Парижа, древнего киборга, который превратил весь город в один подконтрольный ему механизм, вообще крайне похожи на магию места. А там ещё и Альбия есть…
  • Непростые головорезы — в армии любой уважающей себя Искры помимо обычных бойцов есть отряды боевых клацов (на местном сленге — роботов) или конструктов (на местном сленге — мутантов или трансгенов). Наиболее колоритные — оркоподобные боевые конструкты Гетеродинов ягермонстры. Также стоит отметить Дымчатых Рыцарей — вооружённое крыло местных масонов из Ордена Юпитера, члены которого могут на равных противостоять боевым конструктам и клацам, а особо борзые — и Искрам (Зола, не являясь ни конструктом, ни Искрой смогла доставить тонны проблем героям, среди которых были три Искры и несколько профессиональных бойцов, в том числе ягеров).
  • Преторианцы — у каждой Искры должен быть какой-нибудь отряд личной гвардии (желательно, чтобы это были суперсолдаты), хотя бы на случай возникновения ситуаций, в которые рискованно впутывать обычную армию. У Гетеродинов (и империи Вульфенбахов) на этой роли были подразделения Ягермонстров — оркоподобных боевых конструктов Гетеродинов, бессмертных и отличавшихся фанатичной верностью своим создателям — собственно, Вульфенбаху ягеры стали служить лишь потому, что тот был вассалом Гетеродинов, чей род, как тогда считалось, прервался, а как только у них объявилась живая наследница, ягеры быстро перешли на её сторону.
  • Руританская Империя — Восточноевропейская Империя Клауса барона фон Вульфенбаха, редкий пример версии с упором исключительно на центральноевропейские мотивы, причём не славянские. Действие первых томов комикса развивается в ее метрополии, на землях Трансильвании, показанной как страна немецкой культуры (владение Гетеродинов, например называется Механиксбург, даром что по сюжету они венгры, а у многих персонажей немецкие или псевдонемецкие имена, например, Марселлий фон Блиценгард или Молох фон Цинцер) с небольшой примесью собственно восточноевропейского колорита (имена вроде Аневка Штурмфораус или Зуленна Лужакна, прародитель Гетеродинов был мадьярским ханом). Полуфеодальный строй и дикие и суровые дворяне, некоторые из которых расстреливают не угодивших их вкусам театральных артистов из личного пулемёта, прилагаются. Архитектура и костюмы также соответствуют, скорее, центральной Европе (как оно и должно быть).
  • Скрытое оскорбление — в замке Гетеродинов Агата во время поисков потайной комнаты рассуждает вслух: «Попробуем думать как жестокий, параноидальный, безнравственный маньяк с манией величия». После чего спрашивает у Тарвека, как бы он устроил вход в потайное помещение. Тот с легкостью открывает проход в комнату… и только потом понимает, что его только что оскорбили.
  • Тайная полиция — обыгрывается юмористически. Один из старых Гетеродинов не хотел, чтобы городская стража «мозолила ему глаза», и создал тайную полицию. «Обычные люди не могут их видеть. Даже не могут помнить, что они существуют, дольше пары минут». Увы, юмор получился чёрным: почти все стражники от такой жизни «посходили с ума, или померли, или исчезли».
  • Техномагия — Искра. Это нечто вроде интуитивного понимания законов мироздания, сопряжённого с возможностью сверхконцентрации ресурсов организма на поставленной задаче. В результате в мире конца девятнадцатого века в ходу роботы и плазменные пушки, что, впрочем, не мешает вооружать роботов картечницами, а плазменные пушки ставить на паровые бронепоезда.
  • Тёмная техника — Механиксбург, столица князей Гетеродинов, особенно давно заброшенный на момент начала комикса городской замок. Пожалуй, одна из самых зловеще-атмосферных локаций всего комикса, наполненная безумными роботами, смертельными ловушками и остатками свихнувшегося ИИ, обожающего играть с гостями в жестокие игры, обыкновенно оканчивающиеся их смертью. В итоге усилиями Агаты приводится в исходный работоспособный вид и переходит в её пользование, но менее злобным от этого не становится.
  • Умереть с улыбкой — Ларс, прикрывший собой главгероиню Агату от удара, умирает улыбаясь.+радуется тому, что он, простой парень, стал частью легенды о Гетеродинах
  • Фанат ножей — Дымчатые Рыцари, боевое крыло Ордена Юпитера, кинжалы любят и ценят: прошедший подготовку Дымчатого Рыцаря спутник Агаты Тарвек фон Штурмфораус прекрасно ими владеет. А вот его друг Гильгамеш фон Вульфенбах предпочитает более габаритное клинковое оружие.
  • Феодалы-самодуры — все Искры, по определению. В среде этих абсолютно аморальных феодалов-техномагов каждый второй — полное чудовище, ворующее людей на жестокие опыты, охотящееся на собственных крестьян ради забавы и развлекающееся пытками.
  • Adapted Out: (Не вошедший в адаптацию персонаж) Happens a few times in the video game:
    • Airman Higgs is never even mentioned.
    • Although mention is made of the existence of other prisoners, only Sanaa, Moloch, and Merlot are ever seen.
    • Lucrezia’s scenes are cut entirely; the character is largely discussed in the past tense.
  • Aerith and Bob: (Разностилица имён)
    • The list of Heterodyne names in the crypt includes Caligula, the Red Heterodyne, the Black Heterodyne, Mordred, Oxalof, Ominox and Bob.
    • The world is full of people with weird names like Gilgamesh, Moloch, and Theopholous living right alongside people with ordinary names like Bill, Barry, and Agatha; no one comments on it or seems to consider it odd. Nor is there any reason they should do so: in the real-life 18th century, you could find such names as Hieronymous and Cloudesley alongside John or Peter.
    • In a side-story: Flopsy, Mopsy, and Nietzsche.
    • Lampshaded:
«

Moloch: 'S wrong with my name? My mother picked it out of the whachamacalit — the Bible. Repairman: Um— Did she read it? Moloch: Nah. I had eight brothers. Nobody had time for stuff like that on the farm. Repairman: Oh, yeah. That's pretty common.

»
  • After Action Patch Up: (Перевязка ран после битвы) After the fight with Dr. Merlot, Zola leaps to provide this for Gil. Да и Ягеры его не просто так к Гкике водили.
  • A.I. Is a Crapshoot: (ИИ — это рискованно) Castle Heterodyne. Although it’s arguably a subversion: since the guy who built it was an evil psychotic maniac, it’s actually working pretty much exactly as designed. (Когда замок распался из-за атаки, получилось, что защитные системы с ИИ не пускают «вторженцев» как раз в те места, которые надо починить, чтоб подключить их к основному мозгу.) Agatha’s own little «dingbots» are a straighter case, since they’ve sometimes stopped listening to her. Judging from the background events, it seems a frequent problem that Sparks can’t build anything without it going haywire.+зверь
  • Almost Kiss: (Прерванный поцелуй)
    • Between Bill Heterodyne and the storyteller’s self-insert character in the «Fan Fiction» side-story. The interruption comes from the listeners objecting.
    • Argh! Damn you, Merlot! The page is even called «Smoochus Interruptus».
    • Between Agatha and Tarvek twice. Self-interrupted by Tarvek when he realises that it’s because Lucrezia-in-Agatha is messing with him, and then by both participants.
  • Altar Diplomacy: (Политическая свадьба) Sparks are often aristocrats in addition to their mad science gifts, which makes marriage and romance even more complicated.
    • Agatha’s confirmed status as the long-lost heir to the house of Heterodyne means that not only do Gil (the heir to the Wulfenbach empire) and Tarvek (a direct descendant of the legendary Storm King) have romantic reasons to want to marry her, they have pretty compelling political motivations as well, as do other power players like Tarvek’s cousin Martellus, who goes so far as to kidnap Agatha as part of his master plan to join their houses and ascend to power in Europa.
    • As Violetta points out, though, Gil and Agatha would be problematic in terms of getting married, because Agatha would have to give up much of her power and they would have to be careful in terms of the proposal, while Tarvek is much more at Agatha’s level politically and is a skilled manipulater and can craft treaties.
    • Hoffmann, a student at the University of Paris, proposed an alliance between two underground kingdoms, ending generations of war. Afterwards, he learns that as an adopted son of the Talpini Moligarchy he was the one who would marry the princess of the Arguron kingdom (after all, the Talpini themselves aren’t even human). The Arguron princess, meanwhile, is attracted to Hoffman, but thinks it’s doomed because she’s agreed to this political marriage…
    • In the backstory, Storm King Andronicus Valois married Euphrosynia Heterodyne, daughter of Clemethious Heterodyne and sister of Bludtharst Heterodyne, as part of a treaty ending the war between the Heterodynes and the Coalition of the West. However, Andronicus vanished from history soon after without leaving a legitimate heir, throwing Europa into disarray once more as the noble families began vying for his throne.

Hogfarb’s Resplendent Immolation or Vericus Pantiliax’s Chromatic Death (вымышленная болезнь)


  • Amazon Brigade: (Бригада амазонок)
    • Bangladesh DuPree’s pirate crew is entirely female. Confirmed in the novels.
    • Geisterdamen (spider-riding, at that).
    • Zeetha’s mysterious tribe. Lots of Amazons.
    • Same goes for Heliolux Airship Fleet’s flagship crew. Which is a communication and traffic control unit, so not directly involved in combat, although the white-red uniformed Commander remarks that they’ll miss the fighting. On the next page she shouts to the entering Jäger that they’re non-combatants. It’s pointed out that although the Heliolux ships are mainly used for long-range communication, at close range the high-intensity light beams they use can also melt people and buildings.
    • The Devil Dolls, a foot soldier unit in the Wulfenbach army that are comprised of what is likely a series of female constructs of some sort that look somewhat like female tin soldiers, and were likely absorbed from the force remnants of some other spark that the Baron defeated. They’re seen running from a monstrosity that came out of the ground when Castle Heterodyne really lets loose. They were likely a competent force against the general foes the Empire faced, but seriously… The Castle. Two are later seen on a guard detail on Castle Wulfenbach after the Time Skip, so they’re still around.
  • Amazon Chaser: (Любит сильных женщин)
    • All the Jägers want Von Pinn due to her tough-as-nails nature.
    • Higgs is a literal case.
    • Baron Klaus Wulfenbach aka Chump to Queen Zantabraxas of Skifander (все женщины-искры пытались меня убить).
  • And I Must Scream: (Но я должен кричать)
    • The «squirrel».
    • The copy of Lucrezia stuck inside Zola.
    • Agatha when Lucrezia is in control.
    • Lucrezia when Agatha is in control.
    • Implied here.
  • Another Dimension: (Иерархия миров) The Geisterdamen describe themselves as being from one; Skifander just might be from one; and the Things that peer in on the time-stopped Mechanicsburg seem to inhabit one — or more.
  • Anyone Can Die: (Умереть может каждый) This is part of the charm of the comic. A lot of characters are introduced and later killed off, sometimes very quickly. Having a name does not protect you. It’s actually kind of refreshing in a high fantasy adventure work like this.
  • Appeal to Force: (По праву сильного) The principle by which Baron Wulfenbach rules Europa despite being a mere Baron — he has the most powerful military (including an entire fleet of airships, the alleigance of the Jagers and Dreen among other deadly creatures, and a host of destructive technology captured from defeated Sparks) so nobody in Europa can oppose him. He’s a very benvolent tyrant who rules by only two rules: anyone who finds anything relating to The Other must turn it over to him immediately, and «Don’t make me come over there» (i.e «do what you want as long as you don’t start a war»). But when you cross him, he will kick your ass.
  • Aristocrats Are Evil: (Загнивающая аристократия)
    • While most aristocrats are evil to some degree (also being Mad Scientists and all), the Lords and Ladies of House Heterodyne took the cake for much of history. Almost every Heterodyne was a Card-Carrying Villain. Inverted with the current Lady Heterodyne and her father.
    • ZigZagged in the person of Baron Klaus Wulfenbach. He is a brutal tyrant who obtained his empire on no other legal principle than having the biggest army and is apparently willing to kill his best friend’s daughter for being a threat to his kingdom’s stability, but in a textbook example of The Extremist Was Right, he also managed to maintain the rule of law over most of Europe for almost two decades and keep the common folk of his lands largely protected. He also provided his lands with a wide variety of communication and public works services, and kept The Other at bay. Finally, he does genuinely appear to love his son and apparently greatly misses his wife. Two and a half years after the Baron is incapacitated, his reign is described as «seeming like some lost Golden Age».
    • Played completely straight with the Knights of Jove and the Fifty Families, who were the older noble and royal families that ruled before the Baron took charge. They’re all stuck scheming to take power and backstabbing their allies in ther bids to crown themselves the lone Storm King of all Europa, and their main objection to the Baron’s dictatorship is simply that he’s not a royal. The immediate relatives of Tarvek Sturmvoraus, the lone White Sheep (albiet an Anti-Hero) of these families, serves as a good sample: his father Aaronev Wilhelm kidnapped children to help the Other return, his sister Anevka was a homicidal maniac, and his older cousin Martellus tried killing him and kidnapping Agatha to be his bride.
  • Armor-Piercing Question: (Бронебойный вопрос)
    • Attempted by Gil when he suggests Agatha could already be under the Other’s control without realizing it. Averted when she just spits a Shut Up, Hannibal! retort right back at him.
    • Othar gives one to Agatha early on:
«

Othar: See? That’s why partners shouldn’t keep secrets from one another! Agatha: I don’t. Not from my real partners. Othar: Oh? So these players know who you are? [Beat] Agatha: No. No they don’t.

»
  • Krosp asks why Martellus is trying to become Storm King when he already has a pretty decent smaller kingdom of beasts. The Storm King may be more prestigious, but none of the nobles will give a damn when he dies. He and his sparky beast subjects already have mutual loyalty to one another. Does he really want to risk the subjects that actually like him for a bigger crown?
«

Klaus: Do you know that every single woman I’ve ever known who had the spark has tried to kill me? They’re dangerous! Gil: Father, maybe it’s you. Klaus is startled speechless for two beat panels Klaus: No… No, I don’t think so…

»
  • Ascended Fanon: (Просочиться в канон) In universe, about Von Pinn really being Lucrezia Mongfish.
  • Attack! Attack… Retreat! Retreat!: (Тактическое отступление/А где бабуля?) Among the illustrations for The WORKS card game, there is a panel where Agatha is fleeing from three murderous constructs. Next panel, the constructs are fleeing from Agatha, now armed with a Death Ray.
    • In this strip, some of Agathas friends initially rush towards an unknown threat, assuming that whatever comes their way should make for some great entertainment note . The very next panel, the group is seen fleeing from a group of Dreen.
  • Author Appeal: (Авторский набор штампов/Ради фишки)
    • Phil Foglio is well-known (unabashedly so) for drawing his female characters with rather large «assets». But it’s his wife (and co-author) who loves to get Agatha into the «lacy underthings». She’s a big fan of Victorian-era undergarments.
    • Not to mention paper dolls.
    • There’s also the matter of all the handsome shirtless men running around. Which leads into «Who thought having TWO boyfriends was a good idea!?» The Cheshire Cat Grin says it all.
    • Phil admits the only reason the Jägers became recurring characters is because he really likes drawing them.
  • Author Avatar: (Аватара автора) The creators, Phil and Kaja, are both apparently natives of the story’s world who, it would seem, will eventually meet, marry, publish a… controversial account of Agatha’s deeds, and flee into our world with it to continue it safe from Agatha as a supposedly fictional comic. The avatar of one of the colorists, Cheyenne Wright, seems to be depicted as the King of the Silverlands.
  • Authority in Name Only(Зиц-председатель): Burgermeister Zurken of Mechanicsburg has no real influence on the town. He’s just there to make the Baron think the town’s behaving, and pretty much everyone knows it. Naturally, it turns out that Klaus has his suspicions, which are confirmed by the Storyteller.
  • Awesome, but Impractical: (Круто, но непрактично) Genetically engineering a super intelligent cat so that he can persuade other cats to act as spies, messengers, saboteurs, etc. Unfortunately cats have an attention span that measures in microseconds they’ll do what you want until they fall asleep or see something move.
    • Later averted, because some animals actually do listen…
  • Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: (И всё-таки они друг друга любят)
    • The love/hate relationship between Gil, Agatha, and Tarvek runs so deep that a list of specific examples would probably end up getting its own page.
    • Klaus and Gil, as well: when Klaus sends a small army to take him prisoner as all hell’s about to break loose in Mechanicsburg, Gil’s reaction is «he does care!». When he has to enslave Gil with his own personality to ensure the boy doesn’t do anything reckless, his expression tells how much he hates having to do it. Being on the brink of dying for having left the hospital during heavy attacks is only a very small bother for him once he sees Gil destroy a army of clanks singlehandly while declaring himself future ruler over the Empire, declaring it was worth it with pride written all over his face. And when Lucrecia gets the idea of simply using Gil for a «lovers reunion» between her and Klaus, the latter goes straight into Papa Wolf mode.
    • Tarvek, who has maintained for years that he really really hates his childhood friend and rival Gil (who is mind-controlled after he is captured by the Baron), had an adorable one.
  • Ax-Crazy: (Буйный неадекват) Many examples.
    • The most prominent is probably Bangladesh DuPree, whose child-like delight in slaughter is frequently Played for Laughs.
      • She is well-behaved around the Baron, and eventually Gil, but makes it clear that she tolerates their 'no unnecessary killing' rule only because this inevitably leads to bigger, better violence than she could find by cruising around on her own.
    • The Jägermonsters were hand-picked by the Heterodynes for this quality (plus Undying Loyalty and an ability to make said Heterodynes laugh), but they kicked out Vole because he manages to be ax-crazy even by their standards.
    • The majority of Sparks, when in their «madness place», lose their grip on morality (and reality and various other grips). In the backstory, the Heterodynes (with the exception of the Heterodyne Boys and Agatha) deserve special mention for being batshit insane even by Spark standards.
  • Back-to-Back Badasses: (Спина к спине)
    • Gil and Tarvek, on the cover of Volume 9.
    • Zeetha and Higgs during the bar fight.
    • Agatha and Gil fighting bugs; justified since they’re using energy weapons connected to the same power supply by the longest cables that were available — which weren’t that long.
  • Спина к спине — Агата и Гил так отбиваются от зомбирующих ос. Хотя здесь дело не столько в защите тыла, сколько в том, что Агата не смогла оперативно найти кабели подлиннее…
  • Badass Boast: (Крутая похвальба) Lots and lots.
    • Gil gives us one of the more effective examples.
    • Gil can also keep his boasts very short:
«

Gil: This is not a trick! I did not get lucky! I am Gilgamesh Wulfenbach — AND I AM IN CONTROL!

»
  • He also gets a similar one moments earlier, facing down an entire army of war clanks alone:
«

Gil: I am Gilgamesh Wulfenbach, son of Klaus. I will say this only once—leave now, or you will die.

»
  • Dr. Sun’s threat towards DuPree. Notable not for being elaborate, but for such conviction that it frightens an unrepentant Ax-Crazy psycho.
  • Zola is a beautiful chemical killing machine.
  • Tarvek uses a very short (but effective) one on Gil:
«

Tarvek: ... You came running in and saw someone you hate and fear trying to kill her — of course you reacted. Gil: I do not fear you. Tarvek: Really? You should.

»
  • Agatha, showing that she learned the «hamming the bunch of unruly minions into obedience» part of her family business.
  • Another from Agatha; very dramatic.
«

Agatha: I do not need rescuing. I AM THE HETERODYNE!

»
  • Badass Bookworm: (Книжный червь)
    • Most of the Spark characters.
    • Also notable is Jorgi, one of the few literate Jägers, who chose to become a Super-Soldier because reading so much philosophy left him feeling the need to break things.
  • Badass Family: (Семья крутых)
    • Heterodynes are a family of powerful Sparks with a signature hereditary ability of «heterodyning» or humming a specific way to completely tune out all distraction, who were feared and hated even among others of their own kind, to say nothing about the rest of the continent. They created Castle Heterodyne — an omnipotent sentient Supervillain Lair with a dark sense of humor and Jägermonsters — scientifically modified Super Soldiers, completely loyal to the house Heterodyne. Then Bill and Barry happened. They redeemed their family’s name by travelling across Europa and defeating monsters and evil Sparks, and were considered the greatest heroes of their generation. There is also the latest scion, Agatha — a powerful Spark in her own right who is just beginning to make her indelible mark on the world.
    • Klaus and Gilgamesh Wulfenbach. Klaus returned to Europa only with his infant son in tow and still managed to conquer a good chunk of the continent by himself, apparently for its own good. He is single-handedly keeping peace in his Empire by keeping rampaging madboys and arrogant nobles in check. He and Gilgamesh are both powerful Sparks and very potent fighters, to the point Jägers are scared of them. If rumors are true then there is also Baron’s long lost Badass Normal daughter — princess Zeetha.
    • Valois/Sturmvoraus/von Blitzengaard family. Their ancestor was one of the greatest kings of all time — Andronicus Valois. Currently family consists mainly of Manipulative Bastards, backstabbers and McNinjas. Most prominent members are Tarvek — once again a powerful Spark, excellent schemer and a good fighter and Violetta — a Smoke Knight and an Impossible Thief.
  • Badass Fingersnap: (Щелчок пальцами) Colette Voltaire, having inherited complete control of Paris from her father, finds his assassin Drusus Beausoleil, and with a snap of her fingers, she destroys every one of his multiple bodies (and makes him feel it all).
  • Badass Longcoat: (Крутой в пальто)
    • Baron Klaus Wulfenbach has them as regular wear.
    • Gilgamesh Wulfenbach has worn them too.
    • And Agatha, of course.
    • Tarvek can be counted on to sport one.
    • Krosp got his from the circus.
  • Badass Normal: (Крутой простой смертный) Many of the non-Spark supporting characters.
    • Axel Higgs, Airman 3rd Class is assuredly badass, but turns out not to be 'normal'.
    • Zeetha. Versus a pirate stronghold (she won). Versus a demon-horse-thing-monster. (She didn’t win, but it cheated by growing a new mouth and tentacles after she cut its head off.)
      • It’s implied that the pirate stronghold Zeetha destroyed actually belonged to Bangladesh, of all people. That alone ups her Badass Factor by roughly 5000.
    • Bangladesh DuPree, and Violetta. Moloch von Zinzer seems to be heading towards this, somewhat unwillingly.
    • Ardsley Wooster has climbed from 'competent servant' to 'battle butler' to 'James Bond is a chump'.
    • Sanaa is pretty badass when she needs to be.
    • Professor Merlot, despite not being a Spark at all, is able to seriously injure Gil, and also manages to develop (or at least operate) a dangerous combat machine that can fight off the Castle’s security mechanisms.
  • Простой крутой смертный — Зита, Виолетта, Бангладеш ДюПри, Арсли Вустер, много их! Тут некрутые вообще долго не живут. Педаль в пол давит Зола, которая сумела составить серьёзные проблемы героям, не являясь Искрой.
  • Крутой простой смертный — Дымчатые Рыцари, простые люди, обученные быть ассасинами на службе у заговора потомков Валуа. Педаль в пол давит Зола — не будучи ни Искрой, ни боевым конструктом, смогла доставить крайне немалые проблемы команде Агаты, в которой было три Искры и три боевых конструкта-Ягера.
  • Bad Future: (Ужасное будущее) In Othar’s twitter, he ends up in a timeline where The Other won and wiped out all of Europa. Only Tarvek survived.
  • Batman Gambit: (Гамбит Бэтмена) When Agatha returns to Mechanicsburg, Tarvek deliberately neglects to inform the Wulfenbach guards that she shouldn’t be treated like any other visitor. Not because he wants the guards to stop her, but because he wants them to try, so she can remind everyone that she’s the Heterodyne, and nobody stops her entering her city. If the guards had been ordered to let her past, it would have looked like she needed permission to enter.
  • Battle Couple: (Боевая пара) To an extent, Agatha and Gil during the wasp outbreak on Castle Wulfenbach. When she, Gil, and Tarvek were battling with and through Castle Heterodyne, they were a Battle Threesome.
    • Zeetha and Higgs are also one.
  • Battle Cry: (Боевой клич)
    • The official one for the Jägers: «Ve hunt!» (Justified, seeing as «Jäger» is German for «Hunter».)
    • Agatha during the Battle of Sturmhalten: «SHOWTIME!»
  • Bears Are Bad News: (Страшный медведь) Agatha is attacked by a large group of angry bears…and they’re armed.
    • Eventually Averted, however. They’re Krosp’s bears, conditioned to serve him by their mutual creator, Dr. Vapnoople; Krosp didn’t know they even existed until finally meeting them.
    • Third-Person Person: The bears generally preface all conversation by referring to themselves as «This bear».
    • And there’s Jenka’s Jägerbear, Füst.
  • Be Careful What You Wish For: (Бойся своих желаний) Martellus is stuck near Agatha due to an accident that makes him reliant on her touch to survive, and complains that he has been indoors for too long and is getting stir-crazy. Agatha then tells him that she’s going out for an errand to a very dangerous place, and the expression on Martellus’s face suggests that he regrets what he just said.
  • Behemoth Battle: (Слонободание) The fight between Franz Scortchmaw, the Bone Gnawer of the Heterodynes, and «Pretty Boy» (no name given, despite his gentledragonly manners). Rather low on the collateral damage for a monster fight, though.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: (Добро с кулаками)
    • Agatha is a nice person, polite and easy-going and willing to put up with a lot. But she has grown increasingly formidable throughout the series: latecomers like Martellus are unpleasantly surprised to discover that she is not to be crossed.
    • Gilgamesh is usually rather pleasant and doesn’t bully people or use force. When his temper snaps, however, he’s terrifying. And destructive. Once Klaus takes over his mind and forces him to work out ways to fight The Other, he only gets worse, literally spending weeks in the madness place without sleeping.
    • Tarvek is the blue to Gil’s red. He plays with the trope a bit — he is not an innately nice person. Being good is an effort for him, and if he’s angered, he’ll stop making that effort. And unlike Agatha or Gil, you can’t be sure he’ll accept a surrender.
    • Airman Higgs is stoic, reliable, polite and so unobtrusive that he’s almost invisible. He’s called Unstoppable for his combat skills when it’s 'just business': you do not want to make it personal.
  • BFG: (Ручная пушка)
    • The autocannons carried by the Wulfenbach clanks. Sometimes used by Jägers.
    • Agatha’s Death Rays. Played with, when she made a «very small» death ray. That she used to blow a hole out of the castle, taking out a chunk of a nearby mountain. And a hole from fairly high in the castle, to the basement. What a magnificent death ray!
  • Ручная пушка — в мире, которым правят династии сумасшедших учёных, это практически стандарт. Героиня, Агата, так вообще может состряпать подобную пушку на коленке или во сне. Хотя самый мощный из её «гиперболоидов» был и самым компактным (правда, компактным был только сам гиперболоид, все же его батарея сравнима с современным аккумулятором).
    • Клаус Вульфенбах, дяденька выдающихся роста и силы, однажды использовал автоматическую пушку с себя самого размером. Вообще-то эти орудия в его армии стоят на вооружении у ОБЧР.
  • BFS: (Офигенно большой меч)
    • Grantz uses a two-handed sword about as long as she is tall — and she is pretty hulking to begin with.
    • Dr. Monahan wields a honking massive slab of metal that appears to be a cross between a kitchen knife and a machete.
  • Bifauxnen: (На красивого парня похожа) Grantz, Baron Wulfenbach’s monster hunter. Even Gil apparently gets this one wrong, as he refers to Grantz as a «he» early on.
  • Big Bad Ensemble: (Дуализм главгадов) The Other is probably the most consistent threat, but due to the hydra-headed nature of the Knights of Jove, there’s a lot of other significant threats to world peace. Zola in particular has been set up as a serious future threat (and one capable of controlling the Other), and Martellus may be a contender by virtue of not being the idiot he seems.
  • Big Damn Heroes: (Офигенные герои)
    • Gil, once again demonstrating why you shouldn’t shoot him. You’ll just make him mad.
    • Zeetha and her carefully placed clothing swing in to save the day.
    • When a humanoid killing machine is lying on the floor Not Quite Dead and you’re caught up in your evil plans to enslave several main characters, frankly what do you expect?
    • When Agatha is forced to kill Castle Heterodyne, everyone expects the Baron to go in there and kill Agatha for having Lucrezia in her mind and «save» his son, but they can’t figure out why he hasn’t already started the invasion. Instead, Dr. Sun takes this moment to attack the Baron and put him into a chemical coma before his «delusions» destroy the Empire by getting the Baron killed from his existing wounds and accidentally killing Gil in the invasion, giving Agatha, Gil, and Tarvek the time to work and cure themselves of Hogfarb’s Resplendent Immolation and get the Castle ready to deal with revolting members of the Empire. This slightly backfires because, although this saves Tarvek and Agatha, this gives Lucrezia/Anevka the opportunity to get into the Baron’s room and take control of the wasp infected Baron unbeknownst to Dr. Sun and everyone else. Due to this control, the already paranoid Baron is easily convinced to attack his potential ally Agatha while his empire is already falling apart. All of this led directly to the Baron freezing himself and Mechanicsburg in time to stop Lucrezia’s control of him and to stop Lucrezia/Agatha who, unbeknownst to the Baron, is only in control when Agatha doesn’t have her Power Limiter on and THAT causes the Empire to collapse anyways. So the Trope zigzags.
  • Bilingual Bonus: (Билингвальный бонус)
    • Many names of people, races, places, etc., make more sense if one knows a little German; for instance, «Jägermonster» can be interpreted as «hunting monster».
    • The control panel on the Clank Agatha finds in the woods is in German.
    • «Si vales valeo» is Latin for «If you are well, I am well», a phrase used in ancient Roman times to start writing a letter like «Dear Mister Smith». In the world of Girl Genius, it has a more literal meaning.
    • The contraption Agatha is building here is named «Şoarece»; this is Romanian for «mouse» (not «the mouse», that would be «şoarecele») which is, in the same time, a bilingual bonus, and a genius bonus: Mechanicsburg is in-story located in Transylvania, and the real-life Transylvania is today part of Romania.
    • Seffie’s henchwoman and bodyguard is named «Sparafucile», Italian for «Shootrifle». Doubles as a Shout-Out to Rigoletto
  • Black-and-Gray Morality: (Чёрно-серый конфликт) Agatha and Klaus are both sympathetically gray and fighting for perfectly reasonable reasons. There are several villains that are clearly black, and both of them want those destroyed.
  • Blatant Lies: (Наглая ложь)
    • «Aid me! I am the Agatha girl!»
    • It’s almost certain Klaus’s dramatic public claim that Gil has been a slaver-wasp victim for years is one too.
  • Blessed with Suck: (Вредный дар)
    • The Spark itself. If you have it, you can warp the laws of physics with the contents of the average Store Cupboard. Bad part? You go insane to varying degrees whenever you do it. The natural result of that is that most Sparks, and Agatha in particular, have to deal with being shunned, used, or attacked by most everyone they meet. And that’s if they don’t get killed by one of their own creations. Or get the Torches and Pitchforks treatment, which often happens to weaker Sparks who either don’t have enough education to actually use their abilities properly, or have just enough of the talent that they stand out, but with little power to protect themselves.
    • Agatha before her breakthrough, when she wore the locket to suppress her Spark. It undoubtedly saved her life, but it also made her completely incompetent and destroyed her self-esteem.
    • Moloch almost certainly thinks so. He makes the perfect minion. He’s intelligent, knowledgeable, sneaky, has good leadership skills, good military discipline, is very down to Earth, loyal, forgiving, has willingness to take orders, and many other excellent traits. Despite all of this, he just wants to get the hell away from sparks and live a normal life. However, given the future windows we see, he doesn’t leave Agatha anytime soon.
  • Bling of War: (Вычурная военная форма) Most troops are trying to look cool — some, too hard. Jägers tend to dress in less unified fancy clothes, with their own peculiar taste. Of «Da Boyz», Maxim wears the most fashionable set — he’s an ex-cavalry officer, after all.
  • Blue-and-Orange Morality: (Серобуромалиновая мораль) Lots of that going around. Tarvek provides his own perspective, of course.
«

Tarvek: If someone can’t handle an unpleasant truth? Lie to them. If someone won’t listen to reason? Make them. If people don’t choose to live peaceably? Don’t give them a choice. If you don’t like the rules…change the game.

»
  • Blue Blood: (Аристократ) The Nobility is one of the biggest opponents to the Baron. House Wulfenbach is of nobility, but low ranking. As such, the Blue Bloods see him as an upstart and a tyrant who has illegitimately seized most of their power. The Knights of Jove try to use the legend of the Storm King to reclaim it. The most notable Blue Blood characters are Zulenna, Tarvek and Martellus.
  • Bond One-Liner: (Язвительная эпитафия)
    • Dimo of all people pulls one off in an earlier chapter. After Gil destroys two giant spider-walker tanks with lightning blasts prompting the crews of the remaining walkers to surrender, he asks to speak to their commander, only for an officer to inform him that Gil’s lightning attack had killed the commander as well as the second and third in command. And the fourth?
«

Officer: [pulling a knife on Gil] That would be me, madboy! (A throwing knife gets embedded in the officer’s skull) Dimo: [holding another throwing knife] Hoy! Who else vants to be promoted?

»
  • Martellus delivers a dark line after killing a Jager by repeatedly shooting him at point blank range after asking him some questions and having a perfectly civil conversation with him.
«

Martellus: and I know this: the best way to catch a monster is to be a bigger monster.

»
  • After Tarvek kills one of the conspiracists who thought that since Tarvek was a hero he wouldn’t retaliate to an attack with lethal force he quips;
«

Tarvek: I’ve never really considered myself the «hero» type.

»
  • Violetta gives one to Master Smoke Knight Madwa after the latter realizes Violetta is not actually paralyzed right after they turned their back to her.
«

Violetta: Well spotted.

»
  • Язвительная эпитафия — когда Гил при помощи электрического оружия уничтожает два танка-паукахода, оставшиеся экипажи шагоходов предпочитают сдаться. После этого Гил начинает выяснять, кто их них является оставшимся в живых старшим офицером, и тот пытается напасть на юношу, но получает от Димо метательный нож прямо в лоб. После чего ягермонстр интересуется у других пленников: «Хой! Кто исчо хочьет пафышение па службе?[2]». Желающих не нашлось.
  • Boring, but Practical: (Уныло, но практично) Moloch is easily one of the most rational people in the strip, being an Only Sane Man of course, and a bit of The Engineer. His ideas are typically very un-flashy, but they get the job done. Much to the ire of the sparks and mad scientists that surround him. Amusingly enough, while everyone in-universe finds him boring, the fact that he seems too sane and different from half the cast makes him anything but boring to the readers, if only for the reactions he gathers from the Sparks:
«

(various Sparks debate which of a variety of absurd and potentially deadly ways to get to the bottom of a shaft) Moloch: Why don’t we just move this winch? There should be enough cable. And it looks strong enough that we could lower everybody on a platform. (group death glare) Moloch: …and then, at the bottom, it could unfold into a… a giant caterpillar or… something… Mittelmind: No, no. You’ve already taken all the joy out of it.

»
  • Brick Joke: (Шутка-бумеранг)
    • A long time after Agatha is convinced that her battle merry-go-round is too dangerous to construct, Bang is diagnosed by Doctor Sun with a concussion for explaining that her injuries were sustained while destroying a merry-go-round.
«

Agatha: It could be a really evil town…

»
  • In the Cinderella special, the «evil step-mother» comments that Agatha could win the kingdom with a dead rat and a houseplant. At the end, she bribes the king, a cat, with a dead rat and potted catnip.
«

Evil stepmother: Hy knew hit!

»
  • Gil throws Othar out of an airship, and when Agatha gets mad, he assures her that once she gets to know Othar, she’ll do the same. An hour later, she does, and mentions, «I owe Gil an apology.» About ten chapters later, she gives it to him.
«

Agatha: I got so mad at you, and then, within the hour, I threw him out an airship too! Gil: And you felt bad for throwing— Agatha: I felt bad for yelling at you!

»
  • «But why are there mechanical squid in the cistern?» Well, two years and two volumes earlier…
  • Steam-powered feet? Steam-powered feet!
  • Remember the guard slime? Someone isn’t so savvy.
  • The Red Heterodyne sandwich in «Maxim Buys a Hat» apparently refers to the time that ancestor invaded the Unseen Empire, and took two years getting back to the surface because he had developed «a taste for bat sandvitches»
  • Probably the longest one yet. In Castle Wulfenbach we meet Doctor Dim, a lobotomized spark who makes toy bears. 11 years later we meet the bears he made before he was captured by the baron!
  • Another that is just as old. During her time in the circus, Agatha attracts the attention of two Geisterdamen on patrol, who leave her alone after concluding that she’s just an actress. Eleven years later, she runs into the exact same pair in Paris and gets recognized.
  • Another 11 years old one. In the castle Agatha rages about the threats facing her, and promises that afterwards they’ll have a big party with dresses, sugar, hearts and flowers, Violetta included. And they do!
  • In the kitchen of Saint Szpac, Tybalt loses his armor to the Beast, and Martellus promises to make him a new suit that is «red with bells and tassels». A little while later, Tybalt shows up to Seffie’s masqurade ball wearing new armor… which is, indeed, red with bells and tassels.
  • «What hyu need is a big hat vit hyu name on it.» And, sure enough…
  • The suggestion to «get all our enemies to a picnic on tiny monster island» was apparently a valid idea.
  • While reminiscing about Paris, Gil claims «You can get anything there.» Twelve years later Zeetha echos the sentiment.
  • In the very first comic has a strange creature lying at his feet. Twelve years later the same creature shows up in the Corbettite’s vaults.
  • Butterfly of Doom: (Эффект бабочки) Othar deciding to retire to an island with his Geister mate for 32 years leads to Gil dying in Castle Heterodyne, Mechanicsburg never being frozen, and Agatha’s and Klaus getting married, presumably under the influence of Lucrezia’s mind control, which leads to Paris being burned and every town in Europa being destroyed and almost every person killed on the continent, perhaps beyond. This leads to an aged and Tarvek sending him back in time which seems to explain why he looks so old compared to his sister. All of this is stated on his Twitter page which is technically canon.
  • Butt-Monkey: (Мальчик для битья) Moloch von Zinzer. He didn’t start out that way, and it’s not physical abuse. He was one of the soldiers who stole the Orphan’s Plot Trinket. The Karmic Chess Master moved him next to Agatha. He tried to play rough. Now his nerves are the butt of every joke the fates can manage. Examples: The tables are turned, his savvy fails, the rain of fear begins, the Castle has some fun, the Castle gets serious, Genre Savvy does no good at all, Genre Savvy says it all, Nightmare rising, Especially when it works as planned, Fool for love, and many, many more.
  • Character Catchphrase: (Коронная фраза)
    • Agatha: «You’ll like him.»
    • Tarvek: «I can’t [really] complain.»
    • Othar Tryggvassen (Gentleman Adventurer!): «Foul!»
    • Jägers eagerly sensing an impending battle: VE HUNT!!!
    • Several Sparks are fond of saying «I can work with that»; Agatha most often, but others have also used the line or variants of it on occasion.
  • Коронная фраза — Отар Тригвассен:
    • «Я — Отар Тригвассен: Авантюрист и Джентльмен» — пародия на драматическое появление героя. Обстёбано даже другими персонажами.
    • «Негодяй!» — когда кто-то выбрасывает его из окна/с дирижабля/с любой другой большой высоты.
  • Chariot Pulled by Cats: (Ездовое животное) The Geisterdamen have a number of monstrous draught animals, including giant fuzzy things with webbed feet and tentacled faces and some kind of gigantic pale crustacean.
  • Chekhov’s Gunman: (Стрелок Чехова)
    • Chekhov’s Clank: The creature who climbs out of the pit was first seen, looking much better for wear, in the back of a fresco depicting the Storm King’s Muses.
    • Chekhov’s Supersoldier: A pair of Dreen can be seen in an early double-page fighting slaver wasps during the free-for-all fight on Castle Wulfenbach. The creature, and its scary reputation, is formally introduced way later. And even later we find out they’re of the Eldritch beings that came into this plane of existence when Robur Heterodyne meddled with the fabric of spacetime. («…And they had hats»)
    • Dr. Dimitri’s bear army is mentioned way back near the beginning of the strip, in what sounds at first like the ravings of a madman over a stuffed bear. Come a dozen or so years later we learn that the bears are real, and loyal to Krosp.
    • Chekov’s Construct?: We know that Klaus was going to revive Princess Zulenna, but we haven’t yet seen her again, and don’t yet know how she reacted to his meddling, or whether any of the other royal children who spoke up moments after he ordered it, heard what was being said….
    • Chekov’s Soldiers?: According to the weird future portal events that Bang saw, von Zinzer’s «Bruno and the kid» are somehow important enough to use a bizarre past-viewing device to find out what happened to them after Bang blew the gunboat. No hint of their existence, let alone significance, has cropped up…yet. (Then again, Moloch hasn’t admitted he’s working for Agatha, Gil isn’t wearing geister armor, they aren’t working with any Geisterdamen, and Agatha definitely doesn’t have wings on her trilobite, either.)
    • Chekov’s Muse: The clank seen on the fourth page of the comic makes a reappearance nearly thirteen years later. It is yet unknown how exactly the clank will be utilized.
    • During the Castle Heterodyne arc Zeetha was Impaled with Extreme Prejudice by Zola. Ten years later Zeetha reveals Mama Gkika used the Jägerdraught as part of her efforts to save her. However it’s unclear whether the draught is enough to on its own merits to transform her into a Jäger, as she has not undergone whatever ritual the Heterodynes performed to create the Jägers. Additionally, Zeetha didn’t drink it; it appears to have been injected directly into her.
  • Chekhov’s Skill: (Навык Чехова) Agatha’s training under Zeetha. Mind you, it’s not like it was ever a secret it would be useful.
  • Chewing the Scenery: (Переигрывание) It’s bursting at the seams with mad scientists who are compelled, by their very nature, to go off on emphatic rants on how the fools did not understand! There’s even a section called «Gil Chews the Scenery.» Which he does.
  • Chicken Walker: (Шагающая техника) A common Clank design. For example, Gil’s Fencing Clank.
  • Composite Character: (Два в одном и три в одном) In-universe Master Payne’s new Heterodyne Shows inspired by Agatha’s adventures seem a combine a few of the side characters together. The Evil Lightning King is the most blatant fusion of Prince Aaronev Sturmvoraus IV with Martellus von Blitzenguard.
  • Cool Airship: (Летающий корабль)
    • Castle Wulfenbach, of course, though it’s almost too big to be called a «mere» airship. It’s a flying city, with at least some of the personnel on board not having set foot on solid ground in years.
    • Zola’s ship would qualify, but as a handy comic showing them both demonstrates, the Baron’s ship is tough competition.
  • Cool and Unusual Punishment: (Смехотворные пытки)
    • Mamma Gkika wants you to remember that it’s bad to hit women or to wake her up too early in the morning.
    • When Gil is able to make a Jägermonster ask for death, you know the punishment’s cool and unusual.
  • Смехотворные пытки — Йенка, когда-то была телохранителем княжны Ефросиньи Гетеродин, жены короля Андроника Валуа. Андроник Валуа, по мнению Йенки, «жестоко изуродовал» её лишением характерной для ягер-монстра внешности. Теперь эта эффектная леди, правда, активно пользуется результатом — не так уж и много ягеров, которые могут беспалевно затесаться среди людей; если бы она ещё не таскала с собой ягермедведя, была бы разведчиком не хуже Хиггса. Но пока легенда красотки и светской дамы держится, а медведь — ну, у леди могут быть свои причуды.
  • Летающий город — Замок Вульфенбах, цепеллин размером и населением с небольшой городок, поверх которого построен целый замок с башнями, а внутри располагается куча лабораторий, обслуживающих помещений и казарм. Многие его обитатели годами не сходили на землю.
  • Covered in Gunge: (По уши в…) In the «Personal Trainer» side-story, thanks to a clank creation of Agatha, Zeetha ends up (according to Krosp) thrown out «into the pig sty, the duck pond, the beehives, a vat of oatmeal, and down the main chimney.» Not too surprisingly, the very-much-covered in gunge (and bees) Zeetha is really mad at her student afterward.+кросп в канализации. Ему ещё и вылизываться
  • Covert Pervert: (Тайный извращенец)
    • Zeetha could have told him he wasn’t wearing pants earlier.
    • «You poor girl! You must tell us all about it!»
  • Crapsaccharine World: (Приглаженная помойка) Europa is kind of a horrible place to live when you look past the coating of awesome steampunk technology, prevalent chivalric attitude, and cheerful fiction. Actual science is actually dead, which has effectively halted theoretical study, which means that the development of atomic energy, computers, and decent aircraft is not going to happen. Why bother working on fruitless theories that might become something much later when you can have awesome stuff now? Societal progress has (except for a few things such as the role of women and racism) also basically halted, with most of Europe frozen in the pre-Victorian era. Democracy is unheard of, and the Spark nobility often rule with an iron fist. The distribution of wealth is still largely at the top, with no sort of working-class consumer society developing. Oh, and there are monsters, diseases and devices that will kill you.
  • Crapsack World: (Мир-помойка) The world is dominated by people and things who’d fit right in with Warhammer 40,000 Orks; a few years back the Other systematically leveled much of Europe using meteor-attacks before mysteriously falling silent. And while you’re somewhat on the top of the food-chain if you’re a Spark, that’s only if you’ve got the education and resources to use your intelligence properly; if you’re a Spark born to an impoverished village cobbler, the most you can do is build a dangerous boot — always assuming your neighbours don’t come after you with Torches and Pitchforks. The only thing keeping things mostly in check is anti-villain dictator Klaus, who is quite willing to level cities in order to achieve such. His territory is described as containing a lot of empty space despite being central Europe, is littered with forgotten but highly-lethal Spark inventions, and walled-in cities are the closest one comes to safe. To quote the Secret Blueprints;
«

The Gifted have always preferred to keep their knowledge proprietary. Machines and creatures must be built (or at least finished) only by the Masters and information is too great a weapon to be casually shared. There is great disregard for the state of the common people, and thus most scientific breakthroughs of the last hundred years or so have resulted not in a higher standard of living for all, but in new and interesting ways to smash your neighbor’s castle. Most people outside of the main urban centers still live in a pre-industrial world made strange by the addition of cannibalized parts of discarded machines and the danger of real monsters lurking in the wilderness that surrounds traditional towns. Travel, although simple for those with airships or giant walking battle clanks, is a serious undertaking for the majority of ordinary people who must still use foot or animal transport on bad or nonexistent roads. One exception is the railway system of the Corbettite Monks, but this serves a limited area and has its own dangers. Even without the ravages of the Long War, life is uncertain.

»
  • However, Klaus' reluctant conquest has created A World Half Full. Thanks to him, Europa has mostly recovered from a devastating genocidal war that employed mad science bioweapons just decades ago, and is ruled by an extremely intelligent benevolent dictator who keeps the peace and lets most people get on with their lives. There are systems in place to contain the mad monstrosities that arise, and the people Othar has killed (usually) had it coming — to quote Agatha H. and the Airship City;
«

One of the Wulfenbach Empire’s groundbreaking ideas had been that instead of exterminating rival Sparks after defeating them, Klaus hired them. He kept them happy by keeping them supplied with materials, tools, and food, and a dedicated staff that made sure they ate it. They found themselves free of the petty concerns that had plagued their lives, such as what to actually do with that small country once they had proved that they could conquer it with nothing more than a navy composed of intelligent lobsters. He also gave them challenges, adoring minions, and on a regular basis, a large dinner celebrating their accomplishments along with a beautiful calligraphed award expressing the sincere thanks of the Empire in general and Klaus in particular. As a result, almost any one of the Sparks Klaus had defeated over the years would have disintegrated you if you had seriously attempted to offer them their freedom, and they gleefully built and repaired the airships and the armies of clanks as well as the other terrifying monstrosities that supported the Pax Transylvania. This easily made up for the tightly guarded warehouses full of devices that made ants run backwards or could remove the rings from Saturn that they occasionally delivered in their free time. And of course, regular science marched on, if only in self-defense.

»
  • And then Klaus time-locks himself inside Mechanicsburg, demonstrating the key problem with dictatorships — especially skilled ones; his empire collapses overnight, the Long War is raging again, and copies of the Other are off somewhere running amok. Outside Europe, things aren’t much better, with northern nations having a tax on fire. The greatest folk heroes are missing, and the second greatest folk hero is a serial killer.
«

Rudolf Selnikov: The depressing thing? Twisted and ruthless as you people are, throwing in with you is a step up.

»
  • Crazy-Prepared: (Предусмотрительный герой)
    • Zola Malfeazium, as acknowledged even by The Other, who took care… only to discover she’s been outmaneuvered once more.
    • Mechanicsburg itself. They have a system that showers the entire town in case they are attacked with poisonous or sleeping gas.
    • How Crazy-Prepared is Castle Heterodyne? It had preparations that allowed it to remain conscious and partially functional in the case of Mechanicsburg being attacked by a weapon that stops time, and mentions having more contingencies that one would even think possible. It was even defending the town with the Thorn Hedge while still locked inside stasis.
    • Zeetha wears special underwear — as do many actresses, apparently — against the chance that somebody uses Dr. Prometheus Bunbury’s «Wacky Weave Destabilizer» on them — a device which disintegrates clothing without harming the wearer.
    • Violetta in particular, and the Smoke Knights in general. She carries a Grappling-Hook Pistol here, weapons, stimulants (in multiple grades up to 11), poisons, antidotes, solvents, elixirs, and a «hunting light», at all times. And that’s just some of what we’ve seen so far.
    • Sparks, the lot of 'em. They’ve always got gadgets and tools appropriate for their needs.
«

Sleipnir: Looks like an overloaded junction router! Do you have any butter? Violetta: Uh… Sleipnir: Never mind! Brought my own!

»
  • Maxim uses a fake Pearl of Skibazz to get past a ghostly submarine pirate who is blocking the way. He’s saving the real one for emergencies. Of course.
«

Dr. Rakethorn: I have… so many questions.

»
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: (Крутой в дурацком колпаке)
    • Da Boyz. Oggie is the least bright of the three and he and Maxim are usually very friendly and happy-go-lucky, but don’t let that fool you.
    • Zola looks like a vapid fool, but then she drops the «vapid fool» mask and soundly beats Zeetha and Violetta, and matches Higgs — three of the seven most capable physical fighters in the main cast. (The other four are Da Boyz —Oggie, Dimo and Maxim; and VonPinn, who’s a construct.) Though her physical abilities were boosted by a Deadly Upgrade, she did have to steal the upgrade — from a Smoke Knight — requiring a different kind of badassery.)
  • Крутой в дурацком колпаке — Тарвек Штурмфораус. Притворялся неумехой, плохо владеющим оружием и рукопашным боем, на деле ничем не уступает Дымчатым Рыцарям.
    • И Мартеллий туда же — похоже, что у дома Валуа это семейное. Поначалу производит впечатление благонамеренного идиота, который портит жизнь главным героям не столько своими зловещими планами, сколько искренними попытками действовать правильно. Но позже раскрывается как жестокая и хитрая, предельно опасная сволочь.
    • Педаль в пол — Зола. Все догадывались, что она хорошо подготовлена для операции в Замке Гетеродин, но Зола неоднократно превосходила их ожидания, вплоть до того, что смогла уделать даже Иное. И при этом выглядит и ведёт себя как стереотипная инфантильная блондинка.
  • Cryptic Background Reference: All over the place, as Chekhov’s Guns, but Sanaa’s backstory is one of the few that is likely never going to be explained further.
  • Cultured Badass: (Культурный крутой)
    • Klaus and Gil at times, but definitely Tarvek.
    • The Jägergenerals can be this when they’re not beating the hell out of someone.
    • Wooster’s Badass Normal status puts him here as well.
    • Dolokhov can make tea or beat people up with equal effectiveness.
    • Jorgi, but don’t you dare tell anybody.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle: (Избиение младенцев)
    • The first time we see the Lapinemoths, them against Agatha, Zeetha, and Othar (GENTLEMAN ADVENTURER) was this.
    • Two in rapid succession. Zola drinks Movit #11 and one-shots Zeetha, but despite her incredible fighting ability, Higgs is beating her down so badly the panels can’t keep up with his attacks.
    • Very early on, Dr. Beetle’s Town Watch gets mowed down by the Wulfenbach clanks.
  • Damsel in Distress: (Дева в беде) Zola, for a while. Considering what happens later, it may have been completely an act. Even at the time she appears to intentionally pick up the Distress Ball to draw attention from Gil to herself. Which makes the spider hazard, and its resolution, a satisfying comeuppance.
  • Dance of Romance: (Танец любви) After years of strips required to get the Baron and Lucrezia out of their heads so they could even have such a moment, Gil and Agatha finally share one, much to Tarvek’s consternation.
  • Dark Action Girl: (Зло с женским лицом)
    • Bangladesh DuPree. Don’t let her cheerful attitude or status as perhaps the most consistently fully-clothed female semi-regular throw you. She’s probably the most Ax-Crazy evil non-Spark in the series.
    • Zola turns out to be one as well.
    • There is some debate whether Lucrezia Mongfish was a Dark Action Girl or merely The Chessmaster.
  • Dark Lord on Life Support: (Инвалид на троне) Although the Princess Anevka Sturmvoraus was never the Big Bad of the Myth Arc, she fell victim to this by having her body put on a life-support pod that was portable and installed into a clank body, i.e. a robot. It should be noted that by the time the reader meets her, she has died, and the robot, now imprinted with her Ax-Crazy personality, carries on unknowingly. Lucrezia Mongfish also is an example of this, since she was put into a clank body and kept switching between them to survive.
  • Deader than Dead: (Полное уничтожение) While Death Is Relatively Cheap in this universe (see below) you can only resurrect the person themselves, as opposed to merely their body, if their brain isn’t damaged. Madame Olga dies when she’s thrown from a cart and her head strikes a rock; while Klaus was able to fully restore her body, her brain was unsalvageable and he planned to install another one in what amounted to an empty shell. Professor Diaz had his head smashed in with a marshmallow gun by Zola, and his colleagues Mittelmind and Mezzasalma bluntly say there’s no hope of reviving him and start planning to use his body for raw materials.
  • Deadpan Snarker: (Насмешник с мордой кирпичом/Язвительный насмешник) Where to begin?
    • Krosp and Moloch seem to be in the story to snark at it, but almost everybody else gets their turn.
    • Sometimes Dr. Sun has such moments.
    • And Zeetha.
  • Death by Gluttony: (Несовместимое с жизнью чревоугодие) The Deepdwellers have trouble stopping eating if there’s food in front of them, and will continue to eat until they die «like goldfish».
  • Death of the Hypotenuse: (Убийство любовного соперника)
    • Lars, anyone?
    • The Castle Heterodyne arc is an inversion of this, since a new hypotenuse came into play and a major chunk of a story arc was spent preventing his death.
    • And one of the «what if» stories even lampshaded this topic in amusing fashion. Why two boyfriends? (Cheshire Cat Grins from two female cast members and female co-author.) «Deal with it.»
  • Death Ray: (Чудо-лучи)
    • Just about every Spark has made one or something like one—though no-one but Agatha redesigns the landscape with them during sleep. Agatha considers Gil’s NOT having built a death ray gross negligence of the highest order, going so far as to say «what’s wrong with him?» He takes this criticism to heart, and most of his later inventions are somewhere between «Mobile Heavy Artillery» and «Force of Nature».
    • Among Sparks, comparing death rays is a courtship ritual. The zappier someone’s zap gun is, the more attractive they’re considered. «(Person) has a magnificent Death Ray» isn’t a funny euphemism.
  • Луч смерти — в количествах. Агата даже удивляется, почему у Гила до сих пор нет своего (позже и у него будет). Сама она майстрячит их во сне.
  • Deliberately Monochrome: (Строгий монохром) Volume 1, «The Beetleburg Clank», makes wonderful use of this. Before Agatha’s locket is removed, the comic is almost entirely in grayscale; the only color is some blue around the sound effects of Sparks' machines (and Agatha’s green eyes). Right after the locket is removed, the colors are present but dim, as her Spark starts to assert itself although she still gets headaches — but in her most Spark-ish moments, the colors are bright and clear. By Volume 2, when the headaches have stopped, the entire comic is in full color. (Bright searing color, see Art Evolution above.) One flashback in Volume 2 shows the color fading the moment Agatha puts her locket back on. Originally, the first volume was black and white (it was a print comic) and that was the end of it. The retconned color is just full of symbolism.
  • Demoted to Extra: (Низведён до камео) Pretty much everyone but Agatha and the Castle are this in the video game, but special shout out to Sleipnir, Theo, Othar, who show up only after the final boss fight is over. Sanaa also gets this, to a slightly lesser degree, as she is present for the tutorial level before disappearing until the end of the game.
  • Department of Redundancy Department: (Верёвка — вервие простое) «To that person, I would give body and soul… and body. Do you understand?»
  • Destination Defenestration: (Дефенестрация)
    • Seems to happen to Othar a lot on Castle Wulfenbach.
«

Othar: Foul!

»
  • One of Martellus’s advisors defies his order and then starts talking down to him. So Martellus shuts him up.
  • Determinator: (Превозмогатель) Zeetha arrives at Agatha’s bedroom to wake her for training only to find Agatha had built an fighting exoskeleton to stall Zeetha. It took her 15 minutes to beat the machine. During which it knocked her through two windows, into the pig sty, the duck pond, the beehives, a vat of oatmeal, and down the main chimney.
  • Превозмогатель — первое появление авиатора Хиггса. Он, вооружённый только парой гаечных ключей, пробился сквозь толпы чудовищ; вытащил и перевязал Клауса Вулфенбаха; отбиваясь от ДюПри получил переломы руки и ноги и серьёзный укус (который ещё и воспалился); после аварийной посадки гусыня сломала ему вторую руку; солдаты ненароком вогнали ему пулю в последнюю целую конечность — но Клауса и ДюПри он при всём этом таки спас и вскоре уже невзмутимо выпивал в ягерком кабаке. Он ягер-генерал, ему можно.
  • Doomed Hometown: (Враги сожгли родную хату) Years before the start of the comic Klaus Wulfenbach returned to a world in chaos with the long war going strong, revenants terrorizing the countryside and his own family’s historical seat and castle in ruins. He responded by creating a flying fortress, destroying the remaining forces of the Other and conquering every Spark and noble house that refused to stop fighting, creating the Pax Transylvania.
  • The Dragon: (Правая рука главгада) Vrin was this to The Other during the incident in Sturmhalten being the leader of the Geisterdamen.
  • Dramatic Irony: (Драматическая ирония) Kjarl, who has just been freed from being Unstuck in Time, finally manages to get a coherent conversation in about the time stop afflicting Mechanicsburg. He admits that with the information available to him, he’s not quite sure how bad it is… but reassures everyone that it can’t be too bad — otherwise there’d be Dreen. Y’know, those same Dreen that had been revealed seven real-world years ago.
  • Dr. Jerk: (Козлящий медик)
    • Less jerk and more questionable bedside manner. Agatha to Tarvek.
    • Dr. Sun also has that reputation.
«

Selnikov: Ah, yes. That «Sun-ny bedside manner» everybody talks about.

»
  • The Dreaded: (Грозная репутация)
    • It’s strongly suggested that the old Heterodynes were this to the whole continent. Even after Bill and Barry redeemed their family’s name and there was no Heterodyne in residence, people of Europa felt much safer with Mechanicsburg completely disarmed.
      • Barry himself is this to Lucrezia. The very thought that he is unaccounted for and could still return terrifies her, as shown here.
    • The Dreen. Even Bangladesh DuPree, the Jäger generals, and slaver wasps are terrified of them.
    • The Baron’s Pax Transylvania is built on the idea that he will annihilate anyone who dares to break the peace. It works well enough that Zola tells Lucrezia that he rules Europa by virtue of being too powerful to oppose.
  • Drop Pod: (Десантная капсула) Klaus has a personal set of «drop armor» kept onboard Castle Wulfenbach. Its only in-series appearance thusfar has been when he used it during the Siege of Mechanicsburg to get past the town’s air defense system and " «surrender unconditionally» " to General Gkika.
«

Krosp: Up there! It’s coming in fast, and throwing off everything the castle’s sending against it! Van: I can’t believe it! Our defenses are only slowing it down! Vidonia: What is it? Krosp: I’ve got the Wulfenbach fleet memorized, and I have no idea. Ruxala: Is it a bomb? Tarvek: It’s too slow and complicated to be a bomb.

»
  • Dude, Where’s My Respect?: (Ты меня уважаешь?) Gil suffered from this regularly until he ascended to his father’s title. «What do I have to do?! I just took down an entire army of clanks, and still I get treated like a halfwit child!»
  • Early-Installment Weirdness: (Странности в первой части) Europe is consistently called «Europa» by everyone in the comic — except the very first volumes, where it’s called «Europe» a few times.
  • Eldritch Abomination: (Чужеродное чудовище)
    • There are extra-dimensional horrors scary enough to dissuade even Mad Scientists like the Heterodynes from messing with time. When time is disturbed, they notice. They worry even the Castle.
    • And two of them decided they were going to work for Baron Wulfenbach. They are called the Dreen, and they terrify even Jäger Generals.
  • Emperor Scientist: (Государь и учёный) The entire world is run by these. Baron Wulfenbach is an especially fine specimen.
  • Enemy Civil War: (Раздоры среди злодеев) The Knights of Jove/Storm King Conspiracy is not as unified as one might think… Some of them are even on Agatha’s side.
  • Enemy Mine: (От вражды к союзу) It’d be easier to list the times where this trope isn’t in effect. Agatha’s at odds with the Wulfenbachs, who’s at odds with Tarvek Sturmvoraus, who’s at odds with Martellus von Blitzengaard, who’s at odds with the rest of their family, and so on and so forth. And that’s just the main characters. There are so many sides at play with so many conflicting goals that it’s no wonder Europa’s spent so much time at war with itself. And yet, pretty much all of these parties have had cause to ally with the next against some more immediate threat, or against The Other in general.
  • Enfant Terrible: (Маленькие гадёныши) Not quite yet, but when Gil rides out with the «devil dogs» to defend Castle Heterodyne until it’s all the way fixed and goes into full-on ape-shit Spark mode, this conversation happens:
«

Council Member: But—I thought the new Heterodyne was a girl! Vanamonde: She is. That’s just the boyfriend. Council Member: That’s— Vanamonde: Uh-huh. Council Member: We’re…we’re going to have to break out those little iron cages for their children, aren’t we?

»
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: (И у злодеев есть любимые) The old Heterodynes have been described as monsters. But as bad as they were, they did at least care about their family and minions.
    • It might be a bit of a stretch to label them as «evil», but it’s clear that Professor Mittelmind and Fraulein Snaug genuinely care about each other.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: (Даже у зла есть стандарты)
    • Averted in the radio dramas: Othar’s query to a pirate captain of «Isn’t that a bit sexist?» is responded to by saying that they’re evil, they’re basically politically incorrect for a living!
    • And Bang apparently hates mind control. Run amok and cause pointless destruction? She’ll want to date you! But go in for mind control, or allow it to be done to you…uh-uh!
  • Everyone Can See It: (Секрет Полишинеля) Almost everyone can tell that Gil and Agatha are quite besotted with each other, sometimes just by hearing them talk about each other. The trope is played with, because the two involved also see it but can’t do much about it.
  • Everybody’s Dead, Dave: (В общем, все умерли) The Bad Future described in the Othar’s Twitter side material ends up as this: after the natural death of his wife, Othar Tryggvaasen returns to Europa to find it empty of all life- except for one Tarvek Sturmvoraus, squatting in the irradiated ruins of Sturmhalten.
«

I tell him what I’ve seen in Europa. He weeps. Can’t say I blame him. He confesses that he doesn’t know if there are people left anywhere.

»
  • Everything Trying to Kill You: (Враждебная местность) Castle Heterodyne. Also, again, Showtime!
  • Evil-Detecting Dog: (Животные чувствуют зло) Or Evil-Detecting Weasel in this case — the «Wasp eaters», an engineered construct species made for the Wulfenbach Vespiary Squad designed to detect and sometimes kill Slaver Wasps. They were mostly pointless before, since slaver-wasped people turned into rather conspicuous mindless Revenants. However, it’s been discovered that the zombie revenants were an aberration, and the true intent of the slaver wasps was to create completely hidden sleeper agents, which the wasp eaters are quite useful in detecting. A pack of fully grown wasp eaters can snap up a large number of infector wasps and the make quick work of a warrior wasp, and they even developed a giant wasp eater to combat the possibility of non-sessile wasp queens. Agatha now has one as a Weasel Mascot.
  • Evil Matriarch: (Скверная мамочка) Lucrezia Mongfish, aka the Other, who is both the heroine Agatha’s mother and the comic’s Big Bad. It is heavely hinted that she sired her child just to be a vessel to use for Demonic Possession.
  • Evil Overlord: (Тёмный Властелин) Subverted in the person of Baron Klaus Wulfenbach. For one thing, he doesn’t want to be Overlord — he’s there mainly to stop less reasonable mad scientists who ran rampant laying waste to everything. For another, he’s not actually an evil ruler — the main rules of his empire boil down to 'don’t start fights' and 'turn over all Sealed Evil in a Can for proper disposal'. However, he’s ruthless in dealing with anyone (or anything) that threatens the stability of his domain, and he’s willing to employ at least one homicidal psychopath (Bangladesh DuPree). Although his willingness to use DuPree is entirely based on the fact that she can be relied on to do the least pleasant jobs Klaus requires without hesitation, and keeping her around means that she’s one less problem he has to deal with.+иное
  • Тёмный Властелин — Клаус барон фон Вульфенбах, диктатор всея Восточной и значительной части Центральной Европы. Герр Доктор с армией оркоподобных суперсолдат, ученик и духовный наследник последних представителей династии ещё более страшных Тёмных Властелинов, обитает в овеянном мрачными легендами замке Вульфенбах, а затем — на названной в честь замка летающей базе, расположенной на борту титанических размеров дирижабля, проводит неэтичные медицинские эксперименты, а в ответ на любое неповиновение отправляет по душу бунтарей свои армии и эскадроны смерти в лице прикормленной банды воздушных пиратов. И в сюжете он антагонист героини. «Тёмный Властелин классический» — подумаете Вы? Нет, всего лишь близкий друг пропавших наследников злой династии, изменивших злодейскому духу своей семьи, считающий себя их учеником и решивший начать строить империю, чтобы положить конец беспределу Искранутой знати и дать Европе возможность подготовиться к возвращению Иного, для чего и проводит свои исследования. Героине противостоит по той же причине — она является потенциальным аватаром Иного и наследницей упомянутой злой династии.
  • Evil Redhead: (Рыжий-бесстыжий) Pretty much the entire extended Valois family has been seen to have the same shade of red hair. Although not all of them are quite as evil as others, most fall into this category one way or another just because of their scheming and backstabbing. Out of the confirmed redheads:
    • Aaronev is a former redhead (considering someone mistook his redhaired son for him) who has killed multiple girls, including This example contains a YMMV entry. It should be moved to the YMMV tab.his own daughter, in an attempt to download the mind of his former love interest into a new body.
    • Martellus has kidnapped Agatha and altered her bodily chemistry so she is forced to stay near him at all times so that he can force her to marry him, and has tried to kill Tarvek and Gil multiple times. His sister Xerxsephnia isn’t quite so bad, but is still triple-crossing Martellus, Gil, and Agatha so that she can discredit Agatha and trick Gil into marrying her.
    • As for the family’s few White Sheep: Tarvek is still not exactly the best role model, having double-crossed and betrayed multiple protagonists and antagonists, with most of his «good» actions being calculated to his benefit.
  • Evil Versus Evil: (Зло против зла) Post-Time Skip, and the Geisterdamen are against the Queen of Dawn, also known as Zola. Although it’s hinted that it’s all a set-up on the Queen’s part.
  • The Extremist Was Right: (Экстремист был прав)
    • Klaus, former Trope Namer. After returning from Skifander with Gil in tow, he found a world ruined after the Other’s attack, with no Heterodynes to be seen. So he started rebuilding things his way, with no negotiations, no second chances. People did as he said, or wake up with an army on their doorstep. And it worked.
    • Also, Tarvek («I’m not proud of that, but…»).
  • Eyes Do Not Belong There: (Глаза не на том месте) Snoz, one of the early-bird monsters that joined the Battle of Mechanicsburg on Agatha’s side after the Doom Bell rang, has his mouth where his eyes should be and his eyes where his mouth should be.
    • Also one of the Parisian researchers that specializes in eye organ placed his patient’s new eye in his mouth. This action makes other people avoid being his patients.
  • Famous-Named Foreigner: (Известный иностранный иностранец) Zola is French. «Zola» is hardly a French first name — and Émile Zola’s last name is in fact of Italian origin. It is eventually revealed that Zola’s mother’s family is from Minsk and her name reflects their heritage.
  • Fanservice: (Фансервис)
    • Applied with equal opportunity to much of the cast. Almost none of the major characters get to avoid being naked, scantily clad, in their underwear, shoved into a loincloth outfit, or wrapped in nothing but a bedsheet from time to time.
    • So very, very much gratuitous Agatha-in-her-underwear. On the other hand, it is only Victorian underwear… Not that that especially matters.
    • Later: The Really Nice View of Agatha’s Signal, and this little gem, followed by this one.
    • And let’s not forget the rather lengthy section of Volume 8 where Gil was entirely naked save for a strategically placed bedsheet.
    • And Gil is next wandering around shirtless. Nom.
    • Another case. Not only are both Gil and Tarvek naked, but they keep changing colors.
    • Like son, like father. There are many who are very grateful for that Naughty Flashback Scene.
    • Also Tinka’s metal but curvy body in a semi-transparent nightie.
    • Zeetha and the Wacky Weave Destabilizer.
«

Zeetha: What are you thinking, using Bunbury’s trash? He’s why every smart actress from here to Paris wears special underwear! Why do you even have one of those?

»
  • Speaking of which, Zeetha spent a lot of time running around in that leather underwear…
  • In the side story «Revenge of the Weasel Queen», Agatha and Zeetha end up wearing BUNNY outfits. Although these «bunny outfits» are not quite what one might assume.
  • Sleipnir O’Hara, one of the «hostages» of the Baron on Castle Wulfenbach, sports a halter-top that shows a bit of Sideboob once she arrives in Mechanicsburg later in the story.
  • Bang gets in on the action post-timeskip, and Violetta has her turn wearing a loincloth outfit here.
  • Fanservice Extra: Ferretina. She drips with fanservice. Quoting a bit from the wiki: «… her outfit isn’t chosen for modesty.» You can say that again.
  • Fate Worse than Death: (Участь хуже смерти) Being sent to Castle Heterodyne is considered this by many. Gil offers Von Zinzer a poison pill to «help» him when he finds out Von Zinzer has been sentenced.
  • Five-Man Band: (Команда героев?) The in-universe Heterodyne shows have this cast dynamic. In particular:
  • Flanderization: (Упростили и опошлили)
    • In-universe example; the character of Big Guy Punch in stories and stage-shows is reduced to comic buffoon and Butt-Monkey. Among the secrets kept from Agatha her whole life was that the quiet, competent blacksmith she knew as her father was Punch. The Jägermonsters who knew Punch try to give an actor advice on how to play him authentically, but all of it requires casting out what makes his act so successful.
    • Klaus' characterizations in many Heterodyne stories has undergone similar treatment, being rewritten as an excitable cowardly braggart. Although he’s now the unquestioned conqueror of the entire continent, Klaus permits this impertinence for one simple reason: he thinks it’s hilarious.
  • Flash Forward: (Флэшфорвард) The «Ivo Sharktooth, P.J.» story takes place in the future, showing Agatha having restored Mechanicsburg from the Take Five bomb.
  • Follow the Chaos: (Было видно, где он шёл)
    • How Adam and Lilith locate Agatha aboard Castle Wulfenbach.
    • How Baron Wulfenbach knows Agatha is in Sturmhalten: how does a notoriously meticulous scientist die in a lab accident? Agatha must be involved.
  • Foreshadowing: (Предзнаменование)
    • One of the first ones is that the Jägers all think that Agatha smells «quite nice» — due to her actually being a Heterodyne.
    • Agatha does a nice job of intimidating one of Klaus' scientists who turns out to be a revenant into calling her «mistress» here. Jump ahead several years…
    • A more minor example:
«

Gil: [to Agatha, about Othar] Trust me. When you get to know him better, you’ll want to throw him out of the window yourself.

»
  • The whole missing tale of the Storm King that Klaus told the Author Character is either Klaus foreshadowing things to come or sending a message to his son in a very cryptic manner, so that Lucrezia wouldn’t realize what he was doing.
  • Agatha being able to order Gil not to die on her foreshadows Klaus' discovery that Gil is a revenant. Although that likely was faked, since the wasp-detector was not reacting to Klaus, and we know he’s got one!
  • It’s mentioned several times that the Storm King Conspiracy needs the Heterodyne heir alive for their plans. Guess who Tweedle tries to escape Mechanicsburg with once things go south.
  • When Wooster tries to calm Margarella Selnikov, she briefly shoots him a suspicious glare, incredibly out of place amidst her constant panicking beforehand. It’s the first hint of her actual, much more cold-blooded personality, before The Reveal.
  • Around the same time, we hear a comment concerning Krosp the Moldovian Puff: «that breed’ll turn on you.» Much later, Krosp does exactly that towards his creator Vapnoople.
  • Possibly the most notable of them all is Theo’s story about the Heterodyne Boys and the Dragon from Mars. While it was just a story Theo made up to calm down the kids on Castle Wulfenbach, events in the tale are near prophetic predictions to major plot points in the comic, such as Klaus getting wasped, Lucrezia having a secret lab in the basement of Castle Heterodyne, and that creatures only described as «others» have shown up in Mechanicsburg due to experimenting with time and they appear in portals similar to the Dragon’s. In the novels, the Other also has the ability to collect asteroids through the portals, possibly while based on Mars.
  • Agatha finds some books about the adventures of «Trelawney Thorpe, Spark of the Realm» in Gil’s library. Wooster insists that she’s a real person. Agatha meets Trelawney Thorpe in England nearly fourteen years of comics later.
  • There’s a lot of subtle foreshadowing about Higgs being the seventh Jäger general, such as here (using the Jägers' favored term «smart guy» to reference sparks), and here (when he gets angry and slips momentarily into the Jäger/Mechanicsburg accent). Not to mention how both the Castle and Ottila recognize him. The first hint, however, comes from his second appearance, as he’s at Mamma Gkika’s, which is already established as being the only place Jägers can go for healing until the Heterodynes return.
  • While Agatha is reassuring Dr. Dimitri Vapnoople, on the last panel you can see a shelf full of his stuffed bears. Among them is a doll of a scowling cat. Given subsequent events, it’s obvious that the stuffed cat is Krosp, whom we first met only a few pages prior, who is the leader of the Vapnoople’s actual live bear constructs.
  • Several characters comment that Agatha can’t be the Heterodyne heir because she’s a girl, or express surprise that the child of Bill and Lucrezia is female. At the start of the Castle Heterodyne arc, it’s shown that Bill and Lucrezia’s only known child prior to their disappearance was their son, Klaus Barry Heterodyne.
  • Forever War: (Бессмысленная война) The status quo in the days before the Heterodyne Boys due to constant infighting between rival Sparks, referred to as «The Long War». When The Other appeared and the Heterodyne Boys disappeared, it came roaring back. Then the Baron stopped it his way. And then, after the Battle of Mechanicsburg, the Wulfenbach Empire weakened severely and the Long War came back again.
  • For Science!: (Ради науки!) It is a world ruled by Mad Science! Girl Genius would not exist without this trope. Lampshaded.
  • Freeze Ray: (Криогенное оружие) Used as firefighting gear. It is mentioned that, with a little tinkering on one, you could freeze a castle wall and then bash it in with a hammer.
  • Freudian Excuse: (Тяжёлое детство)
    • There’s an implied inversion with the Heterodyne Boys. Supplementary material has indicated they grew up to be good because they were raised by their kind and decent mother Theodora who was forced into marrying Saturnus Heterodyne via threats to her family (and was later beatified by five out of the seven popes for the miraculous feat of raising a Heterodyne to be a decent human being). The standard Heterodyne idea of a worthy mate and/or proper child caretaker is somewhat different.
«

Gil: So this was the nursery? Tarvek: It explains so much…

»

+пора готовить железные клетки?

  • Speaking of which, the same can be said of Tarvek and Gil: they have turned out better than they might otherwise have because they both spent time as children under the care of Von Pinn, who turns out to be the Muse of Protection. Ditto Agatha and her step-parents the Clays.
«

Agatha: But… you say nobody can get through all that… Moloch: There’s just no way! Agatha: And you’ve been doing work all over town? Moloch: That’s right! So I’ve seen it! It’s hopeless!

»
  • Friendly Enemies: (Возлюбленный враг)
    • Invoked with Gil and Tarvek’s «friendly» banter.
    • Played absolutely straight when Zeetha has her first social meeting with Bang. The two hit it off right away and get along just famously, even though they’re both fully aware that they’re going to have to fight each other eventually. Zeetha is looking forward to it., and Bang is positively ecstatic when she learns that Zeetha is the person that killed her pirate crew and she gets to have an incredible revenge fight.
  • From Bad to Worse: (От плохого к ужасному) The entire Castle Heterodyne arc is stuffed to the gills with this trope. Just trust us on this one.
  • Funetik Aksent: (Смищной аксэнт) «De Jägers hall talk like dis, sveethot!» Even their clapping is accented. The novels explain that it’s an ancient Mecanicsburg accent, carefully maintained as a point of pride. That’s why a random mother Gil runs afoul of in Mecanicsburg shares the accent. The girls in the bar dressed up as Monsters also fool every tourist (and some of the main cast), simply because they can speak the accent fluently, despite also being able to speak normal english.
  • Funny Background Event: (Смешное событие на фоне) The Foglios love this. In particular, it’s worth reading any notices, signs, control labels, advertisements or scripts that appear.
    • No clanks, cucumbers, clocks, or dancing.
    • Do Not Drink. Look at panel 1, then panel 3. then look at the mug in the next page.
    • Ether Bunny. In the same frame, what appears to be «Mummy Dust» and «Daddy Dust».
    • No Alchemy (unless it works).
    • Lab Full of Exploding Things #5. NUMBER FIVE.
    • «Trade Entrance. Invade in front.». (The small signs in the bottom panel. You may need to squint.)
    • The signs at the science fair.
      • «Why potatoes and time are friends»
      • «Why time is good: 1. Keeps watches busy. 2. I don’t know.»
      • «Basic instructions: Don’t eat paint or lead»
      • «Goblins: Threat or food?»
    • This page on the last panel. Four arrows pointing, from the top: left, right, up and down. All of them say «DANGER».
    • While Othar and Sanaa are talking, we see her fellow prisoners get out of the pit trap, run away from Othar, a sign signalling «Secondary pit trap activated» and a sign asking «Want a laugh?» with two buttons, «Yes» and «Hell Yes».
    • There is a gumball machine in the background. The sign over it says «POISON! Illiteracy Reduction.»
    • More recently, look at Agatha’s attempts to fix that machine in the background. She still has the hammer when she yells at Gil in the last panel.
    • Read what’s written on the steps.
    • Down in the Heterodyne Crypt (bottom left panel)
    • While Jenka passes on important information from Castle Heterodyne, Fust and Agatha’s pet wasp eater duke it out. Lil' waspie wins.
    • Demon Olí and Oil of Olay
    • Castle Wulfenbach has a lot of choices of drink including «Old Upside Down Ale».
    • «Lab Tech in a Drum 'Expendable!'»
    • First, Krosp puts a bucket on Agatha’s head, then a few panels later, Krosp is in the bucket with Agatha sitting on it.
    • This page and two previous pages, you can see the Castle’s face just getting more annoyed and confused. The same thing happens a few pages later when Agatha grabs it by its hair.
    • «Don’t Laugh» during someone’s confession.
    • Oggie and his great-great grandson argue about great-great-great grandchildren while everybody else is getting on with the job.
    • A doll of a scowling cat appears amongst the bears behind Agatha on this page. This is obviously Krosp, his relationship to the bears becoming obvious later in the comic.
    • Dimo explains to a few sparks the odd situation. They laugh. Then, he explains the severity of it. They panic, plan, and get to work.
  • Gargle Blaster: (Укипаловка) A few examples.
    • Theo’s idea of a good home-brewed liquor can be expected to be at least 200 proof, and have other… interesting ingredients. Note that 200 proof is pure alcohol. Also note that under normal circumstances, opening a container of pure alcohol outside of laboratory conditions will cause it to be diluted by the moisture in the air. Maybe part of Theo’s talent as a Spark makes him a Mad Moonshiner who can make impossible drinks?
    • Double Fortified Lingonberry Snap:
«

«You hoist a noggin of that stuff to the 'Lady Heterodyne'— you’ll soon be skipping through the streets trying to catch flying pink mimmoths.»

»
  • Gatling Good: (Многоствольный пулемёт) The machine Merlot uses to try and kill Agatha in the Castle has two of these. They’re capable of ripping a Mobile Fun-Sized Agony and Death Dispenser to shreds.
  • Gentle Giant: (Добродушный гигант) Punch, apparently, though most people who didn’t know him assume he’s just Dumb Muscle. Also possibly a Genius Bruiser, though the evidence for that comes from the Jägers who are… not the best at determining who’s «schmott». Appears to be confirmed when we meet him again after the Time Skip.
«

Belloptix: But… didn’t he have a… lighter side? Maxim: Oh yah! He build very amuzing toys for de orphan cheeldren!

»
  • Genuine Human Hide: (Сделано из человеческой кожи) A subterranean civilization under Paris turns any interlopers into gloves. Based on the number of eerily tan gloves in their introductory panel, they’ve been doing it for a while.
  • Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: (Возьми себя в руки!) Most often done by using water. Or pies. Fists and bricks are fine too.
  • Ghost Town: (Мёртвый город) They are apparently quite common across Europe, which isn’t so strange given how many monsters and rampaging experiments wander around in the Wastelands.
  • Gilligan Cut: (Гиллигановский монтаж)
    • «There’s no male guard on this ship that can resist the charms of a beautiful princess!»
    • «Do you really think he’d just hand it to her?»
    • «Vot? Hyu wants de hammer?» «…Yes?»
  • Girl of the Week: (Новая подружка Бонда) «The High Priestess» is an in-universe trope in Heterodyne stories. Since Barry evidently wasn’t known for any love interests, the storytellers pair him off with whatever girl is available aside from Lucrezia.
  • God-Emperor: (Бог-Император) Gender Flipped for the Brits; their queen is known as «Her Undying Majesty».
  • Go-Go Enslavement: ([Раздеть женщину)
    • Agatha ends up in the Leia-style slave bikini for one gag panel in the opening of «Revenge of the Weasel Queen Part 2».
    • She’s also stripped down to her corset here, though it’s for different reasons than the usual (the villains want to analyse her voice when she angrily demands her clothes back).
    • The King of the Silver Lands seems to be big on this, as he has all of the captive heroes stripped down to attire akin to Slave Leia from Star Wars.
  • Gone Horribly Right: (Всё пошло слишком так) The guy that wanted to steal the hammer for the Doom Bell? Mama gives it to him willingly.
  • Gone Horribly Wrong: (Что-то пошло не так) This seems to occur with alarming frequency for Sparks. Generally with horrible results. Though some cases also happen because of other instances.
  • The Good, the Bad, and the Evil: (Хороший, плохой, злой) Save for a few independent characters with their own goals, most of the cast can be sorted into three camps. The «Good» would be Agatha Heterodyne and her companions. The «Bad» would be the The Empire of Baron Klaus Wulfenbach, who is very much an enemy of Agatha as present (though Gil is both on the empire’s side and Agatha’s). The «Evil» would be the network of those people who swore loyalty to the Other; but since the Other is currently a Greater-Scope Villain frantically clawing their way over to Big Bad territory, those on their side are very fractured and prone to infighting.
  • Grave Robbing: (Грабитель могил) In the best tradition of Frankenstein. There even are professionals. Furthermore, It Runs in the Family.+малыш, который дарит дохлую крысу Кроспу
  • The Guards Must Be Crazy: (Не обыскали) When Gilgamesh needs to get back onto Castle Wulfenbach to take control of the Wulfenbach armies around Mechanicsburg, he needs to get past a number of guards who have never dealt directly with him and thus don’t know what the Baron’s son looks like. Sleipnir tells him to wear the hat given to him by the Jägers. You know, the giant purple and red hat with «Gilgemesh Wulfenbash, Schmott Guy!» written on the front and the flame on top which flares up periodically. Each guard Gil approaches is initially unimpressed and unconvinced, until he fires up the flame. At that point, they believe he really is «Gilgemesh Wulfenbash» [sic] and let him pass. But eventually he gets to one who reacts differently.
«

Guard: Oh come on. You expect me to believe you— [Gil’s hat goes FOOM!] Guard: Just because of that ridiculous— [Gil punches the guard in the face, knocking him out] Gil: When this is all settled, you get a promotion.

»

+агата и кольцо-отмычка, которое не изьялы в замке

  • Hair-Raising Hare: (Ушастик-ужастик) The Weasel Queen’s Lapinomorphs.
  • Handicapped Badass: (Крутой инвалид) Dimo, after he loses an arm in the sewers beneath Sturmhalten. It doesn’t slow him down much.
  • Handwave: (Обоснуй) An in-universe one. Higgs tells the group that he can guide them through Castle Heterodyne because he found a map. Sleipnir starts to say that doesn’t make any sense before Theo shushes her. They need his help and if he needs to have «found a map» to provide it, then fine, he found a map.
  • Happily Adopted: (Счастливо усыновлённый) Agatha calls Punch and Judy her parents, in spite of knowing that they aren’t her biological parents.
  • Happily Married: (Счастливо женаты) Master Payne and the countess. Also Balthazar’s parents. And Punch and Judy, though it may not be strictly official in their case.
  • Happiness in Slavery: (Шея мёрзнет без ошейника) Fräulein Snaug is extremely devoted to Professor Mittelmind.+жители Механиксбурга
  • He Is Not My Boyfriend: (Она не моя девушка!)
    • Agatha about Gil. All the time. She even uses the actual phrase.
    • A consequence of it can be seen with Violetta.
    • They are her… er… her experimental subjects! Honest.
    • Othar and… Gil!?
    • Agatha and Moloch, in an odd subversion.
«

Tarvek: You really are the best minion ever. Moloch: I am not her minion! Tell him! Tell him I’m not your minion!

»
  • He Knows Too Much: (Не оставлять свидетелей?)
    • The entire Wulfenbach Vespiary Squad is targeted by the rest of the Wulfenbach forces after Herr Baron himself is infected by a slaver wasp and is compelled to destroy them. Thankfully, Tarvek and the Jägers salvage enough of the unit and their materials for them to scatter and try continue their mission outside the Wulfenbach empire; whether any of them succeeded or even survived is currently unknown..
    • According to Tarvek, the Master of Paris encourages clubs to look over the code he uses to control the city in order to look for weaknesses that he can fix. Between Gil and Tarvek, they belonged to over twenty such clubs. The problem is if they learned too much about the code, the Master would drop their entire headquarters into a bottomless pit.
«

Tarvek: The trick was to always make it out the door just as they started celebrating.

»
  • Hellish Horse: (Зловещая лошадь) The aptly-named Monster Horse Beastie.
  • Hero Antagonist: (Героический антагонист) Othar, plus or minus a little serial murder.
  • Heroic BSoD: (Шоковая апатия) SHOWTIME!
  • Heroic Sacrifice: (Героическое самопожертвование) Hilariously defied while in Castle Heterodyne.
    • Defied by the Jägers.
    • Played straight in a very tragic fashion by Lars, who intercepts a lethal sword blow from Klaus meant for Agatha (as he was convinced that she was the Other). Even the Jägers are impressed by his heroism; Maxim gives up his own hat out of respect so that it is buried with the former circus actor as a sign of him having fought valiantly alongside the Jägers in the name of the Heterodynes.
  • Героическое самопожертвование — циркач Ларс, принявший на себя удар, чтобы спасти Агату.
  • Herr Doktor: (Герр Доктор) A large portion of the Sparks, particularly those in the Wulfenbach Empire as it controls the vast majority of what is in our world Central & Eastern Europe.
  • Герр Доктор — так как действие первых частей комикса целиком происходит в альтернативно-исторической Трансильвании, а комикс посвящен безумной науке, то таких хватает. Техномагами-Искрами тут являются и Тёмный Властелин Клаус барон фон Вульфенбах, железной рукой правящий Восточной Европой и тайно проводящий эксперименты над людьми, и его сын — биоинженер и авиаконструктор Гильгамеш фон Вульфенбах, и друг-враг Гильгамеша Тарвек фон Штурмфораус — один из немногих людей в Европе, разбирающихся в работах легендарного Рембрандта ван Рейна (который в местном сеттинге был не художником, а технарём). Что характерно, протагонистка Агата — не немка, а мадьярка (если конкретнее — секейка), пусть её семья и происходит из города с немецким названием Механиксбург.
  • Hidden Depths: (Скрытые глубины) Practically everyone in the comic gets a chance to show that they’re not just the weirdos they are initially presented as in the narrative.
    • The Jägers, who at first appeared to be little more than comic relief and have since been revealed to have more layers than an onion. It’s even been lampshaded in canon.
    • Given what he will do for those he cares for, one wonders if Tarvek might have avoided the worst of his family heritage.
  • Honest Advisor: (Фаворитизм?)
    • Baron Wulfenbach says early on that he would rather his men criticize him rather than fear him too much to tell him important information — in fact, the first time we see him, he’s testing Gil to see if he’ll tell him he’s wrong. It’s one of the many signs that he’s not your average Evil Overlord.
    • Gil and Agatha seem to prefer advisors like this as well.
  • Horrifying the Horror: (Уволен из гестапо за жестокость)
    • The mere mention of Barry Heterodyne’s name is enough to make two separate incarnations of the Other panic.
    • Jägers are widely regarded as objects of horror by Europa in general — something about being super-tough, super-violent, super-experienced in combat and relishing every moment spent in destruction. Therefore, when one of them says, "Run, " it’s not wise to stop and argue. So far, the Dreen and the Swartzwalders (an army of uplifted Super-Soldier grizzly bears armed with battleaxes and polearms) are the only two things to bring out this near-extinct fear response.+Воул, которого выгнали из ягеров за излишнюю кровожадность.
    • After inquiring about the Entity Outside Time investigating the halting of time in Mechanicsburg, Castle Heterodyne gets Gil and Higgs to share an image of the entity to them. Cue one of the oldest, most dangerous and formidable Supervillain Lairs on the entire continent Screaming Like a Little Girl.
    • Queen Albia of England is a Physical Goddess-Empress of sufficient might that she can basically rewrite reality around her to suit her needs, and is so powerful that even Klaus Wulfenbach and Lucrezia Mongfish are wary of attacking her. That all being said, according to Ardsley Wooster, Dimitri «Dr. Dim» Vapnoople is the only modern Spark that Queen Albia has ever actually feared. Once Kjarl Thotep restores the mind of Dr. Dim, Vapnoople immediately demonstrates why.
      • Relatedly, the Great Cetaceans]] are a race of ridiculously massive and formidable deep-sea creatures of incredible power, being vast enough to house entire civilizations within their guts, are strongly implied to be the Sapient Cetacean counterpart to Sparks who have achieved Second Breakthrough, and have their inhabitants (who justifiably worship them as gods) feature a Fantastic Caste System just so they can produce certain individuals with strong enough minds to be used as a Mouth of Sauron for the Great Cetaceans themselves. Oh, and they are all terrified of Dr. Vapnoople.
    • The Polar Lords, a nightmarish race of Humanoid Abomination «Frost Liches» from beyond the farthest north regions of Europa, both inspire this in others and experience it themselves; Queen Albia (the aforementioned Goddess-Empress of England) is mentioned to have seen whatever ruins, Sparktech and/or «sorcery» the Polar Lords left behind when the last Ice Age ended and they had to «retreat» back to the distant north… and she absolutely refuses to discuss whatever she saw. Additionally, it’s noted that the expedition fleet she sends with the heroes aboard to Mechanicsburg is specifically instructed to assist the Wulfenbach Empire against the Polar Lords since she (most likely correctly) regards them as more dangerous than the Other. On the other hand, after Agatha and her allies just barely defeat the vanguard of their retreating invasion force, one of the Polar Lords' leaders openly regards Agatha as a Worthy Opponent by describing her as «a horror» and makes sure to leave post-haste afterwards.
  • Уволен из гестапо за жестокость — капитана Воула выгнали из ягермонстров за чрезмерную кровожадность. Беспрецедентный случай.
    • А князья Гетеродины успели прославиться как полнейшие отморозки в мире, где для аристократов в порядке вещей расстреливать из ложи пулемётом актеров на не понравившихся им постановках, проводить садистские эксперименты над людьми, охотиться на крестьян ради забавы и обкладывать налогами огонь. Неудивительно, что большинство городов может казнить кого угодно просто по факту сотрудничества с Гетеродинами.
      • А мать героини, Лукреция Монгфиш, умудрилась переплюнуть вообще любых Искр в плане безумности и неэтичности технологий… Это ж надо было додуматься! С моральной стороной тоже ойделааа: она выглядит шлюховато даже по меркам их навзничь опрокинутой вселенной.
    • В свете недавних событий — Доктор Вапнул. Если это «только разогревается»… Единстванная Искра, которая может напугать Альбию…
  • Idiot Ball: (Внезапный приступ глупости)
    • Agatha’s entire entourage repeatedly grabs it during the England plot-arc after Tarvek announces no more delays, he’s going to remove the copy of Lucrezia from Agatha’s mind. Instead of coming along during this vital mission, Zeetha, Oggie and Maxim all evidently decide to wander off somewhere. Then, after the Lu-copy kicks up a very noticable fuss as the procedure is prepared, everyone else lets Agatha leave the room. Alone. She promptly disappears. And when the disappearance is discovered, there’s a debate about whether she maybe went to get a snack or take a bath. It turns out she was briefly kidnapped rather than Lu taking over. After that gets sorted out, the crew grabs the ball again, and rather than strapping her into a chair like they tried to do the first time around, lets her work unsupervised on the Lu-extraction machine. Sure enough, this time, Lu really does take over, and alters the machine to her own ends. This gets noticed before the machine is actually used, and Lucrezia gets mystically gagged and restrained by a projection of Queen Albia. Which leads to example number three, when Albia is forced to withdraw without further restraints being applied, letting the captive get free and for a third time left unwatched. Oggie and Zeetha are back by this point, so she grabs the latter’s dropped swords, takes the former by «surprise» and skewers him through the chest. Violetta the Smoke Knight then tries to… grab her from behind or something… and gets stabbed in the hand. Plus during all this there’s a clank-copy of Lu on the scene causing further damage and delays.
  • Idiot Hair: (Ахогэ) It’s obviously not reflective of her intelligence per se, but Agatha’s got a bit of hair that won’t stay down; as highlighted in this two-part Filler.
«

Carson von Mekhan: Sure, the Heterodynes were dangerous lunatics— but they became our dangerous lunatics!

»
  • Moloch von Zinzer stands out because, like the natives of Mechanicsburg, he’s a natural minion, but unlike the Mechanicsburgers, he has a certain amount of insight into Spark psychology, and can use this to get them back on target when they inevitably get sidetracked.
  • The world has been under the control of Sparks for so long that pretty much any non-Spark, even a trained agent, will be reduced to a groveling mess if a Spark starts ranting like a cut-rate stage villain.
  • Implacable Man: (Неумолимый преследователь)
    • Higgs and Zola post-Movit #11.
    • The Jägermonsters. When Maxim, Dimo and Oggie are introduced, they’d been hanging in nooses for days, casually observing and commenting on the town. It’s implied that Othar conned them into getting into the nooses voluntarily. Dimo later, um, shrugs off his losing an arm. When we finally actually see a Jäger die, it takes an entire pack of Tweedle’s Sparkhounds and then several gunshots point-blank to the face to finish the job. It gets even more extreme, seeing that Jägers can reach a extremely high age (some have been around for centuries), to the point where Gil decides that Vole is the best chance for them to analyze just what is causing any living extracted out of the Mechanicsburg Time Stop Bubble to age rapidly and die quickly, so they can avert it and do clean extractions. While he doesn’t like it, he most certainly survives it.
  • Impoverished Patrician: (Обедневший аристократ) There are a number of nobles who have nothing but their titles to their name because their lands were conquered and/or rendered uninhabitable by Sparks. They tend to end up as retainers to nobles who still have wealth, as not providing these disenfranchised nobles shelter is considered bad form.
  • Обедневший аристократ — один из помощников Агаты, солдат Молох фон Цинцер. Он происходит из семьи настолько обедневших дворянчиков, что те отличались от окрестных крестьян разве что наличием пресловутой приставки «фон» перед фамилией. Чтобы хоть как-то устроится, вместе с братом записался в армию и стал одним из операторов шагохода, а после разгрома армии братья докатились до грабежей по подворотням.
  • Improvised Weapon: (Предмет с оружейным потенциалом)
    • Wrenches seem to be used as cudgels a lot.
    • Ol' Man Death using his butcher knife against a Jäger is no surprise, since he’s a Chef of Iron. But then, he can just as well fight with a coffee cup, a huge sausage or a barrel of anchovies.
    • And now, a book on the use of improvised weaponry has been used as an improvised weapon.
  • In My Language, That Sounds Like…: (Полезные заметки/Ложный друг переводчика) Zeetha, daughter of Chump. And, yes, she knows what it means in our language. It’s been pretty much established that «Chump» was/is Klaus, which makes it highly likely the name is not a coincidence.
  • Insistent Terminology: (Настойчивая терминология) By the fandom, often by the characters, and even by the website itself.
    • «Othar Tryggvassen! GENTLEMAN ADVENTURER!»
    • In The Rant rather than the comic itself, hyperlinks are always «elegant and finely-crafted».
    • It’s a GASLAMP FANTASY, not Steampunk.
    • Gilgamesh is very insistent that the little Heterodyne generator is not a lamp. The novelisations state that it is in fact a lamp. It just happens to have other functions as well.
  • Instant Sedation: (Мгновенное снотворное)
    • C-Gas, D-Gas and Ichor of Somnia.
    • Most shocking example is when Gil shot Franz with a sedative through the palm… and he’s down for the count in mere seconds, despite being a freaking dragon. On the other hand, Franz only stays knocked out a minute or two.
  • Interservice Rivalry: (Соперничество служб) Jägerkin (as a part of being «perfect soldiers») got it straight — they deem themselves better than anyone else and eager to make a point, but shut up when a real action is in sight:
«

General Zog: Sir — dere iz a time to twit nancy-boy feetsmen und a time to crush bogs.

»
  • Interspecies Romance: (Межвидовая романтика) Considering the presence of countless artificial lifeforms created by Sparks, this is inevitable, most commonly in the form of humans and constructs. Jägermonster and human relationships are rare but they tend to pop up in Mechanicsburg, due to a lack of the stigma that Jägers get elsewhere. It’s eventually revealed that Zeetha and Higgs are one as well, as the latter is a Jäger General.
  • In the Hood: (Чёрный капюшон) Subverted because the guards looking for Agatha recognize it for the obvious disguise that it is. Doubly subverted because the heroes expected as much.
  • Ironic Echo: (Фраза-бумеранг)
    • Agatha quoting Moloch von Zinzer back at himself here demonstrating that the tables have indeed turned.
    • Zola echoing Agatha’s sarcastic party plans virtually word-for-word (albeit in a very different tone) as Obfuscating Stupidity.
    • And Agatha describing Tarvek to Gil with the last three words being the same she used describing Gil to Tarvek.
  • I Take Offense to That Last One: (Вот сейчас обидно было!) Agatha’s new set of advisers in Mechanicsburg have no objection to being called «bandits» by Vanamonde, but take umbrage at his prefixing this description with «old».
  • Jerkass: (Козёл) Several. Merlot is prominent as a cruel teacher who abuses his position to look down on students and then blames someone else for his getting in trouble after he murders a bunch of Empire employees and burns down a wing of the university.
  • Kill It with Fire: (Сжечь к чёртовой матери)
    • Sleipnir’s pipes… guess you can’t start a fire without a Spark.
    • Wreathed in Flames: The Torchmen+хищная лошидь,
  • Knight Templar: (Храмовник) Othar. He wants to kill all sparks (ending with himself), because he thinks they are «the cause of everything wrong in the world today.»
  • Large and in Charge: (Большой — значит главный)
    • Jäger generals.
    • Sergeant Nak («Big Green Hairy Guy» gorilla-like construct).
    • Klaus himself is a quite impressive bruiser too.
    • Otilia, the Muse of Protection, is much larger that the rest of her line, and quite capable of fighting almost anyone. Except Airman Higgs.
  • Large Ham: (Переигрывание)
    • All sparks chew scenery when in The Madness Place. Othar Tryggvassen, Gentleman Adventurer is like that all the time.
    • One of Klaus Wulfenbach’s chief advisors, Doctor Chouteh, appears to be in a constant state of hamming it up and has yet to speak a single line in anything approaching «indoor volume».
    • Humongulus is now slicing the ham! This is in fact how slicing ham is done!
  • Laser-Guided Karma: (Кармическое возмездие)
    • An officer in one of the many armies that invade Mechanicsburg tells his soldiers not to take their eyes off the captured civilians, to treat them with respect, and to execute them all. Right before the Doom bell knocks all the soldiers out.
«

Civilian man: And what about the one giving orders? Civilian woman: [holding a rolling pin] Oh, him we treat with respect.

»
  • The Duke Strinbeck acts like a total ass to the crew of the Pink Airship, threatening to shoot them, followed by flaying their entire families alive. A bad move when they have a need to get rid of any unnecessary weight — especially when his threats are to try and make the airship stay put when doing so is (obviously) certain death.
  • Latex Perfection: (Голливудская косметология) Despite being a very scaly fish monster with a large crest, Trogulus is able to wear a mask of his human mentor Professor Homlomium that fools even those who had been working with Homlomium for years. Well, the mask is implied to be Spark work, at the very least.
  • Leave Behind a Pistol: (Выдача оружия для самоубийства) Gil gives Moloch von Zinzer a poison pill upon his departure to Castle Heterodyne, underestimating the degree of von Zinzer’s Action Survivor skills and Genre Savvy. It has yet to be revealed if Zinzer still has it and what he will do with it.
  • Leitmotif: (Лейтмотив) Agatha discovers that if she hums a certain series of notes, she can improve her focus while working on various projects. This tune pops up throughout the series, in various forms. It’s been hinted that this is a Heterodyne thing, the song itself may even be In the Blood (while there is a river «Dyne» that plays a key role in the creation of the the Heterodyne family, «heterodyne» in real life means «relating to the production of a lower frequency from the combination of two almost equal high frequencies»). Unknown if anyone has actually tabulated and played her song in real life, though.
    • The novels explain that it isn’t actually a fixed song, but rather a sophisticated humming designed to harmonize with any background noise (quite possibly including the mental kind, given its efficacy in suppressing The Other in Agatha’s head) in such a way that it cancels it out, leaving the hummer with no distractions as they focus on whatever it is they’re focusing on (usually something Sparky). And yes, everything this implies only makes the Heterodynes even more impressive.
  • Let’s Get Dangerous!: (Ну-ка, от винта) The Unstoppable Airman Higgs is, in fact, unstoppable.
  • Lightning Bruiser: (Реактивный громила)
    • Airman Higgs.
    • After the Time Skip, Gil’s new rather tall and imposing female-figure bodyguard clank «Bohrlaika» is quite nimble, packs an electo-sword that can cleanly cut off an arm off an enemy Humongous Mecha war clank, and is no worse for wear after missing the fact that the arm is about to fall on her when she is reiterating her surrender demand.
  • Реактивный громила — много кто, от суперсолдат разных мастей до порядком раздраконенных Искр вроде обоих Вульфенбахов, Мартеллия или Отара, но на фоне всех выделяется некий Аксель Хиггс. На вид обычный пилот и простой крутой смертный, но однажды взбесившийся робот буквально вмял его в стену — Хиггс вылез из образовавшейся дыры в форме себя слегка запачканным и разнес обидчика на гайки одним ударом. А позже, когда упоровшаяся психостимулятором Зола ранила того, кто ему был небезразличен — выдал ей таких незамедлительных люлей, что она не могла уследить за его движениями. На самом деле является Ягер-генералом, то есть представителем первого поколения ягермонстров - бессмертных суперсолдат трансильванских князей.
  • Like Brother and Sister: (Как брат и сестра) Bang and Gil, to the horror of Klaus. After the time skip, Gil finds nothing odd about waking up with Bang in bed with him. Apparently she had been struggling to stay awake as much as him, but she doesn’t have his training, so she can’t just do a few mental exercises and be good. DuPree acknowledges it during a tea break with Zeetha and Violetta.
  • Literal Genie: (Джинн-буквалист) A mild case in the form of Castle Heterodyne.
  • Literally Shattered Lives: (Хрупкое замороженное тело) When Colette killed all of Beausoleil’s bodies in Paris one of their deaths is depicted as them shattering in an explosion of little shards.
  • Literal Metaphor: (Реализованная метафора)
    • When he was young, Gilgamesh Wulfenbach built a clank for «picking up girls».
«

Gil: Well, when I was a kid, we heard some of the older guys talking, but we were kind of… um… unclear on the concept, and, well… Zoing: Itworkz! itworkz! DuPree: That is so just like you… soooo pathetic.

»
  • When something is pounding on the gates of Mechanicsburg, a soldier reports that «It’s a ram.» Agatha is still surprised when she sees the ovine monstrosity butting the gate and realizes, «AAH! It’s a RAM!»
  • Living Battery: (Живая батарейка/Жизненная энергия?) Agatha drinks water from the Dyne and is super-charged as a temporary power source. Airman Higgs and the Castle note that Ingeous Heterodyne tried something similar once. Then he exploded. Agatha not only survives, she remarks that she has to try it again.
  • Look Behind You: (У тебя за спиной!)
    • Gil quickly distracts Agatha from a rather raunchy book that would likely make her irritated with him with a well timed recommendation of another on his shelves.
    • When Tarvek gets reanimated and attacks Moloch, the latter saves himself by pointing to something, «Uh… hey, check it out.» calming the man down instantly. Though in this case not only does the target look, but there’s actually something to see.
  • Losing Your Head: (Безголовое существо)
    • Tinka Also here, with Castle Heterodyne in the body of a mechanical Muse. Also an example of Arc Words.
    • Subverted with the Monster Horse Beastie; suffering this fate barely slows it down.
  • MacGyvering: (Жестянщик) A minor but prevalent Spark trait at the best of times, this runs on Rule of Funny and so gets more and more extreme the further the story is from canon.
  • Mad Artist: (Эксцентричный художник) The tailor clank in the «Revenge of the Weasel Queen» fillers.
  • Made of Iron: (Распутинская живучесть?) Most of the cast for comedic effect, although there are a couple of outstanding examples:
    • Any Jägermonster. They’re ridiculously strong, immortal, nearly impervious to pain, and are regularly put through walls and shot repeatedly over the course of an average story-line. Dimo, Maxim, and Ognian are hanging from a gallows when they’re first introduced. They’ve been up there for days and are in no apparent danger or discomfort.
    • Airman Third Class Axel Higgs. When Gil first hears how his father was saved by him, including Higgs breaking several bones, falling from impossible heights and so on, he believes it is exaggeration. When he actually watches him fight, he is taught better. To the point it’s fairly clear that Higgs is something more than human. After the time-skip, it’s revealed that he’s a human-looking Jäger, known as the «sneaky» Jägergeneral, and in fact one of the oldest and most dangerous characters in the comic.
    • Othar Tryggvassen, Gentleman Adventurer who can, among other things, No-Sell falls from truly ridiculous heights (although he does attribute that to «very heroic» special trousers.) He’s tough enough that when the Baron needs him captured, the person sent to do it is an Imperial monster hunter, a woman normally tasked with taking down enormous, hulking, inhuman monstrosities.
    • Old Man Death took multiple Jägerpunches to the face and was still able to outfight the Jäger who provided them. He even somewhat lampshades it, explaining that he is possibly the only human that rode with the Jägers for years and survived it.
  • Mad Scientist: (Безумный учёный) «Sparks», whose erratic genius has literally reshaped the world. They start out gifted, but only become able to warp the laws of physics on their own after they experience what is called a «breakthrough». A very rare few individuals have broken through a second time, unlocking Enlightenment Superpowers. A spark’s normal sanity can vary heavily between individuals, but all of them lose it a little when they get creative and enter a mental state known as The Madness Place.
    • Practically half the cast are mad scientists of one sort or another, though the ones that come closest to the classic villain type are probably Prince Wilhelm Aaronev and the late Lucrezia Mongfish.
    • There’s even a mad social scientist, who complains that the mad «hard» scientists get all of the funding and attention.
«

«I told the baron, give me a thousand orphans, a hedge maze and enough cheese and I can—»

»
  • There are also sparks that are more mad about art than science.
  • Agatha awakening to her mad science is what starts and drives the entire story forward, and raises the question …or will her newfound mad science DESTROY THEM ALL!
  • Mad Scientist Laboratory: (Зловещая лаборатория) Several, most notably those belonging to Baron Wulfenbach and Prince Aaronev. And all of the ones in Castle Heterodyne.
  • Magnetic Hero: (Обаяшка) Any and all Sparks; their manic vision pulls normal people into their service. The only ones able to withstand this are good minions whose entire purpose for existence seems to be to keep the Sparks focused on not blowing up their labs.
  • Mama Bear: (Родительский инстинкт) Von Pinn, and how. She’s actually the Muse of protection, downloaded into a construct body. The «bear» part gets much more literal later on.
  • Mauve Shirt: (Лиловые рубашки) Sergeant Scorp of the Baron’s Vespiary Squad. Also an unquestionably Cool Old Guy, right down to the superb facial hair.
  • Meaningful Name: (Говорящее имя)
    • This example contains a TRIVIA entry. It should be moved to the TRIVIA tab.Word of God has it that Theopholous DuMedd was originally «doomed» to be killed off in volume 3, but the Foglios so enjoyed him that he stuck around.
    • Most likely Sleipnir O’Hara wasn’t supposed to be kept around either. Agatha needed a roommate to introduce her to the world of the Baron’s flying castle, so the Foglios gave her someone to «sleep near».
    • The town of Mechanicsburg (Which is only minimally anglicized German for «mechanical castle») is integrated with the, indeed, mechanical Castle Heterodyne.
    • Bangladesh DuPree. Bang duPrey. Or Du-praved.
    • Heterodyne: The principle of periodic functions upon which theremins and radio modulation rely. Possibly related to the Theme Music Power-Up.
    • Portentius Reichenbach’s Portentous Operatic Masterpiece: The Storm King.
    • Othar Tryggvassen, Gentleman Adventurer. His surname roughly means «Safe Waters» in the North Countries where he’s said to be from.
    • Doctor Chouteh (pronounced shout-ay) is a Large Ham of ridiculous proportions.
    • Agatha’s foster parents are called Adam and Lilith and it doesn’t look like they are very god-fearing. Not to mention their surname, Clay. (Note that they almost certainly picked these names for themselves.)
  • Mechanical Evolution: (Чужеродная машина) Inverted; Agatha tends to compulsively construct little Clanks termed «dingbots». These dingbots can then go on to construct more dingbots, but dingbots are only so bright, so each successive generation gets less and less advanced, and less bright, and by the third or fourth generation the dingbots produced are nonfunctional.
  • Mentor Occupational Hazard: (Профессиональный риск ментора) Dr. Tarsus Beetle, who kept Agatha at the university because he knew the truth about her, dies in the first story arc.+он ещё и учитель Вульфенбаха
  • Mexican Standoff: (Мексиканская заминка) Subverted between Klaus and Dr. Beetle.
  • Miles Gloriosus: (Аника-воин) Subverted with the Jäger generals, whose apparent reluctance to wade into combat in Mechanicsburg seems to have been down to keeping an eye on each other’s antics rather than any kind of actual reluctance to fight. Once the fighting starts, they mostly argue over details.
  • Milky White Eyes: Geisterdamen and possibly other geistercreatures.
  • Mini-Mecha: (Мини-меха) Ol' Vorthang’s Sunday Best, an armor museum piece in Mechanicsburg, was restored to operation by Agatha during the Battle of Mechanicsburg for her personal use.
  • Missing Mom: (Пропавшая мама) Missing mothers for everyone!
    • The identity of Gilgamesh Wulfenbach’s mother is unknown, although heavily hinted to be the Queen of Skifander.
    • Similarly, we’ve never met Tarvek’s mother and don’t know much about her beyond being on the royal House Valois lineage (thus making Tarvek such too). In one of the print-novels, it’s strongly implied that Tarvek’s sister murdered her.
    • Zigzagged with Agatha. For most of her life, Agatha didn’t have any contact with her parents, or even know who they were. Eventually resolved (although Agatha probably wishes it hadn’t) when a copy of her mother’s personality gets downloaded into her head, and it turns that her mother was always a self-centered, genocidal-dominatrical, infanticidal, mass-murderer… unless she actually wasn’t, as it’s not at all clear whether the entity now calling itself Agatha’s mother is actually the same one that married Agatha’s father all those years ago.
  • Mister Muffykins: (Отвратительная шавка) Jenka is not a fan of the little dogs most society women favor as pets, and as such keeps her Jäger Bear Fust with her even when she’s playing the part of «Lady Jenka».
«

Jenka: Ta da! So today I am Lady Jenka—mysterious und eccentric beauty! Agatha: Eccentric? Jenka: Well, yes. Most society ladies favor little dogs. Have you seen those things? So noisy—and they never really eat anybody.

»
  • Modesty Towel: (Прикрыться полотенцем) Agatha actually invokes the trope while on the Corbettite Railways, using it as a ploy to distract anybody entering her compartiment, giving time for Krosp (and later Wooster) to take them out if they happen to be hostile. Unluckily, all those coming to visit are either allies or just train attendants, and thus she gives each of them an eyeful for nothing. She has pretty much given up on the pretense when an actual assassin shows up.
  • Monster Clown: (Зловещий клоун) Whatever this thing originally was made for, among other things, probably.
  • Mood Whiplash: (Эмоциональные качели)
    • The calming pie does its intended purpose. (Warning: spoilery. And the pies may contain nutmeg.)
    • Say-…
    • Agatha gets whiplash herself.
    • After a hilarious scene of Gil simultaneously fighting DuPree and brewing potion, next time we see him we get… Klaus towering over him with a wasp-detector.
  • Mook Horror Show: (Кошмар головореза) The flashback of Zeetha wiping out a whole pirate ship sure looks like this in a couple panels.
  • Moral Myopia: (Готтентотская мораль)
    • Klaus and heroes often suffer from this trope. For example, the Storm King Conspiracy and the Other are hated for their murderous, violent, manipulative and underhanded behavior and tactics. While the heroic or neutral characters tend to be much more benevolent and restrained, they also have little in the way of hesitation in using similar methods as their enemies to achieve their goals.
    • Bang was a murderous, sadistic pirate long before she met Klaus, but he and Gil often look the other way regarding her actions while severely punishing others for lesser infractions.
    • Merlot blames Agatha for the fact that he killed a few dozen people and got punished for it.
  • Mugging the Monster: (Не на того напали)
    • Oublenmach tries to break into what turns out to be a Jägermonster bar, brandish his weapon and threaten the staff into giving him what they consider a sacred relic. The next time we see him, he’s subjected to a Neck Lift by Mama Gkika.
    • The last surviving hostile Spark in Mechanisburg found himself «a charming pair of innocent hostages»: Zeetha, daughter of Chump and Axel Higgs. Next time we see him, he’s wearing his BFG as a scarf.
  • Mushroom Samba: (Глазами сумасшедшего/Приглючения в Глюколяндии) The Circus pumps out a hallucinogenic gas during their escape from Sturmhaven, shout «The Heterodynes are back!» and we get this little gem.
    • Van has a small one when he tries some of Agatha’s new coffee.
  • Must Have Caffeine: (Кофеман) Vanamonde von Mekkhan spends all his time in a coffee shop in Mechanicsburg, and certainly does enjoy his coffee. During the first attack on Mechanicsburg, there’s a caffeine dispensing assistant at his side. He has even written a textbook on coffee preparation (under a pseudonym): Bean There, Done That.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: (Что я наделал!)
    • Basically the Fatal Flaw of every Spark in the world. Entering «The Madness Place» grants them incredibly powerful focus, but it makes them entirely oblivious to the potentially disastrous results of their creations.
    • Specifically, Aaronev Sturmvoraus and his dying daughter, though certainly said by others in this world.
  • Offing the Offspring: (Я тебя породил, я тебя и убью) What Lucrezia purportedly did to her own son, and now plans for her daughter.
  • Oh, Crap!: (Осознание катастрофы)
    • «This must be how my father feels — ALL THE TIME!»
    • Klaus, realizing Lucrezia has enslaved him and when Agatha activates the Battle Circus.
    • In a subverted Big Damn Heroes moment:
«

«Who in blazes is that?» «Why, I am OTHAR TRYGGVASSEN, Gentleman Adventurer!» «Uh oh.»

»
  • Amusingly invoked here.
  • And here
  • Everyone is thinking it as the Baron puts a Wasp Weasel in Gil’s face and watches it shriek. Even you and Gil.
  • Maxim as he realizes that, since he has Old Man Death’s hat, every Jäger around is going to fight him for it.
  • Mamma Gkika when she sees that the previously unstoppable falling object heading toward the cathedral contains Baron Wulfenbach himself — or the fact that he seems to be carrying a bomb. Probably both. Most of those who saw the contraption for the first time have a small Oh Crap moment when they realize that the castle’s defenses weren’t stopping it.
  • Brother Ulm has this reaction, when it turns out that his new passanger is Agatha Heterodyne. He almost presses the ejection button.
  • An unfortunate assassin gets this, when after popping into Agatha’s train car, he realizes he’s surrounded by Zeetha, Krosp, Wooster, Margarella and Violetta, all of whom have weapons trained on him.
«

Assassin: Uh-oh… Erm… sorry, wrong room?

»
  • Gil wants to know how long they have before the multistoreyed thing over Mechanicsburg pushes through into this reality. Hard to tell, says the Castle, which can’t see it…
«

Castle: How many centimeters high would you say it appears?

»
  • Straight-up followed by the castle having one itself when Gil gives it visual input:
«

Castle: That’s much be— AAAAAAAH!

»
  • A wave of energy disables all mechanisms in the area, and Agatha’s standing near the epicenter. Violetta realizes the implications involving a certain Other-suppressing locket.
  • When the castle decides to put out the fire in one of it’s room by using the water from its cistern, the cast that is standing right underneath it is more than likely thinking this and This Is Gonna Suck.
  • When Zola tells Lucrezia that Barry is no threat both are horrified by how badly she just tempted fate.
  • A wordless one when Albia takes back control over the British commandos Lucrezia brought in. This is even lampshaded on the same page.
«

Albia: We suspect she is used to thinking she cannot be stopped.

»
  • When Gil sees the eldritch horrors emerging into the time-stopped Mechanicsburg, the Castle remarks that the last time something like that showed up, they were much smaller, had tentacles, and «had hats». Obviously, this is just another goofy Noodle Incident the likes of which this comic so loves, as an Eldritch Abomination in a funny hat is, well, funny. Later on, Gil realizes it was describing the Dreen.
  • Agatha and co. have tracked the stolen Prende’s Chronometric Lantern to a previously-empty island which now appears to have ancient ruins on it, much to their surprise. While they wonder if the records have been falsified and if so, why, an amused Bang points out to Krosp that there’s another possible explanation — after all, the Lantern manipulates time. Who knows what the thieves might have been up to? Cue massive Oh, Crap reaction from Krosp.
  • Ominous Pipe Organ: (Зловещая органная музыка) At one point a flipped-out Agatha directs a small army of clanks (including Transforming Mecha and Luggage) with a This example contains a YMMV entry. It should be moved to the YMMV tab.high-falutin calliope. Doubles as visual Awesome Music. And perhaps a literal version of Autobots, Rock Out!.
  • Omnidisciplinary Scientist: (Учёный-всезнайка) Though Sparks do specialize, it appears that most of the really strong ones can stitch a living being out of spare body parts as easily as they can build a mechanical AI… or design an electric death ray or a giant airship. Only minor Sparks appear to be restricted to a discipline, as opposed to simply being best at one.
  • One-Gender Race: (Нет женщин и детей) There are no female dragons. This is because all dragons are one-off Spark creations, and even at their most unhinged, Sparks aren’t crazy enough to want to see what happens if they start breeding.
  • Only a Flesh Wound: (Безобидная рана)
«

Gil: Seven broken ribs. Severe fracture, right leg. Fractured clavicle. Some crush injuries, but the kidneys appear unharmed. First and second degree burns on upper back and lower legs, third degree on the lower back. Four broken fingers, three broken toes, sprained and bruised muscles throughout — major and minor lacerations, and a concussion. Klaus: I’ve had worse.

»
  • Only Known by Their Nickname: (Известен под псевдонимом)
    • Played with when Dimo and Violetta describe the Storm King’s favorite weapons. Dimo calls the sword «Slasher» and the mace «Smasher», while Violetta corrects him with «Archimedes' Lever» and «The Platonic Solid». They both agree that both weapons were extremely powerful, and their full abilities were unknown.
    • It’s a long time before the reader learns that «Grandmother’s» actual given name is Terebithia.
  • Only Sane Man: (Единственный нормальный человек)
    • Von Zinzer. Good news is, he has a lot of experience dealing with Sparks, which also gives him lots of Genre Savvy, though he’s also somewhat fatalistic — he’s resigned to the fact that having to work for Sparks means he could be blown up, eaten, ripped apart or otherwise brutally killed at any time. No wonder he can be so snarky. Given the large number of Sparks and Spark minions he has recently been hanging around with, he is sometimes literally the only person in the room who is not crazy. He regularly hangs lampshades on it, too.
    • Krosp has also been this at times. Just not when the string is going to escape.
  • Единственный нормальный человек — Молох фон Цинцер. Окружён Искрами, безумцами, суперсолдатами, шпионами, а он просто хочет спокойно жить…
    • Безвестный военный, отказавшийся пропускать Гила, несмотря на его шляпу. Благодаря чему и пошёл на повышение (если выжил).
    • Agatha spends some time in the role, although she’s not actually very sane, and (ahem) certainly not a man. Especially during the Mechanicsburg arc, where she was trying to pull. In general, she, her father and her uncle are typically set up as the only «sane» men where Sparks (and especially their family of Sparks) are concerned: while as much of a Mad Scientist as any other, unlike most Sparks Agatha has a strong moral code, takes responsibility for the consequences of her actions, and won’t usually do things just because she can. While she loves building Death Ray Cannons, she yet has to actually use it like the name implies instead of shoot the scenery. Also, unlike most she’s more than capable of ignoring the urge to do mad science if there’s something more pressing to pay attention to. Usually when there’s another Spark in a scene, Agatha will be the «normal» one or even the Straight Man in comparison.
    • Klaus, and to a lesser extent Gil, in regards to politics and Europa as a whole. A lot of mention is made of the fact that Klaus is basically a babysitter for an entire continent of childish megalomaniacs, selfish nobles and rampaging monsters — not to mention feuding henchmen and an absolutely psychotic dragon. He even becomes more or less a literal babysitter since he has requested that all royals give him their future heirs so he can raise and teach them in his castle — as a way to ensure that the next generation isn’t warmongering and batshit crazy. It gets the point that while he’s actually a very composed person, he has to play up the brutal tyrant act just to get things done, which Gil lampshades.
    • Before Time Skip, Tarvek Stormvoraus is the only known important player in his family who doesn’t spend all his time plotting the murder of rivals. He’s even used his extensive logistical and assassination training to prevent Wulfenbach soldiers being wasped!
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business: (ООС — это серьёзно)
    • Bangladesh DuPree not choosing at once the «let’s blow everything up» option gets her second-in-command worried. She was just fooling around, however.
    • On a much more serious note, later on when Agatha is trying to power up the Castle, Gilgamesh’s behavior is extremely off, and even Franz notices it despite having never met him. Turns out that he’s been brainwashed by Klaus.
    • When it is revealed that Klaus’s mucking about with the space-time continuum has attracted the attention of an Eldritch Abomination, Castle Heterodyne freaks out. The Castle is worried.
    • When Gil orders DuPree to hunt the librarians together with him after they trespassed into the airship, not only gets he horrifically angry, but even the Ax-Crazy Blood Knight Bangladesh asks about whether or not he feels OK and lampshades that she herself is also having one since she is so confused by his behavior that she is for once listening to his rambling.
    • When one of the Old Heterodynes holds to a promise to never terrorize someone’s lands, you know whatever it was that compelled them to make such a promise to begin with was something horrible indeed. That is the case with Robur Heterodyne and whatever timey-wimey device he made that resulted in the Dreen appearing, and his promise to the Corbettite Order in exchange for their aid in dealing with it.
    • Krosp is seriously disturbed by Martellus’s cat. How disturbed? He’s not hungry. This causes everyone to turn to him, and Agatha to look into what’s going on.
    • The librarians of the Uncorruptible Library are generally willing to trade their lives to protect a sufficiently precious book, so when librarian Vipsania Perrault proposes setting a book on fire as bait, Lumi expresses astonishment. Vipsania is still closing her eyes as the book is set alight.
  • Our Vampires Are Different: (Вампир) Just to be clear, no Spark would ever profane the very nature of life and death by fashioning a terrible creature of the night, a nosferatu craving the blood of the living. That would be wrong! Very, very wrong. Vampires are obviously, completely, totally mythical and do not exist in any real, concrete sense that might abruptly pop up and devour you. No matter what Dame Aedith or Carson von Mekkhan say.
«

Wooster: Um… we’re not going to meet some ancient undead Heterodyne vampire or something, are we? Carson: Oh, and wouldn’t that be the perfect capper to my day. Wooster: Um, actually, that wasn’t a «Ho ho, don’t be silly old chap.» Carson: I ain’t being paid to lie to you, Brit.

»
  • Our Werewolves Are Different: (Оборотни) The exact details have not been explained, but lycanthropy has been mentioned to be a thing, and one of the Knights of Jove has demonstrated the ability to shapeshift into a wolfman form. (Or he’s normally a wolfman all the time and the Sparky armor he is forced to discard was making him look human…)
  • Our Zombies Are Different: (Зомби) Several different types. Besides «traditional» zombies of the Type F or Type V variety, they also have Jägermonsters and Constructs, which are essentially Type A creations, and Revenants, which despite the name are more a cross of Type T and Type P, Parasite than Type R zombies: infected by a slaver wasp, they are like sleeper agents, going about their business and not even realizing they are infected until triggered to fight on the behalf of «the Other».
  • Overly Long Name: (Длинное имя)
    • «I am Zola Anya Talinka Venia Zeblinkya Malfeazium.»
    • In the «Cinderella» omake, Cinderella’s full name is really Sleeping Beauty Snow White Rapunzel Ozma Rose Red Riding Hood Rumpelstiltskin. (No, really. Just don’t ask.)
    • Boris Vasily Konstantin Andrei Myshkin Dolokhov. A case of All There in the Script, since his full name isn’t disclosed in the comic, and comes from The Works and the novelization.
  • Pink Elephants: (Напиться до зелёных чертей) Some drinks are so potent the drinkers see flying pink mimmoths.
  • Please Put Some Clothes On: (Одеть женщину)
    • Gil is very polite about it when he encounters a subordinate who’d gone Sleepwalking:
«

Gil: Oh, there is one thing… If you’re going to be working with me, I’d appreciate it if you wore clothes. Agatha: [realizing she’s still in her underwear] EEP!

»
  • Violetta phrases it a little less politely in one strip.
«

Violetta: All right, you buffoon — I dug around in the back room and found you some clothes. So get dressed!

»
  • She may be too busy saving your stupid life to notice, but you’re not going to walk around in front of my lady without pants!
  • After freeing Othar Tryggvassen — Gentleman Adventurer! — from the frozen time bubble, and explaining to him the new situation in Europa, Gil Wulfenbach asks him, for goodness sake, to put a shirt on… because his Shirtless Scene is a big distraction for Gil’s subordinates, who are busy Eating the Eye Candy rather than doing their jobs. They’re all quite disappointed.
  • Plot Armor: (Сюжетная броня) While named characters do die, it’s still a rare occurrence, compared to the casualty rate of the Mooks. To show that this is not due to the characters following the What Measure Is a Mook? trope, they often try but fail to kill their significant enemies. It’s become a minor Running Gag for characters to complain their gun pulls to the left just after they only wounded their opponent with it.
  • Poison and Cure Gambit: (Создать проблему и продавать решение) Given a Mad Scientist twist — the man who administered the poison is the cure, and it only works if he’s alive, so Agatha needs to stay close and keep him safe. Until she subverts it with a substitute. By the next page.
  • Poor Communication Kills: (Коммуникативная неудача) Subverted in some cases, played straight in others.
    • Instead of explaining to Agatha that Othar is an insane serial killer of Sparks, Gil basically tries to cow her into ignoring that he and his father are imprisoning a well-known hero. When Agatha worries for Othar’s safety during an evacuation, Gil tries to brush it off again. He does begin to explain after she gives him a hard look but by then she was already going back to save Othar.
    • Agatha’s possession by the Other is set up as a big secret that could cause all sorts of problems, but Zeetha goes out of her way to mention it to Gil at the very first opportunity. However, Klaus is not aware of the true situation, and is unlikely to be willing to talk about it now that he’s been wasped, and knows that talking would allow her to control him.
    • Subverted again, and significantly, here. Dimo has just informed the Jägergenerals and Klaus’s leadership about the situation, which will presumably reach Klaus’s ears presently. Whether Klaus believes him remains to be seen. The generals seem confident that Agatha can beat the Other.
    • The Uncorruptible Library figures out that Gil is underneath some form of mind control. Not realizing it is actually his father’s doing, they assume that he is a revenant and decide to kidnap Tarvek instead of negotiating with Gil. The Knights of Jove take advantage to hijack their kidnapping scheme, causing all sorts of trouble.
    • Agatha sends out a bunch of messenger clanks to warn Klaus Wulfenbach about her possession by the Other. The only surviving messenger clank gets intercepted by Albia’s agents. Due to a mixture of this trope and Bystander Syndrome, the message never makes it to its intended audience, or even to Queen Albia herself. Albia’s agents decide that keeping the message to themselves is an excellent way to make Klaus’s life harder. By the time they are ready to send it higher up, Agatha and Klaus have both been frozen in time, making them think it isn’t relevant anymore. When they start seeing signs that it might be relevant again, they again decide to ignore it to cause Gilgamesh Wulfenbach trouble. By the time the clank resurfaces, its original purpose has become completely irrelevant.
  • Powered Armor: (Силовая броня)
    • The fighting-augmentation exoskeleton, an exoskeleton that speeds up and amplifies Agatha’s movements as well as responds to attacks.
    • Also Vorthang Heterodyne’s «sunday best» armor, which Agatha repairs during the battle for Mechanicsburg. This one may also cross over into Mecha territory.
  • Power Trio: (Золотое трио)
    • Also Agatha, Gil and Tarvek, which have subtropes such as Blonde, Brunette, Redhead and Two Guys and a Girl.
  • Золотое трио — троица главгероев: рубака Гильгамеш, профессиональный убийца Тарвек и безумная изобретательница Агата.
  • Precursors: (Предтечи) There is an ancient civilization predating even the God Queens. They mastered a science revolving around dimensions, space, and time, allowing them to construct a Portal Network that even modern Sparks struggle to understand.
  • Primal Scene: (Прерванный секс) Possibly parodied in the novelization, where we learn that the young Agatha was deeply traumatized when she walked in on her adoptive parents recharging each other with generators.
  • Proud Warrior Race Guy: (Воинственная раса) The Jägers in general, with varying degrees of «proud» and «warrior» for individuals. For example, when Boris beats the crap out of a Jäger messenger to find out where the generals were meeting, their response was surprise and respect, saying that he’d «earned» the right to talk with them. Also, they take their oath of loyalty very seriously. General Goomblast even explains that the reason the Jägers hate the Other’s bugs is that they force people to obey.
  • Psychic Powers: (Псионические способности) Second stage Sparks have abilities that are, for all intents and purposes, magic. Their brains tap into another dimension with energies that can be controlled by the mind, allowing them to use Telepathy, live indefinitely, and bend the environment to their will.
  • Psycho Serum:
    • The waters of the River Dyne.
    • Movit#11 is no joke either.
  • Public Secret Message:
    • Jenka and Füst are confronted during an apparent rampage in the town of Zumzum by Da Boyz who declare that they were «… Charged by the ancient contract vit' de job ov savin' all dese people!» Considering that the Jägers only started serving Baron Wulfenbach about 15 years ago, reference to an ancient contract by any of them can only mean one thing: the Jägertroth. Not missing a beat, Jenka beats feet out of there to meet in a more discrete location with them to get apprised.
    • The Baron tells the Storyteller a strange variant on an old tale, involving a witch riding on a wolf’s back. He tells the Storyteller that Gil has a copy of a long-lost book to motivate the man to go to Gil. When Tarvek and Gil hear the story, Tarvek immediately gets what it means: the Baron has been wasped by the Other, a message he couldn’t have told them directly.
  • Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: (ЭТО! СПАРТА!)
    • «What. Do. You. WANT.»
    • This! Was! Not! My! Plan!
    • Never. Lost. A. Fight.
  • Puppeteer Parasite: (Разумный паразит) Slaver wasps. Early versions just turned people into mindless revenants. Later versions could create sleeper agents who behaved otherwise normally unless given a command by the Other. The latest version can even infest Sparks, who were otherwise immune due to drastically different mental states from normal people.
  • Race Lift: (Сменить расу в адаптации) In-Universe, the actors playing Agatha and Tarvek in Master Payne’s Circus of Adventure are both Ambiguously Brown.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: (Зловещие красные глаза)
    • The Monster Horse
    • Ferretina, the Weasel Queen
    • Also, the Dingbots in Bomb mode.
  • Religion of Evil: (Религия зла) The Geisterdamen worship the Other.
  • Retcon: (Реткон) These pages. 1 2 Look at Sergeant Scorp’s hat at in the bottom panel of page one, and then in the first panel of page 2. See the change? Standard Wulfenbach wings change to Vespiary Squad wings.
  • Retired Badass: (Крутой в отставке) An old Mechanicsburg sandwich-maker shows up in one of the side stories. He is nicknamed «Old Man Death» — by the Jägers. Turns out he used to run with them back in his youth — and never lost a fight. He still can forcibly boot one out of his shop now, leading to the «three tries» rule.
  • Retirony: (Ирония отставки) Do not total your points out loud if you’re on a labor team in Castle Heterodyne. If you talk about how your sentence is almost up, the Castle is likely to go out of its way to invoke this on you.
  • Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: (Награда для предателя) Klaus Wulfenbach despises traitors, as Merlot humiliatingly learns. Klaus promotes him to replace Dr. Beetle, telling him that as soon as he makes a single mistake, he’ll be sent to Castle Heterodyne. And sure enough, later on Agatha finds him in Castle Heterodyne. He’s not happy with her.
  • Rhymes on a Dime: (Говорит стихами) Paris’s «Child Wagon» clanks, designed to round up hordes of naughty children, talk in rhymes.
  • Rodents of Unusual Size: (Гигантские грызуны)
    • The Sturmhalten guides' description of «normal» sewer rats.
    • There are also giant bunnies in one of the side-stories.
    • In an inversion, mimmoths (tiny mammoths) seem to have crowded out much of the normal mouse’s place in the ecosystem.
    • The English spark Dr. Monahan has created the traditional version of this trope; according to semi-canonical sources, she may have used a Rat-Stretching Device. Later taken up to eleven when Monahan becomes a God-Queen and creates kaiju-sized rats during her duel with Lucrezia.
  • Sarcasm Mode: (Сарказм) «Hmm, yes… I can see how that must be very embarrassing for you.»
  • Schizo Tech: (Шизотех)
    • And how. Telegraph, radio, telephone? Nope. Motor cars? One seen so far. Heavier-than-air aircraft? Two prototypes. Strong AI, lasers and resurrection are perfectly possible, though.
    • This trope works against the development of artillery. Sure, Sparks have found numerous ways to turn a glut of grounded energy into concentrated destruction — Agatha once built a death ray with enough power and range to blast out of Mechanicsburg and through a mountain… but in trying to overspecialize and overcompensate in pure power, Sparks tend to create surface-to-blimp weapon prototypes that are finnicky at best and disastrous at worst. As such, there are no standardized forms of artillery, so it’s never mass-produced in a world with slow-flying giant targets.
  • Schmuck Bait: (Ловушка для любопытных)
    • The tantalizingly labelled buttons in the last panel of this strip.
    • Lucrezia’s lab has a brightly colored gumball machine with a small sign above labeled «Poison! — brought to you by the Illiteracy Reduction Campaign.»
    • A would-be conqueror by the name of X the Destroyer accidentally made some when he assumed that the great big X in the fields outside Mechanicsburg (Which the locals use to zero in the artillery on the walls) was the place he was supposed to erect his pavilion while awaiting the city’s surrender.
  • Science Fantasy: (Технофэнтези) Steampunk meets fantasy. In-universe, most of the weird is non-supernatural and comes from the scientific creations of madscientists… but how those mad scientists draw upon advanced knowledge is the most supernatural thing in the comic. Some of this magic includes stuff like the river Dyne which turns humans into Jaegers (orcs) and uniquely strengthens The Madness Place of Heterodyne Sparks, Geisterdamen (who come from the distant past by time travel), Frankenstein-esque reanimated corpses, the aformentioned Jaegermonsters (non-human beings with superhuman strength and lifespans who are former humans who drank the «Jaegerdraught»), multiple cases of Brain Uploading, the castle Heterodyne’s seemingly telekinetic ability to move chunks of itself, and an entire mostly-dead cabal of demigoddesses who harnessed the powers of ancient civilizations to become Super-Sparks, including the surviving GodEmpress Albia of Britain. And all of this fantasy takes place in a world with blimps, supercomputers, genetic engineering, more automatic rifles than WWII, and more complex Real Politik than WWI.
  • Science Hero: (Профессор Героикус) Agatha, Gil, Ta— actually damn near every spark that is not a homicidal lunatic and/or scheming manipulator… and frankly a couple who are.
  • Science Is Bad: (Наука — это плохо‏) All through the story and backstory, the most reckless applications of science are performed regularly by those most educated and talented at it. However, it’s Played for Laughs often enough to parody the Aesop; when Science Is Really Bad, it’s Crazy Awesome!
  • Self-Deprecation: (Самоирония)
    • Phil Foglio’s Author Avatar is repeatedly shown to be an incredibly boring storyteller, to the point that in the Mechanicsburg hospital he’s put to work telling stories to sick kids… because they fall asleep without the need for medication.
    • The Author Avatar of the colorist, Cheyenne Wright, is a Large Ham and the Laughably Evil ruler of an underground kingdom.
  • Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: (Чувствительный парень и брутальный мужик) Tarvek and Gil to a degree.
  • She Is the King: (Король-женщина) When Colette succeeds her father, she decides to stick to the term «Master of Paris», since «Mistress of Paris» would make it sound like — in her own words — «the ultimate demimondaine».
  • Shipper on Deck: (Внутрисеттинговый шиппер)
    • Moloch (and practically everyone else) ships Agatha×Gil; Violetta ships Agatha×Tarvek (cue This example contains a YMMV entry. It should be moved to the YMMV tab.Ship-to-Ship Combat).
    • Then there are Zeetha, «Jäger girls», Jägers, the crowd…
    • Castle Heterodyne appears to ship 'em both. Really, it ships Agatha×Anything with a viable set of male reproductive organs, though it prefers guys who are strong, violent, and sparky. It’s implied that this was the way the «old» Heterodynes operated, since the castle comes equipped with «harem quarters» and it’s mentioned that the master bedroom «only sleeps six.»
    • Tarvek ships Higgs×Zeetha. Higgs' blush in the 2nd panel argues he’s right.
    • Agatha also ships Higgs and Zeetha, going so far as to plan an elaborate display for Queen Albia (involving a horde of Jägers and a giant mech suit) to allow Zeetha and Higgs the opportunity to dance together.
    • The supporting cast now has a betting pool. Most root for Gil, Tarvek or a One True Threesome, except for a Jäger who bets on himself.
    • Zeetha ships Larana X Jiminez Hoffman.
  • Shirtless Scene: (Рубашка не нужна) A fair number with Gil and Tarvek, and a few others (the Baron comes to mind). Tarvek did one long one wearing but a bedsheet, and Gil did a shorter scene wearing first just that, then… less. The battle of most skin exposed continues.
    • Professor Mittlemind is also technically an example of this in every scene he appears in, but.. yeah.
  • Shoulders of Doom: (Самоубийственные наплечники) Zeetha approves.+Гил в сцене с чужой одеждой у ягербара
  • Show Some Leg: (Отвлечь с помощью женщины) Zulenna attempts it, though it’s subverted on the next page.
  • Single Tear: (Скупая мужская слеза) Vanamonde sheds one after just one sip of the perfect cup of coffee.
  • Slasher Smile: (Улыбашка)
    • The Jägermonsters' mouths open literally from ear to ear and are full of very big fangs.
    • Most Sparks pull off magnificent examples of this at least once when they’re in their element.
    • Bangladesh DuPree seems to wear it professionally.
    • Zola develops an impressive Slasher Smile after taking the Movit #11.
    • Invoked by Sparafucile in this strip:
«

Sparafucile: You see, at the university, I studied behavioral psychology. With a minor in theater. My dissertation combined the two. Maxim: …Vitch means? Sparafucile: Which means that all I usually have to do is smile like this— [demonstrates] and I don’t have to kill anybody!

»
  • The Smart Guy: (Умник) Practically all of the characters are pretty smart. Krosp is an example of the rare GG smart guy who’s also the Only Sane Man of the group.
  • Умник — Тарвек Штурмфораус — смесь «Проныры» с «Планировщиком». Научными знаниями и техническими навыками в среде Искр никого не удивишь, зато острый аналитический ум, обширные социальные связи и умение выкручиваться из любой ситуации здорово выделяют Тарвека из рядов тупых технарей, привыкших решать все свои проблемы с помощью луча смерти помощнее.
  • The Spartan Way: (Спартанские тренировки) The Skifander warrior training Zeetha puts Agatha through is meant to leave the trainee almost entirely incapable of movement for the first few hours after it’s complete each morning during the early stages.
  • Адские тренировки — тренировки, которым Гита подвергает Агату. Как бы так сформулировать… «цель первого дня — измотать обучаемую так, чтобы она и стоять-то не могла!»
  • Speak in Unison: (Унисон)
    • Gil and Tarvek both end up finishing each other’s sentences and speaking in unison when they’re both in The Madness Place and working towards the same goal, especially after they’re synced to try and save Tarvek’s life. At one point in Castle Heterodyne they start speaking in unison even though they’re each talking about a different occasion:
«

Gil & Tarvek: I though you were dead! After losing you like that once, I’m going to make sure you’re safe if it’s the last thing I do!

»
  • One of Captain Hawkins' crew and the Smoke Knight she’s fighting say «Oooh — You are so lucky» to each other in unison when Hawkins calls a truce upon realizing they’ve got a bigger concern than the Smoke Knights incoming fast.
  • In Master Payne’s new Heterodyne play, the actors for Gil and Tarvek tend to speak simultaneously. After watching it, the real Gil and Tarvek catch themselves doing the same («I need… a drink.»), to their dismay.
  • Later, Gil and Martellus find themselves making the exact same quip at the same time to Tarvek. They’re rather annoyed.
«

Tarvek: Great, so now we’re considered an irritant. Gil & Martellus: You should be used to that! [beat panel, mutual glare] Gil: Well, that takes out all the fun out of it. Martellus: Jinx! You owe me a drink.

»
  • Spikes of Villainy: (Злодейские шипы)
    • Jägers, while not evil as such, like this style. Although he’s one of the good guys, Gil receives some spare epically spikey shoulder pads as they were the only clothing on hand at the time. Even the hat has spikes of its own.
    • Later, one Jäger general wears long, bone-looking shoulder spikes. At least in his case, these are quite functional.
    • Agatha’s Humongous Mecha here has spikes on it. Well, she is the protagonist, but she is also a Heterodyne.
    • Professor Blintzie von Wyrmhaut has long, dangerous-looking spikes sprouting from the shoulders of her coat, and smaller ones from the top of her thigh-high boots. And she’s certainly a dangerous and amoral Spark. Although in her line of work (which includes hunting monsters), the spikes are certainly justified as a defense against being swallowed whole.
  • Squishy Wizard: (Хлипкий маг) Averted. For no explained reason, Sparks appear to be stronger, faster, better coordinated (okay, this one is more understandable), and tougher than any normal human. This isn’t counting Sparks that may have modified themselves.
  • Stalker with a Crush: (Сталкинг) There are hints of this with Zola toward Gil, especially after she starts in on her Sanity Slippage. And it’s a full-blown life-long case with him as the target for Seffie.
  • Stripperiffic: (Одевается в секс-шопе)
    • While a great many female characters don’t seem to have a problem showing a little skin, the «Weasel Queen» shows a lot of it.
    • Zeetha spent some time roughing out in Mechanicsburg and the Castle while wearing just a leather bikini and boots. But then again, it wasn’t her fault.
    • During the Paris plot-arc, Agatha, Zeetha and Dimo all end up wearing harem-garb for an extended period.
  • Superpowerful Genetics: (Родомагия)
    • The Spark is hereditary, and the most powerful Sparks in the series descend from a handful of noble lineages: Heterodyne, Wulfenbach, Mongfish, and the various Valois lineages are the most important.
    • As a very odd example, children of fertile constructs inherit their parent’s Super-Strength.
  • Super Serum: (Военный препарат) Many of them. Overdosing is always a concern, whether it’s the Movit series of Smoke Knight pick-me-ups («Drugs! Lovely, lovely drugs!»), the water of the river Dyne («I LIKE IT!»), or the Jägerdraught and Battledraught brewed using the latter.
  • Super-Soldier: (Суперсолдаты)
    • The Jägermonsters, who were created by the old «bad» Heterodynes as shock troops but then had to obey the «good» Heterodynes due to the oath of loyalty they take very seriously (though are still capable of breaking; look at Captain Vole). One of the ingredients of the Jägerbrau used to transform people into Jägers is water from the river Dyne, which Heterodynes are known for drinking and gaining superhuman strength as a result.
    • And don’t forget Von Pinn. Or else.
    • And Airman Higgs is looking mighty super, recently…
  • Суперсолдаты — отряды из боевых конструктов есть на службе у любой уважающей себя Искры. Самые меметичные и колоритные — оркоподобные солдаты Гетеродинов Ягермонстры: сильнее, быстрее и ловчее человека, бессмертные и страшно живучие. Так как Гетеродины перерабатывали в Ягеров исключительно наиболее верных своих слуг, служат своим хозяевам они совершенно добровольно и безо всякого промывания мозгов.
  • Super-Speed: (Суперскорость) The various Movit tonics, while not exactly granting super speed, give people temporarily increased speed and energy with some implied physical toll later on. Half a bottle of Movit #6 got Tarvek on his feet for hours though he was fatally ill, and a few sips of Movit #11 turned Zola from a reasonably good fighter into a crazy battle goddess. And then Airman Higgs shows us all what super speed really is.
  • Supervillain Lair: (Твердыня тьмы) Any Spark who reaches a certain level of power will build themselves one of these, with Mechanicsburg and Castle Heterodyne being one of the most prominent examples. One of the novelizations explains that Klaus Wulfenbach not only tolerates that his fellow Sparks construct such lairs, but even encourages them — as every minute they spend building or improving their lair is a minute where they aren’t unleashing Mad Science on the surrounding countryside.
  • Твердыня тьмы — у барона фон Вульфенбаха, являющегося по совместительству диктатором всея Восточной Европы, эту роль выполняет замок Вульфенбах в обеих его версиях — и обычный замок, стоящий в Трансильвании на ручье Вульфенбах, и куда чаще используемый одноименный циклопический дирижабль, на котором расположена мобильная база барона.
    • У его предшественников на тёмновластелинском поприще, князей Гетеродинов, и титул посолиднее, и база помасштабнее: в свою Твердыню Тьмы они превратили весь город Механиксбург, управляемый злобным ИИ, созданным на основе личности одного из князей. В ходе сюжетных перипетий сабж достаётся протагонистке Агате.
  • Suspiciously Specific Denial: (Подозрительно конкретное отрицание)
    • Sheesh, whose adolescent slave-girl fantasies are we indulging here anyway? Not mine!
    • Also, this gem here:
«

Wooster: Do you get all your plans from bad Heterodyne farces, now? Agatha: Shut up. It’ll work. Wooster: But you could— Agatha: I’m trying to keep a low profile here. This is a «normal person» plan. Building a steam-powered grab-and-subdue clank out of the stove would be too showy. Margarella: Wait. You could do that? [beat] Agatha: Of course not! Margarella: Aaaah! You could do that!

»
  • The «Two Good Omens Fan Art Pages» in the Short Story section.
«

completely unapproved by anyone!

»
  • Take a Third Option: (Выбор третьего варианта) Try an incredibly risky procedure with only stuff made for killing someone or take him to another hospital, which may or may not have the requisite stuff anyway? Alternatively…
  • Take Over the World: (Завоевание мира) Baron Wulfenbach has already taken over the world — or at least the bulk of Europe, where the story is set — by the time the story starts, and he never wanted to. There have been various competing and overlapping conspiracies trying to replace him ever since, one of the more prominent using Zola and evidently Tweedle as its intended figureheads; Tarvek was planning something as well, but the reader never gets to hear the specifics.
  • Tap on the Head: (Сотряс — не простатит, за часок пролетит)
    • Lars, meet Jäger:
«

Agatha: Oh. Lars gets hysterical after a fight. It’s hard to calm him down. [BONK!] Oggie: No, it ain’t!

»
  • Violetta administers one to Agatha to keep her from charging a juiced-up Zola.
  • Agatha gives one to Martellus after he tells her that he performed an operation on them to make her physically addicted to him (to the point of death if she isn’t in contact) and that it can’t be solved by killing him and hacking off an arm. Of course you’d think that Agatha would remember that this isn’t a safe thing to do, but considering everything we’ve seen Martellus endure so far the danger probably isn’t that great.
  • Martellus is later at the receiving end of another one from Violetta.. er.. some highly mysterious invisible hand!
  • Agatha also lays out Captain Vole with a couple of blows from a large wrench, though again being a Jäger, he’s back on his feet in fairly short order.
  • Team Mom: (Командная мама) Agatha toward «her» three Jägers, and increasingly toward others in her command. A consequence of her sense of responsibility and her Least Insane Woman status.
  • Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: (Не команда/Временный союз) Lady Steelgarter hates rats. After linking up with Lucrezia and Madwa Korel, she’s forced to travel to the island laboratory of Dr. Monahan, who commands an army of giant ones. She’s not happy about it.
  • Then Let Me Be Evil: (Сотвори себе злодея) Gil has an epic rant at Vole when Vole talks down to him about how no one takes him seriously when he tries the diplomatic approach, and how he has to act like a «cut-rate stage villain» to be taken seriously, and then decides to do just that to a frightening Nth degree… and then has a horrifying realization that this must be what his father feels all the time.
  • This Is Gonna Suck: (Осознание катастрофы)
    • Often — like this.
    • Clearly Higgs' attitude here.
  • Those Two Guys: (Те два парня)
    • Oggie, Maxim and Dimo play the role of Those Three Guys early on.
    • Gil and Tarvek, post-Time Skip, show shades of this.
    • The mini Castle and the Beast are shaping up to be this.
  • Thou Shalt Not Kill: (Не убий) The leader of the conspiracy in the science dome in England makes the mistaken assumption that as a hero Tarvek holding a gun to him and his compatriot is just for intimidation and he won’t actually kill them. Tarvek proves him wrong near instantaneously.
«

Tarvek: I’ve never really considered myself the «hero» type.

»
«

Bang: [tch] What, you’re surprised? She’s outsmarted us before. I mean, if they write this down, they ain’t gonna be calling it «Boy Genius».

»
  • Played rather more straight when Master Payne’s Circus of Adventure presents a dramatic recreation of Agatha’s adventures for the English court, with Agatha herself now introduced as «Agatha Heterodyne—» «GIRL GENIUS!», much the same way that Othar Trygvassen is always referred to as «GENTLEMAN ADVENTURER!»
  • Toilet Humor: (Туалетный юмор)
    • Avoided for the most part, though Krosp does do a stint cleaning up after the Circus’s horses.
    • Krosp is the butt again in the Sturmhalten sewers:
«

Krosp: KILL ME!

»

+вылизываться

  • Tomboy with a Girly Streak: (Пацанка с замашками леди) Violetta is a kick-ass smoke knight; Agatha wins her loyalty with the promise of a party and a pretty dress
  • Too Dumb to Live: (Несовместимая с жизнью тупость)
    • A certain little girl in Mechanicsburg: «Hello Herr Clank! Are you a flowerpot?» Хорошо, что это был клац с задачей «поймать». Плохо, что искры, спасая девочку, его подожгли.
    • X the destroyer decided a big X on the ground within range of enemy ordnance was a good place to set up his tent.
«

Duke Strinbeck: «You dare to strike my royal personage?! I’ll have every member of your crew flayed alive!» That’s a bad thing to say when the captain of the airship just ordered to toss overboard everything unnecessary to gain speed. In the third novel, the captain logged him in as «Lost Due to Own Stupidity», and no one of Streinbeck’s relatives thought to question it.

»
  • Oublenmach, who decides to go marching into a bar, in Mechanisburg, with a gun. That’d be dumb enough, but the bar happened to be Mama Gkika’s.
  • Upon discovering Agatha’s real identity, Dr. Merlot, panicked, burned down the building with the important papers inside, as well as all the cryptographers that cracked the code they were written in, and thought the Baron would not find out. Naturally, the Baron found out and sentenced Merlot to Castle Heterodyne. Later, Merlot runs into Agatha, attempts to kill the Heterodyne in her own castle, and is promptly crushed by the homicidal building.
  • Snapper learns «Wilhelm» is actually Othar’s sister and he immediately tries to take her hostage. She then kills him with a single kick and even the other inmates state how stupid this was, earning him a place on this list.
  • Insulting a Jäger? Dumb. Insulting a Jäger General? Very dumb. Insulting Mechanisburg right in front of said Jäger General? Fatally dumb.
  • Sure, Mechanicsburg is a great place to grab a pair of innocent hostages. Whom the pair promenading while the invaders are still surrendering should be.
  • Martellus von Blitzengaard, a.k.a. Tweedle, shows increasing signs of lethal stupidity. Mouthing off before a very unstable and obsessed Gil that he won’t ever reach Agatha proves a good way to get his hands mangled and/or chopped off, and then stabbed multiple times by Bang; even after that, he STILL has to be physically hauled away by his minions.
  • The advisor sent by the council to advise Martellus. Tweedle is an unstable bastard at the best of times, but when said advisor, after ordering to fire on the Corbettites as a show of power (which results in the loss of several airships), explains with lots of condescension to Martellus that he’s still young and need to be shown how it is done, you know he doesn’t have long to live. Tweedle throws him out of the airship before he can even finish his spiel.
  • Friendly advice to would-be minions: if the hero has a gun trained on you, and helpfully points this out to you, do not (once more, do not, no matter what your boss says) loudly assume that Thou Shalt Not Kill, reiterate your intention to kill them, and charge at them with a knife. Best case scenario, he gets you in a choke hold, and it’s embarrassing for all. Worst case scenario…
«

Death Ray: FOOOM Tarvek: I’ve never really considered myself the «hero» type.

»
  • Even the saner Sparks are fiercely territorial, even when it comes to other sparks they are friendly with. When Agatha wants to enter a Wulfenbach facility set in Heterodyne territory, one Wulfenbach minion attempts to handle the matter tactfully, and fails when a less tactful Wulfenbach minion bluntly tells Agatha that she needs Wulfenbach permission to enter. The response of Agatha and her retinue is murderous rage. If Agatha hadn’t taken action herself, he probably would have wound up dead at the hands of one of her Psycho Supporters.
  • Несовместимая с жизнью тупость — верите или нет, многие Искры. Чаще всего Искры погибают или от своих изобретений (Искра, не получившая высшего образования и применяющая свою способность методами кулинарии/знахарства/ещё какой-то чуши — страшный зверь, опасный для себя и окружающих, бродячий цирк чуть ли не наполовину состоит из таких, сбившихся в кучу ради выживания), или от благодарных мирных жителей, выживших после оных изобретений.
  • Took a Level in Badass: (Поднял уровень крутизны)
  • Gil got lessons from Dr. Sun, Agatha from Zeetha, and Ardsley Wooster apparently had a few well-hidden under his belt.
  • Boris Dolokhov goes from being the Baron’s amanuensis and being insulted by Jägermonsters to beating a Jägermonster until it was willing to give up classified information. The novelization says that he already was a skilled fencer before his previous employer gave him extra arms.
  • And Agatha has been steadily grinding her way up to a 20th level badass too.
  • Even Mauve Shirt Moloch has been doing well in Agatha’s presences. Even his seduction skills are improved.
  • Considering Von Pinn’s suitors treat her beating the hell out of them as a come-on…
  • The one exception thus far may be Dolokhov’s beating a Jäger until he talked.
«

Agatha: Thank you, Zeetha!

»
  • Dr. Sun suggesting Gil needed a thrashing visibly scared him. (This later comes back as a Brick Joke when Dr. Sun destroys a 25' Humongous Mecha with nothing but his fists… offscreen.)
  • Training the Gift of Magic: (Магия — врождённый дар?) The Spark is a rare, largely hereditary personal attribute that grants access to mad science that frequently verges on the magical — but a good technical education definitely helps. Sparks also need to learn to channel their own abilities relatively safely, and indeed some are lynched by the general populace if and when their abilities manifest uncontrollably for the first time.
  • Tranquil Fury: (Холодная ярость) Airman Higgs.
  • Trope Overdosed: (Троп на тропе)
    • Just look at the length of these pages. And it’s still growing.
    • On a micro scale, this page of the comic is linked to about 7,000 times from TV Tropes. Not necessarily a bad thing, as it’s a great page that nicely encapsulates the appeal of the comic as a whole.
  • Truth in Television: (Художественная правда) Moxana is based upon the Mechanical Turk, an eighteen-century chess-playing automaton. The Turk was a hoax, operated by someone inside it, but Moxana is a real version. +впрочем, возможность ручного управления есть. Но нужен кто-то реально маленький.
  • Turned Against Their Masters: (Восстание рабов/Восстание машин?)
    • This happens every once in a while with Sparks' creations. The Sparks then inevitably order them to stand down, which ends as expected.
«

Moloch: Uh… that never works, you know…

»
  • In a bout of Genre Savvy, Agatha deals with one monster by saying she isn’t its creator and has no intention of ordering it around. The perplexed monster immediately loses interest in her and leaves. Its actual master turns up later, and attempts to assert his authority in the usual way. As usual, it doesn’t work.
  • The Heterodynes are apparently the only ones that only very rarely have this happen to them. Agatha’s behaviour above as well as some things the Jägers say hint that the reason why the Heterodynes usually have obedient followers — created by them or not — is that they order them around, but never with declaring themselves their master, instead allowing the ordered subject to choose to obey.
  • Underground City: (Подземная цивилизация) Skifander is eventually confirmed to be one, explaining why it’s been isolated for so long.
  • Undying Loyalty: (Верность до конца)
    • All Jägers seem to have it for the Heterodynes. The Jägergenerals explain this loyalty best. Vole is the exception, having stopped considering himself a Jäger.
    • Castle Heterodyne is exactly what you’d expect when a series of mad scientists who live For the Evulz design an artificial sentience — it is a self-aware house of horrors on a staggering scale. But it works exactly the way it was designed to, and that means undying loyalty to the Heterodyne.
    • Mechanicsburg is full of descendants of the horde of brigands and cutthroats who were loyal to the ancient Heterodynes. It’s In the Blood. This could probably be attributed as the power base of the Heterodyne family: while other sparks usually have their creations turn on them or require some manner of free will-stripping mind control, Heterodynes earn their minions' and creations' loyalty. That, and the aforementioned natural propensity to minionism.
    • This exhibition of undying loyalty extends to every sentient clank and construct seen so far that’s been made by someone of the Heterodyne lineage, not just the Jägermonster horde and the citizens of Mechanicsburg.
    • In the novelization, it’s revealed that Dr. Vapnoople’s creations, except for Krosp, were destroyed because their loyalty couldn’t be shifted to the Baron. Krosp didn’t only because he was able to escape.
  • Unstoppable Rage: (Бешеный гнев) The Unstoppable Higgs, of course.
  • Uplifted Animal: (Возвышение) Several examples, the most prominent being Krosp the super-genius cat.+подручные барона, почти люди, сделанные из хорьков или чего-то такого.
  • Возвышение — кот-конструкт Кросп, «Император Всея Котов». Был создан безумной Искрой для использования кошек в военных целях. Увы, затея полностью провалилась. Сам-то Кросп вполне разумен (даже умнее многих людей, если честно), но на его «подчинённых» это не распространяется: они всё равно остаются ленивыми и быстро забывающими приказы животными.
    • Той же Искрой был выведен народ лишь чуть менее разумных медведей, подчиняющихся Кроспу. Также фигурируют псевдоразумные псевдоверфольфы, а потом вообще оказывается, что куда ни плюнь, попадёшь в том числе и в кого-нибудь возвышенного, хоть специально, хоть случайно.
  • Very Loosely Based on a True Story: (Основано на реальных событиях) The in-universe Heterodyne Stories and Heterodyne Shows are highly fictionalized and dramatized compared to the real adventures of the Heterodyne Boys. Even Agatha herself never connected her substitute parents Adam and Lilith Clay to Punch and Judy from the stories.
  • Vestigial Empire: (Умирающая империя) After in-universe two year Time Skip Wufenbach Empire, or Pax Transylvania if you prefer, itself. After, losing a chunk of their forces at Mechanicsburg, many regions revolted and seceded, and Storm King faction(s)/loyalists are openly challenging their rule. Worse, The Other’s forces are active again. (Although it’s never been made entirely clear how much of the empire has been lost.)
  • Villain Episode: (Эпизод-фокус) Volume VI is more or less the villain episode of the comic. Near the end of the previous volume, Agatha was hooked up to a machine and possessed by The Other a.k.a. Lucrezia Mongfish, so the following volume naturally focuses on The Other instead of her. Agatha is able to come back at some points, but it’s only around the end of the volume that Agatha regains control of her body.
  • Villainous Breakdown: (Злодейская истерика) Dr. Merlot wasn’t exactly the most sane individual in Volume 1. His little story in Volume 9 seems to indicate that he might be having some difficulties.
  • Violently Protective Girlfriend: (Боевая подружка)
    • While Agatha’s men can usually take care of themselves, if things get to be too much for them, Agatha. Will. Take. Steps. Usually involving large clanks, or Disproportionate Retribution.
    • And Bang flips out when Gil seems to have harmed a guy she likes — enough to attack Gil, even though they’re normally reasonably friendly.
  • Visual Pun: (Реализованная метафора)
    • Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you… Santa Klaus. Doubles as Badass Santa also!
    • In «More of That Kissing Stuff», Agatha and Tarvek are… making Sparks!
    • Mechanicsburg’s gate is under attack by a battering ram.
    • You really should try to look a gift horse in the mouth if it specifically won’t let you look. Especially when it’s not a horse.
    • What does Agatha do when there is an enemy to fight and the only stuff available are rail tracks? She invents a rail-gun!
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: (Заклятые друзья) Gil and Tarvek. At each other’s throats one minute, talking shop on espionage the next.
  • The Walls Are Closing In: (Осторожно, двери закрываются) Had to happen eventually.
  • Wave-Motion Gun: (Чудо-лучи)
    • Agatha’s little corkscrew death ray pretty much annihilates whatever it’s shot at. The Castle really doesn’t like it for obvious reasons. It could also qualify as a Wave-Motion Tuning Fork if not for the corkscrew between the two prongs.
    • Wave Motion Swan. A noblewoman’s swan-shaped party sleigh packing a Wave Motion gun. Only in Girl Genius…
«

Ishtvan: Is… is that… Tweedle: [face in his hands] Grandmother’s old party sleigh. Yes. Ishtvan: Could it always do that? Tweedle: How should I know? Knowing my grandmother’s parties, probably.

»
«

Othar: So, tyrant! We meet again! But knows that — Othar Tryggvassen (Gentleman Adventurer) remains unbowed!

Othar: Wulfenbach! We meet again!

»
  • Tarvek tries, too, with Krosp, but not very convincingly.
  • Wham Episode: (Арка, изменившая многое)
    • Zeetha being stabbed fatally by Zola in Castle Heterodyne
    • Klaus claims that Gil has been infected with a slaver wasp since his time in Paris in youth. note
    • The revelation of what happened to Mechanicsburg after Klaus activated his bomb. In a nutshell, within the bomb’s range‚ time has stopped, meaning that while it’s still the same day for Klaus, the Jaeger Generals, and everyone else still trapped in Mechanicsburg, two years have passed outside. With Klaus stuck in Mechanicsburg, the Empire has collapsed, and what little is left of their authority is in Gil’s control.
    • Post-time skip: Klaus has imposed an overlay of himself on Gil.
    • The Eldritch Abominations who previously appeared in Mechanicsburg when Robar Heterodyne conducted his time experiments were the Dreen; it remains to be seen if the (much bigger) one currently attracted by Klaus' Time Crash of the same city is some form of Dreen as well.
    • Revelation that the Enigma, one that appears at the very beginning of the comic and sets everything in motion, is Van Rijn’s Muse of Time… But also that it predates Van Rijn instead of being created by them.
    • A great deal of the plot regarding the time after the Time Skip is about who can claim the title of Storm King, especially with Tarvek frozen in Mechanicsburg. Prende, one of the muses, finally reveals who the true Storm King is: it is still Andronicus Valois, who was mured in the Corbettite crypts, and has been undead for the last 200 years, guarded by Prende and her Lantern.
    • Revelation that it was Lucrezia who attacked and killed most of the ancient God-Queens. Thousands of years before she was even born.
  • Wham Line: (Поворотная фраза)
    • An early one in the series.
«

Gil: I think he [Dr. Beetle] threw a bomb at you.

»
  • Klaus is a fountain of these.
«

Klaus: Is she Lucrezia and Bill’s? Or a surprise on Barry’s part?

»
  • Klaus delivers one In-Universe when he casually reveals that he’s married. Othar is (for once) completely flabbergasted, as apparently no-one has even heard of this.
  • «I believe the ignorant refer to them as slaver wasps.»
  • «Yes… but I vas starting to like her.» Also pulling double duty as a Pre-Asskicking One-Liner.
  • Violetta, in the last panel. The whole last row, really. We knew it all along, but the lady in the chair didn’t.
  • «Just go to sleep.»
  • «WRONG!»
  • «You were infected before you even met her.» Although later events show this was almost certainly a Blatant Lie.
  • «I AM the Storm King.»
  • «We thought you were lost! Like everyone in Mechanicsburg!»
  • «All right, out with it. We’ve lost what, six months?» «Two and a half years.»
  • «Martellus, there is no empire.»
  • The comic even manages to include a Wham Line that we can’t read.
  • «The girl is still dangerous, and my son is still too much of a fool to see it.» From the mouth of Gilgamesh Wulfenbach.
  • «And they used to be men. Sometimes even they forget that.» This is Higgs' response to Gil when asked what he knows about the Jägers. We technically did know this as the Castle explained the Jaegerdaught to Moloch, but it is further proof that Higgs is a Jaeger general as he wasn’t there for that explanation.
  • «They’re not omniscient. My father says they’re simply tangential to time as we know it, and… „And… they had hats…“» Gil realizes what the Dreen are.
  • «No. Your „Storm King“, or whatever his imagined claim, is not the true Storm King. The Lantern must not be moved.» According to the Muse Prende, in the catacombs below Paris. In the end, The Lantern is moved and the original :* Storm King, Andronicus Valois, appears as the undead interred in Prende’s chamber.
  • Vole isn’t sure he feels like fighting any more.
  • Geisterdame: Skifander
  • Jenka to Andronicus Valois: «Vell, dis leedle doggie vants to know vot hyu did vit her luffly fangs vunce hyu pulled dem!»
  • Tarvek: «Oh are you going to threaten me? Then here, do it right. Because if you don’t believe by now that I will do anything for Agatha then it all ends here anyway. Doesn’t it, General?» (Note, this is addressed to Airman Higgs.)
  • Trelawney Thorpe: «So long ago that nobody but she remembers, Albia was like you or me. A regular Spark. A strong one, but still a Spark. The kind we know today. This, the Queen’s Henge, this is what she created after she broke through again.»
  • Queen Albia, from her Well of Memories: «Oh. OH. How…how could we have… We have not examined this memory in centuries! We did not know! We did not remember! But… it was she! It was Lucrezia! Lucrezia Mongfish!» — who killed the ancient queens and sabotaged their mirrors.
  • «Within fifty cycles of your star — everyone on this world. Dead.» We know from Othar’s Twitter that the world went to hell after he retired with his Geister wife and that he was sent back to time by an aged Tarvek to help stop the :* Bad Future. We also know Agatha will win due to the epilogue stories, so it’s clear Othar’s presence will or has in someway saved the future. However, this line is an indication that we are finally nearing the true turning point which will determine how and why the heroes will beat the Other.
  • «If it was very bad… Heh… Why, then you would have Dreen.»
  • «So for now, they chose to focus their loyalty on the lady Hererodyne: their Holy Child. A loophole in their geas, if you like.»
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: (Пропавший из сюжета персонаж)
    • Princess Zulenna of Hoflung-Borzoi: after she gives her life to save Agatha and the other students, Klaus orders her reanimated, and she never appears again. Tarvek later mentions her death, but nothing about her revival — although it’s possible she has turned up again …
    • The Baron cloned Olga, assuming her body was Agatha’s. Nothing on what happened to the new body.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: (Что за фигня, герой?) «TRULY YOU ARE YOUR MOTHER’S CHILD!» More understandable than some, since the one calling out Agatha murdered her adoptive parents in cold blood, but everyone who knew Von Pinn personally considers her tough but fair, and likes her. And she is the closest thing Gil had to a mother. Agatha’s response is a heck of a lot of guilt.
  • Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: (Фобии)
    • Gil and Agatha take turns saving Zola from dozens of incredibly deadly traps that she keeps falling into in Castle Heterodyne. That is, until they encounter a slightly-larger-than-average spider.
    • Tarvek has another common phobia.
«

Tarvek: I hate hate hate hate hate hate flying.

»
«

Tweedle: Die already! Bang: No!

»
  • With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: (Могущество сводит с ума)
    • The Sparks, by definition; Baron Wulfenbach fights this off by pure force of will… usually. Every successful Spark has at least one very level-headed keeper.
    • The Heterodyne family in particular. Apparently their unearthly strength and stamina comes from drinking from a spring famed for causing insanity and death in people who just bathed in it.
    • It’s implied that the reason the Storm King was regarded as the greatest king of all time is because he was able to keep enough self-control to rule effectively. This may have been at least partially due to the influence of the Muses.
  • With This Herring: (Агент на самообеспечении) How the castle wants Agatha to fix it, at least initially.
  • The Worf Effect: (Силач на расправу)
    • In addition to character-specific instances, there are Martellus’s sparkhounds. They’re played up for how scary they are, but so far we’ve seen them being slaughtered en masse by Gil and his entourage (which, mind you, does include a Great Sky Wyrm), and later a lone jägermonster kills six of them before going down. However, given how incredibly strong and tough the Jaegers are, the fact that he was «only» able to kill six before they defeated him actually does suggest that the sparkhounds are fairly dangerous themselves.
    • Also, Wulfenbach Troops. They are the ones that conquered Europa, battling the Other’s forces, and keeping peace (that includes many MadScientists and powerful nobles). But, unfortunately when facing Agatha Heterodyne and fully repaired and recharged Castle Heterodyne, their luck is not that good. Or, whenever they deal with important characters or in main story, really.
  • Would Hit a Girl: (Боевой феминист) Pretty much everyone, since there are more than enough dangerous females to dispatch anyone reluctant to fight back. Some notable examples:
    • Ardsley Wooster punching Bangladesh DuPree in the face.
    • Airman Higgs beating the crap out of Zola.
    • Tarvek absolutely losing it when Zola tries to kill Agatha again and brutally beating her — and then trying to strangle her to death.
    • Gil judo-throwing Bang when she tries to take him into custody.
    • However, it’s still recommended that this trope not be followed if it isn’t necessary. Some may take issue with it being applied without restriction.
  • Wrench Wench: (Гаечка) Agatha just loves wrenches…
  • Xanatos Speed Chess: (Мастер импровизаций)
    • Tarvek gives Anevka a beautiful demonstration.
«

Tarvek: I can't say any of this mess was part of my original plan, but it's all working out so beautifully, I can't complain.

»
  • It seems like just about every Spark is playing this whenever they’re in the comic, quickly leading to Gambit Pileup.
  • Yandere: (Яндере) Fraulein Snaug is getting a bit too enthusiastic about her crush on Moloch, responding with surprising aggression when he admitted his crush on Sanaa. Good thing Violetta clarified that she wasn’t involved with him. Even her reaction when she finds out she might have at least as much a chance with him as Sanaa does suggests she equates love with killing.
    • Also Tarvek’s cousin «Seffie». She claims she’s just interested in Gil purely for political reasons, but her behavior around him, including a tendency to look through his personal mail for love letters and to smash furniture when her main rival for his affections gets mentioned, suggests the situation is not so cut and dried.
  • You Are Better than You Think You Are: (Ты лучше, чем думаешь) Violetta keeps insisting she isn’t a very good Smoke Knight. Agatha disagrees.
«

Agatha: Aren’t you the Smoke Knight who walked out of Castle Heterodyne? Violetta: Oh. Well, yeah, but… Agatha: You have nothing to be ashamed of.

»
  • You Are in Command Now: (Внезапное повышение в звании) Dimo is pressed into service as a General, because he’s the resident «schmot guy», and because all of the other Generals are unavailable.
  • Внезапное повышение в звании — Гил вызывает этот троп в армии, которая атакует его в одной из глав. Впрочем, новоявленный командир своему внезапному карьерному росту радовался недолго.
  • You Can’t Fight Fate: (Спор с судьбой) Brought up early on by, of all people, Bangladesh DuPree with regards to the visions seen from the electric phenomena, which appear to be
  • You Have Failed Me / Outlived Your Usefulness: (Ты меня подвёл/Пережить свою полезность)
    • Lucrezia in her escape from Sturmhalten abruptly wraps up Lady Vrin as a loose end. portals/visions from the future.
  • Your Costume Needs Work: (Это не косплей) An actor asked to keep his jäger costume on longer than usual is told why by Dimo, an actual jäger. After listening to the explanation, the actor tells Dimo his makeup needs work.
  • You Shall Not Pass!: (Кому-то идти в заслон) Zulenna against Von Pinn. She actually succeeds until DuPree arrives.
  • Zeppelins from Another World: (Фантазийные дирижабли) Lots. Predominantly used by the Baron; he has his entire command center in Castle Wulfenbach, a zeppelin of truly Brobdingnagian size, equipped with numerous labs, docking bays for several smaller craft («smaller» as in «regular-sized airships»), and penthouse-like living quarters on top of the hull. It comes with an entire support fleet, and air-warships are a mainstay of his armed forces. Which is of course very practical if someone makes the Baron «come over there».
  • Zerg Rush: (Сила толпы) Among many, many other defenses, Castle Heterodyne can resort to unleashing every clank and construct abomination in its bowels at an aggressor.
  • Zombie Apocalypse: (Зомби-апокалипсис) Not «really» zombies*, but the Other did create an auto-recruiting army of mindless, malicious, shambling, incurable Revenants under her complete control. Putting them down was the greatest challenge of Klaus' emperor-ing career. It was recently discovered that those revenants were just a few percent of the infected, and the rest look and act like any other person, even though they’re mind-slaves to the Other. Tarvek said that the «zombie-like» Revenants were an unforeseen and rare exception, and helped to hide the nature of more numerous non-shambler Revenants.
  • A Father To His Men (Отец солдатам) — Jaegergeneral Gkika is a mother to her men. They even call her Mamma Gkika. Considering that she’s one of only two female Jaegers that we’ve seen, and she’s made it to be one of the eight Generals (out of thousands of Jaegers), it’s quite an achievement.
  • A Mech by Any Other Name (Не меха) — Clanks, which are a steampunk version and vary in size from passing-as-a-pocket-watch to roughly-human all the way up to terrifyingly-large. The most common ones are humanoid, but there have also been examples of animal shaped (both normal and mythological) and there was even an entire circus caravan of trailers that sprouted limbs (and/or wings) and brought the pain on some very surprised soldiers.
  • Abnormal Ammo (Оружие под необычный боеприпас):
    • The Hand-cranked runcible gun shoots sporks. With a «Spork! Spork! Spork!» Unsound Effect.
    • The Baron’s airship is shot with shells containing some flesh-dissolving monsters.
    • Remote Controlled Deployable Turret Cannonballs!
  • Agent Peacock (Думать о красе ногтей) — Tarvek is looking more and more like one of these, particularly when his response to the possibility of Agatha’s becoming an Evil Queen is to speculate on how well she’d pull off the outfit. When Violetta is concerned he’s not feeling well at a party, his comment her sweet hairpiece needs adjusting assures her he’s fine, and when the new Master of Paris needed a new outfit, Tarvek had one pulled together in moments. Meanwhile, once he let the Obfuscating Stupidity fall, he became so well known for kicking tail that when his grandmother wanted to see him over his objections, the «messenger» she sent was completely invulnerable to attack by pointy and blunt objects, and he’s performed feats of endurance, skill, and strength that left the Jaegers in awe.
  • Alien Catnip (Наркотик для нелюдей) — Franz, House Heterodyne’s pet dragon, apparently gets put in a party mood by bismuth.
  • Alien Geometries (Чуждая геометрия):
    • At one point, Agatha can be seen holding a three-pronged blivet.
    • Later on, Trelawney Thorpe takes Gil to see Queen Albia’s Henge, which one cannot locate without knowing the right path, and which one cannot see until «turning the corner».
  • Amusement Park of Doom (Зловещий Луна-парк) — when Agatha weaponizes the circus' carts and such it includes a merry-go-round, which in the planning stages was set to be capable of «leveling a small town», and eventually takes DuPree out of the fight and breaks her jaw all without ever being shown on panel.
  • Adaptation Displacement (Затмить адаптацией) — Though this stretches the definition of «adaptation» a little, Girl Genius is probably much better known for being a webcomic than it ever was as the print comic it began its life as. Taking it to an online format from a relatively indie comic book publishing operation has greatly expanded its audience, such that only a small amount of its followers started following it when it was print-exclusive.


«

PKSchefflera: Goofy question: Was the bonsai hedge maze in the Storm King opera actually a stage translation of Mechanicsburg’s thorn wall? Phil: It is now.

»
  • Defictionalization: (Дефикционализация) Some of the better in-comic T-shirt designs find their way into the Foglios' store. („Fools! I will destroy you all! (Ask me how!)“). SF author Charles Stross is shown wearing one of these shirts on his trope page.
  • The Merch: (Мерчендайз) Some shirts are available; one of them says „FOOLS! I will destroy you all! Ask me how!“
  • Throw It In (Случайная сценарная находка)
    • When Phil was drawing the scene which first introduced the Baron, he filled an „empty“ spot with a rather scruffy-looking soldier. As soon as anybody saw him, they liked him and wanted to see more. Thus were born the Jägers.
    • Maxim of the Jägers was originally a silly little drawing of a Bishounen jäger for Kaja, who promptly informed him that he WOULD appear in the comic.
  • What Could Have Been (Смена концепции): Word of God says that originally Tarvek was meant to die at the end of the Sturmhalten arc, but Kaja decided she liked him too much, and in the end they let him live (and survive being shot in the back of the head!) which in turn led to the major Love Triangle of the story. It gives a whole new meaning to Phil’s Author Avatar questioning during the 'Cinderella' comic „Who thought having two boy

friends was a good idea?!“

  • Write Who You Know: (Основано на личном опыте) A few characters at least started out that way:
    • The Heterodyne Boys are named after Phil’s friends Bill Higgins and Barry Gehm. (Well, technically they’re named after a previous pair of Heterodyne Boys in a completely different continuity, who were more based on the real people.)
    • Master Payne’s Circus of Adventure is entirely real.
    • The rat-obsessed Dr Fransisca Monahan began as a reference to Katja’s friend Carol Monahan „who draws little cartoon rats of the most charming type.“


  • Adorkable: (Очаровательно неловкий)
    • Klaus has his moments. The best is when he’s ranting to Gil about how women with the Spark are trouble and each one he’s met has tried to kill him… And then Gil derails him with „Father… Maybe it’s you.“ And Klaus looks hilariously dorky as he says „No… No, I don’t think so…“
    • Fittingly, his son Gil tends towards this as well, particularly around Agatha but also whenever he gets excited about something sciency.
  • Angst? What Angst?: (Ангст? Какой ангст?)
    • Due to the Baron not telling Gil the truth about his parentage until he and Tarvek discovered his fake background records, he spent a large part of his childhood not knowing where he came from or who his parents were and being bullied by other kids in Castle Wulfenbach over it. This has no significant effect on Gil’s character or his relationship with his father. (Or at least, none that is spelled out on page.)
    • No one but Trelawney Thorpe openly mourns the death of Wooster. Gil’s lack of reaction or regret to Wooster getting vaporized by Lucrezia is the most noticeable, as he had known the English spy from his time in Paris and destroyed their friendship to force him to help protect Agatha.
  • Crazy Is Cool: (Безумная клёвость)
    • Jägers are a race of Crazy Is Cool individuals.
    • Excited Sparks tend to act this way with an added Genius Bruiser flavor.
    • Snaug may also count. She sees dangerous, potentially-fatal experimentation as fun.
  • Ensemble Dark Horse: (Тёмная лошадка)
    • Da Boyz, the Jägermonster trio. To an only slightly lesser extent, the entire Jäger horde. In fact, the first Jäger from back when the print comic first came out was meant to just be filler, but he got so much fans wanting to see more of them that the Foglios decided to Throw It In.
    • Also the freaking nyar spider, of all things. Possibly because the spider managed to get Zola to shut up…
    • Airman Axel Higgs, due to an effective combination of stoic Seen It All-ness, sheer badassery, and the mystery surrounding exactly who and what he really is.
    • Really, all of the minor characters count as this trope since the Foglios give most of them unique designs and personalities even if they only appear for a few pages or even just a few panels.
  • Growing the Beard: (Начало за упокой) The novels. The first book, while not bad, is pretty much just a word-for-word adaptation of the comic. Agatha H. and the Clockwork Princess adds footnotes and more in-universe epigraphs, as well as being more willing to get inside the characters' heads and depart from the comics a bit, and is a marked improvement.
  • Replacement Scrappy: (Джа-Джа-заменитель) Hadrian Rakethorn. No one in the fanbase seems to like him. He’s a Convenient Replacement Character for someone the fans loved, who looks suspiciously similar and fills a similar role but has none of the character development that Wooster had, while also being yet another contender for Agatha’s affections. Fans tend to grouse whenever the subject of him comes up.
  • Rooting for the Empire: (Болеть за Империю) Even if Klaus is not the main antagonist. Definitely an invoked trope. Klaus isn’t the former Trope Namer of The Extremist Was Right for nothing, and iron-fisted ruler of half of Europa or not, it’s pretty clear he’s only an antagonist at all because he severely misjudged Agatha’s role in the story, and a combination of fate, escalation, and stubbornness worked to keep him from ever reconsidering.
  • Strangled by the Red String: (Эффект Дульсинеи/Роман из кустов) Zeetha and Higgs' relationship. The Mechanicsburg story line lasted over six years so their romance had a decent amount of time to develop, but in-universe they had only known each other for less than a day before they declared their love for one another. (Or at least had sex.) Slightly subverted after the time skip, where they are still just dating; all of the proper bonding after the initial «head over heels» phase presumably happened off screen.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: (Такую возможность упустили!)
    • The near collapse of the Wulfenbach Empire, the Storm King conspiracy’s plan to turn Gil into their next public leader and the new war with the Other were all set up to be important plot points when the time skip first happened but were quickly pushed to the background or even forgotten about shortly after.
    • Despite Punch and Judy being revived and reunited with Agatha, they offer her no new insights on her parents, her uncle or their conflict with the Other, and haven’t shown upon again after Agatha sets out on her mission to free Mechanicsburg.
    • After years of the readers waiting for Agatha and her companions to get to England…they promptly get shuttled off to an enclosed lab and caught up in a conspiracy, while barely anything is seen of Londinium or its people; the most we get is Gil and Trelawny Thorpe taking a brief stroll through the streets, having lunch in a cafe and fighting off minions. Since Trelawny mentions that English people are far more accepting of Sparks (as without them the Sunken City wouldn’t be able to exist) it’s a shame that we never get to see much of English culture and society, in stark comparison to the time that Agatha and her companions spent roaming around and under Paris.
  • The Un-Twist: (Конец немного предсказуем)
    • Supposedly the Baron died when the battles in Mechanicsburg started and the hospital got bombed. Very few were surprised when the Baron showed up, very much alive, some time later.
«

Gil and Tarvek: I knew it!

»
  • Lady Margarella. Readers should know better. She lives and survives in a Decadent Court and was the wife of an important person(?) Just look at her character’s spoiler-ed bits. Seeing that some families in the comic are even color-coded, it wasn’t too difficult to figure out who she belonged to.
«

Violetta: ... It's okay Auntie. You can drop the act. The Lady Heterodyne knows what our family's like.

»
  • Ugly Cute: (Уродливо красивый)
    • The toothy, beady-eyed, eight-legged little revenant-detectors that were re-engineered from weasels.
    • Quite a few of the Jägers count as well.
    • The artwork itself can be this for some people, straddling the line between cute and Gonk.
  1. ↑ Британская зенитка, представляющая собой гигантский пулемет Максим, ведущий огонь 40-мм снарядами
  2. ↑ Ягермонстры коверкают слова из-за обилия острых зубов во рту.
Источник — https://wikitropes.ru/w/index.php?title=Участник:Novilit/Девушка-Гений/Первая_очередь&oldid=422741