Flipside

Flipside is a long-running webcomic written and illustrated by Brion Foulke.

The comic is about three characters and their quests:

  • Crest, a young skilled rogue and the son of a famous knight.
  • Maytag, a nymphomaniac in a jester costume.
  • Bernadette, a Lady of War and Maytag's long-time companion and friend.

Together, the three of them take on the challenges of a world ruled almost entirely by sorcerers, where dark magic and abuses of power run rampant. Their greatest obstacle, however, may end up being their conflicting natures.

The comic contains female nudity and therefore external links may be NSFW.

Has a Character Sheet.

Tropes used in Flipside include:
  • Absurdly Cool City: Eschelon. From it's outskirts to the city itself.
  • Aliens Made Them Do It: In Chapter 21: "Bed and Breakfast", Bernadette and Maytag are lured into a pool whose water is enchanted with a lust spell, which Glyph attempts to take advantage of. Maytag, being somewhat more in touch with her libido, figures it out and snaps out of it. Chapter 23: "Silhouette" reveals that this may have been a Secret Test of Character for Maytag, but the character saying this is not entirely trustworthy; Glyph wasn't really himself either.
  • All Deaths Final: Subverted. There are a set list of rules for resurrection magic. First, it's very expensive, so not everyone can do it. Second, the body returns in a similar state when they died (minus a few wounds), meaning some curses and diseases will almost immediately kill the body again. Third, not said, but implied, this means old age and having had a few years to decay are both comditions that probably invalidate the effect. Fourth, the brain must be in good shape (brain damage is not really recoverable by resurrection). And fifth, there has to be an actual body to come back to, so a body cut into sections or burned/disintegrated is not an option.
  • Anti-Magic: The power of the sword Bernadette has. She can't use it effectively without its twin, however.
  • Anti-Magical Faction: The knights are a moderate Type A of this.
  • Artifact of Doom: The Xibulba collar grants you a large collection of powers along with bringing out your basic instincts, and not in a good way. In Voulger's case, it makes him a homicidal rapist. In Derricks' case, he turns into a revenge-obssessed psychopath. In an intermission segment, its possible effects on the other characters (including the author) are Played for Laughs.
  • Author Appeal: It seems that the author has a dismemberment fetish. First Maytag cuts off her own finger. Then later she gets her arm eaten off. And the villain is a scar-covered girl who can regenerate any severed limb, which means that her limbs are frequently severed during battle. He lampshades it in Intermission 12.
  • Badass Normal: The knights strive to be this, with their rejection of sorcery in a world where sorcery-boosted psychopaths run rampant.
  • Bag of Holding. Maytag's purse.
  • Better Than Sex: Maytag knows a restaraunt with food so good, it gives you figurative orgasms. She also knows one with food so good it gives you literal ones.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: An effect caused by the "Xibulba" collar.
  • Brick Joke: Literally, in the intermission strips, which often have variations on Bernadette throwing a brick at Maytag. later the brick got thrown at other characters that stole the show, and once it was a Toaster instead. Bernadette claimed she was out of bricks
  • Double Standard: The ongoing relationship drama between Maytag and Bernadette is based on both a straight use and Subversion of this, as while Maytag wants her lover to accept her Good Bad Girl act, she ends up compromising her own nature in order to please her monogamous and conservative partner. Thus, it's also an apparent subversion of the stock Be Yourself Aesop: sometimes it's worth giving up your freedom for the person you love... maybe. It has yet to be seen whether their relationship can survive this conflict in the long term.
  • Emotionless Girl: Veranda Kingfisher as a child. She took on the Maytag persona as a way to get people to like her, meaning that both sides of her personality are an act.
  • Expressive Hair: Suspiria has enchanted hair that changes shape in accordance with her moods.
  • Fantastic Aesop: It's still possible to be friends with someone while they are eating your arm.
  • Functional Magic
    • Magic A Is Magic A: The intermission segments expand on the world's formalized rules for sorcery and spellcasting.
    • Utility Magic. There are spells for everything from regrowing limbs, to raising the dead (though the author says the circumstances of death are important, brain death or similar is impossible to raise), to very mundane activities, like keeping clothing clean and such. This is lampshaded in one scene, where two of the wizards are doing things like chopping wood with their hands, and setting fires.
    • Utility Belt magic. Spells can be packaged and prepared in advance by another caster, so even someone without magic, like Maytag can use them.
    • Words Can Break My Bones. Basically how all magic works, except purely mental.
  • Girlfriend in Canada: Maytag tells Crest (and others) she can't be their full-time lover, since she has a boyfriend, and he gets jealous. But you never seem to see this boyfriend. Her "boyfriend" is Bernadette.
  • Heteronormative Crusader: Orransong.
  • Honor Before Reason: The Knights' shunning of all thing magical - despite the clear disadvantage this puts them at.
  • Kaleidoscope Hair: Crest's wizard girlfriend can change her hair's color and style based on her emotions.
  • Knights Templar: The Knights Of La-Shoar, though they are slightly subverted in that their reaction to being directly proven wrong is "ok then" or at least "maybe we were mistaken".
  • Late Arrival Spoiler: Surprisingly averted, given the prominence that Bernadette and Maytag's relationship has within the story, as the author is extremely careful never to mention it in the chapter summaries or book jackets.
  • Magic Feather: Maytag's costume appears to be the key to her confidence; take it away and she's painfully shy. Subverted in Chapter 30, in which it's revealed that both personalities are an act -- see Emotionless Girl.
  • The Nudifier: "Thread Reaper", a particularly vile weapon Voulger uses against Maytag. In addition, Confringo appears to be a spell that destroys the clothing of anyone hit with it.
  • Omake: the "Intermission" segments. In later chapters these are done in Yonkoma style.
  • Overly Narrow Superlative: The author insists that it is the prettiest webcomic about a bisexual ninja/jester you'll ever read.
  • Retool: The story is a sequel of sorts to the (less well drawn) original story, which is collected on the site as "Book 0".
  • Ship Tease: The first six chapters focus on Crest, who is being strung along by Maytag as some sort of demented sociology project. It doesn't help that Maytag is an Good Bad Girl who would happily hop into the sack with him and anyone else who asked, but has a little problem holding her back: she's in a monogamous relationship with Bern. The Ship Tease is not purely on the reader's part, as poor Crest can attest to.
  • Web First: So far, the comic has spawned 5 books, each one comprising 4 or 6 chapters and their respective intermissions, if those chapters have one, plus some Bonus Material. (Book 1 comprises chapters 1-4: Book 2 comprises chapters 5-10; Book 3 comprises chapters 11-15; Book 4 comprises chapters 16-20; and Book 5 comprises chapters 21-26)
  • Yuri Genre
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