Pogeymanz

Pogeymanz is a sprite comic made by Ultimate Ridley and primarily hosted on Smack Jeeves (though it appears on other sites as well, Smack Jeeves is the only site to host all of the episodes). It is notable for its extremely satirical nature, with some pretty deep allegories buried underneath a very random and screwed up outer shell.

Apparently, the author originally started the comic out of boredom and didn't expect it to be so popular (it's his most popular comic), but then began evolving it into the satire it is today. The comic makes fun of a wide range of things, from the Pokémon universe to the stupidity of noobs (and the fact that noobs are everywhere, and you can't stop them, is a major theme) to action movie clichés, sprite comic clichés, etc. The comic's outer layer is silly and random, however.

The plot is, at first, coherent with the canon games', but derails rather quickly to become its own. For one, the main character's starter Pokémon is a freaking Kabutops at level 5. The plot as a whole is one big Mind Screw, but deliciously so.

The comic's primary criticism is the randomness, because some people aren't looking hard enough. That, or they hate sprite comics in general and are biased against them, in which case they really are in no position to criticize this comic at all (since their complaints would be the same regardless of the sprite comic they're criticizing). Oh, and the length of each individual comic. Many exceed 30 panels each. Most critics against this tend to quote Shakespeare ("brevity is the soul of wit"), but many critics view the large size as respectably ambitious, since most other webcomics update with no more than six panels.

The major characters include:

• [No Name]: The protagonist. The character really doesn't have a clear name, but the comic calls him by several names, and depending on which character you ask, his nickname can be Kenny Killer, Turd Boy, mah boi, or laddy. Despite the supposed anonymity, however, he is pretty developed as a character, filling the "stupid kid with a few moments of brilliance" archetype quite nicely. He actually shows little interest in fighting the bad guys, too. His appearance is akin to Riley from the Pokémon games, but recolored brown.
• Clair (spelled "Claire" in the comic): The actual Johto gym leader appears as a character in the form of a secret agent bent on foiling the bad guys' plans. Not introduced until later.
• Bob: A Psycho With a Heart of Gold. He is the professor's lab assistant. Apparently, he "likes his balls" (he repeatedly shouts 'BALLZ' at random intervals). It's not what it sounds like, though. He also has the ability to sense and track down pedophiles, and can determine someone's "nubbiness" level. He also has a flamethrower.

And more. There are also plenty of minor characters.

The bad team is an organization of noobs aptly called "Team Nubzorz".

The comic is rated PG (going by North American standards), but it is very much a hard PG. And even then.

• How could you forget the Pokémon?
• Kabutops: Actually nicknamed "Shadowkilla762" (though he despises the name), Kabutops is a sad, depressed soul. Mostly because [No Name] ignores his pleas to visit the Name Rater. Because of his depression, he likes to cut things.
• Noobat-Lolbat-/b/bat: A Noob Forme of the Zubat evolutionary line. Undeniably the least developed Pokémon (of [No Name]'s team at least), it's implied that it is a master noob.
• Hitmonchan: Arguably the most popular character in the comic. Basically just an Irish Hitmonchan. Sounds basic, but it's executed extremely well.

He also picks up a few more, but really, he can't top Irish Hitmonchan. No one can.

The comic is currently on yet another hiatus, but the author expresses interest in completing it.

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Tropes used in Pogeymanz include:

• Author Filibuster: Not as bad as some other webcomics, but at one point the author clearly displays his hatred for the clichés of overly popular webcomics.
  • It's more that he hates that including particular clichés in your comic tends to make the comic automatically popular (and that having prior popularity as an author almost always guarantees an audience regardless of the comic's actual quality).
  • It's never actually stated by a characterized manifestation of the author. It's also presented as a normal conversation between two people, so this is an aversion.
• A Wizard Did It: Possibly played straight. The protagonist is magically teleported home by a random Alakazam without any explanation.
• Badass: Hitmonchan. And Bob has his moments too.
• Bait and Switch: The protagonist meets the real Clair at first, but sometime when they were at the Power Plant in "Pseukanto", Clair was switched with Eusine, who was cast to play Clair in an action movie (confirmed to be titled "Pogeymanz" in a deleted panel of one comic). The protagonist does not realize this until Eusine takes a swim and his make-up gets washed off. To be fair to the protagonist, though, the disguise was pretty flawless.
  • The action movie itself. For the longest time since the bunch left Pseukanto's Power Plant, the protagonist thought they were cast in an unfilmed action movie. Basically, he thought they were pretending. They weren't.
• Berserk Button: The director guy doesn't like it when his actor is missing.
  • Or when a crewman or actor takes an unscheduled coffee break. He'd prefer you drink Coke.
  • Hitmonchan hates it when you take his kill.
• BFG: Bob apparently owns a flamethrower.
• Blind Idiot Translation: A straight Google Translate rip.
  • Bilingual Bonus: This one comes out fairly cleanly when put through Google Translate. The Chinese portion, too.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: Done sometimes.
• Brick Joke: Quite a few.
• The Chosen One: Kabutops/Shadowkilla762.
• Confusion Fu: When Lolbat uses "lol". And, though to a lesser extent, when /b/bat uses "Interwebz Logic".
• Curse Cut Short: Played straight once, in a later issue. After a Garchomp buys a lot of Carbos in the protagonist's name (irony noted), the shopkeeper says the price is 9800 yen. After shrugging the price off, the shopkeeper adds the word "each".

[No Name]: FFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-

• • It's cut off by the comic ending.
• Don't Explain the Joke/Genius Bonus: An old man offers the nameless protagonist a beer, and when the protagonist says he's underaged, the old man says that back in his day, there were no age limits. As the author notes point out, in the 1920s (actually 1920-1933), there weren't any age limits on alcohol in America--it was just plain illegal. (This implies that the old man is probably a nonagenarian.)
• Double Entendre: Quite a few, most having to do with balls.
• Dumbass Has a Point: This is a defining point of [No Name].
• Getting Crap Past the Radar: Quite frequent.
  • Most having to do with Hitmonchan when he beats anyone off-screen. They get pretty suggestive, but it's obvious none are what they sound like.
• Groin Attack: Kickballslee.
  • And Hitmonchan.

Cameraman: Ow! It hurts! Why are you punching my balls? What did they ever do to you?
Hitmonchan: I'mma punchin' 'em 'cos I'm not good at kickin' 'em!

• Halloween Special: The main punchline is both scary and hilarious, but only if you read all of the comics prior.
• Improbable Species Compatibility: Played straight in one of the drawn specials.
  • The drawn special in question cannot be found at Smack Jeeves, for unknown reasons. It is currently only hosted at Deviant ART. To find it, visit this link (links directly to it).
    • Deviant ART is not the best place to find all of the comics. Ultimate Ridley never posted the "canon" comics on DA past the twentieth-ish issue (there are about fifty of them on Smack Jeeves). The only comic to find there that is exclusive to DA is the third drawn special (the other two are on both Smack Jeeves and DA).
  • It's speculated that Ultimate Ridley does not post the third drawn special on SJ because of its absurdly dark content. Even though his fans clearly show no dislike for pushing the envelope quite a bit for a PG comic, which it already does.
• Item Get: Played somewhat straight.
• Kill It with Fire: [No Name] is the victim of a crazy pyromaniac. Averted, because the pyro did not express any intentions to kill him.
  • Later, Bob sets a pedophiliac ship captain aflame. He kinda sorta wanted to kill him.
• Leet Lingo: Used a bit. Is supposed to be the lingua franca of Team Nubzorz, but never appeared beyond comic #10.
  • Even though the author earlier claimed it would be more frequent. Apparently he decided to really dumb it down because people complain about it. This troper assumes those who complain cannot read poorly ciphered English.
• Mind Screw: The entire comic. But it's an awesome mind screw.
• Mythology Gag: As [No Name] watches a "reality TV show" (the Pokémon anime), he says "at least you don't have to deal with a Mafia-esque team like I do everyday." Naturally, this cues Team Rocket blasting off.
• Palette Swap:
  • [No Name] is just Riley recolored to match Kabutops.
  • And the Team Nubzorz admins are just the Team Galactic admins with their colors exchanged around the bunch.
• Punny Name: A lot. Most are names of Team Nubzorz admins.
  • Examples: Miss Nub E. Cake, Noobat, Lolbat, Lady Trollicus, Mr. Forchan. Oh, and one of [No Name]'s given names is Anon E. Mouse.
    • The best one so far, though, is Sofa King Stew Pidd (Stewart Pidd, the King of Sofas). Don't say that out loud if parents are near.
• Schedule Slip: The comic never truly had a defined schedule, but updating has decreased significantly.
• Speech Bubbles Interruption: Done only once, when the director guy was freaking out about Eusine's absence.

Director Guy: WHERE THE [interrupted word] IS EUSINE?!

• • The interruption? An outlined rectangle, captioned "4Kids", diagonally placed over the word. The rectangle is only large enough to obscure the interrupted word.
    • It's implied that he dropped an F-bomb, since you can kinda see part of a capital F and part of a capital K in the obscured word. Likely intentional.
• Surrounded by Idiots: Clair is the most right-minded person in the entire comic. At least when she isn't secretly Eusine.
• Talking Animal: Most Pokémon.
  • But they usually squawk their name, followed by the actual line of dialogue enclosed in parentheses.
• Tragic Hero: Shadowkilla762. Once given the nickname, he despises it. He then begs the trainer to change it to something more "normal" by visiting the Name Rater. In a sad stroke of truth, and unbeknownst to the poor Kabutops, the protagonist can't understand Shadowkilla762's Poké Babble because the protagonist yet lacked a translator. When he finally received one and heard one of Shadowkilla762's pleas, the protagonist claimed they were too far along to turn back and visit the Name Rater (even though they were just barely outside the city the Name Rater was in). Heartbroken, Shadowkilla762 eventually accepted the truth that his nickname will never change, but was still driven to madness by the name itself. He soon became emo, bent on cutting himself, but because he was made of stone, all of his attempts to slit his wrists were futile. As a result, he decided to take out his urges by cutting other things, including other people. 'Tis a sad story indeed.
• You Look Familiar: Many characters cause this.
• Your Head Asplode: What /b/bat's "Interwebz Logic" causes.