The Smurfs

The Smurfs[1] (originally Les Schtroumpfs in French) are originally an extremely popular (and still ongoing) Belgian comic book series by cartoonist Pierre Culliford (aka Peyo) that started in the 1960s. It is more universally known for the long-running Saturday Morning Cartoon series that Hanna-Barbera created for NBC in the 1980s.

The Smurfs were born in another comic, Johan and Peewit, where they made their first appearances in October, 1958. They became so popular they got their own Spin-Off books. Starting with short comics in 1959, receiving their first album in 1963. These stories eventually overshadowed the comics that created them.

The Smurfs are tiny creatures, who looked human except for their blue skin and tails, and were constantly pursued by Gargamel, an impoverished sorcerer who plotted to steal the Smurfs so he could create gold (or eat them, he's never really been at that clear on his motivations). Papa Smurf, an alchemist in his own right, generally saved the day.

The Smurfs tended to be named according to their personality or occupation. They were all male until Gargamel created a female Smurf with black hair. After she entered the Smurfs' mushroom village, however, Papa Smurf transformed "Smurfette" into a blonde, with an appropriate change in personality. In later seasons, the Smurfs made human friends such as Johan and Peewit, and three Smurfs were irrevocably rascalized, and later created another female smurf called Sassette. (More information here.) They also have two wikis dedicated to them: Smurf wiki and then there is another smurf wiki.

Although not strictly Merchandise-Driven, the Smurfs were featured in just about every category of products intended for children: dolls, toys, clothing, comic books and even a breakfast cereal. Besides their Saturday morning series, the Smurfs appeared in a Christmas Special and other seasonal programs in prime time.

A CGI-animated Smurfs feature film was released by Sony Pictures (not Warner Bros.!) in 2011. Its page is here.

Frequent Smurfs Tropes:
  • Explosions in Papa Smurf's workshop.
  • Gargamel trying to enter the Smurfs' village but usually ending up back at his own house because only a smurf (or people the smurfs trust) can find the village. Some plots have him overcome this.
  • International Adaptation: the original name is "Schtroumpf", a word without any meaning which was randomly made up by Peyo[2]. In any language, the translation is a similar and evocating meaningless sound, except for the Italian word 'puffi', which is a word meaning 'debts' in Genoan Dialect, the Turkish word 'Şirin', which means 'cute', the hebrew word "dardas" which is made up from the words for thistle and gnome, the Spanish name "pitufo" which derives from "patufet" a character of catalan folklore, the Catalan name "barrufets" that means "imp" or "fey" and some few others like "hupikék törpikék" in hungarian and "pottokiak" in euskera.
  • Overuse of the word smurf, as any part of speech, in the blue guys' conversations. It is used as a contextual language; Umberto Eco wrote a pun essay on the subject, "Schtroumpf und Drang", (see the essay collection "Sette anni di desiderio", 1983). It is not a swear-word replacement but is somet-, usu-, ALL THE SMURFIN' TIME parodied as such.
  • Jokey Smurf's exploding "surprise packages".
  • Brainy Smurf moralizing and subsequently being hit with a wooden mallet (thrown out of the village in the animated version).
  • Papa Smurf leading the other Smurfs on a long journey.
The Smurfs is the Trope Namer for:
The Smurfs in both medias provides examples of:
  • Accidental Art: In an one-page story, Painter Smurf's canvas is taken away by the wind and it hits the ground several times, getting all kind of stains. Papa Smurf arrives and thinks his painting is brilliant, asking him how he did it. Painter Smurf replies it was "a little inspiration, a lot of perspiration".
  • An Aesop
  • Affirmative Action Girl: Sassette.
  • A.I. Is a Crapshoot: In the album You Don't Smurf Progress!, the Smurfs create robots that do their chores, but these eventually rebel.
  • And I`m The Queen Of Sheba: In Smurf Versus Smurf, when Papa Smurf has switched bodies with Gargamel (long story), and the smurfs have caught not-Gargamel, he reveals that he's really Papa Smurf. Cue one smurf: "Yes, and I'm the Smurfette."
    • This also appears in the cartoon version of "Romeo And Smurfette", which lifts that scene particularly from that story.
  • Ambiguously Gay: Vanity Smurf.
    • This gets hinted at in the comic book story Bathing Smurfs as Vanity and another Smurf sit with each other at Handy's new private beach resort, with the other Smurf commenting that it's a great place to "watch the Smurfs".
  • Animated Adaptation: In addition to the Hanna-Barbera series, there were several animated Belgian shorts produced in the 1960s, a Belgian feature film in 1976 (La Flûte à six schtroumpfs which was later dubbed to English and released in the United States in 1983 as The Smurfs and the Magic Flute), and The Smurfs: A Christmas Carol which uses both 3D CGI and regular 2D animation.
  • Anthropomorphic Personification: Father Time and Mother Nature helped the Smurfs on more than one occasion.
  • Are We There Yet?

"Is it much farther, Papa Smurf?"
"Not far now..."
"Is it much farther, Papa Smurf?"
"Not far now..."
Later: "Is it much farther, Papa Smurf?"
"Yes, IT IS!".

  • Art Evolution: The Smurfs, in their very first appearance in Johann and Peewit, had very pointy hats that only drooped a little at the end.
  • Badass Grandpa: Papa Smurf. He often saved the day and would often volunteer for dangerous physical tasks.
  • Bankruptcy Barrel: Brainy Smurf in The Gambler Smurfs.
  • Battle-Interrupting Shout: In the comic book story and cartoon episode of "King Smurf," all that is needed to stop the Smurf civil war is for Papa Smurf to return and roar, "Stop!"
  • Beauty Equals Goodness: Actually more of an inversion, but Smurfette originally looked like a male smurf with a bad black wig and a dress. The cartoon features her makeover as seemingly coming with her Heel Face Turn, which adds a slight layer of Unfortunate Implications (the comics had Papa Smurf give her some Plastic Smurfery", so it wasn't an entirely automatic transformation.)
  • Bedmate Reveal: In a one-page comic gag, a Smurf takes a walk outside when he can't get any sleep, only for the clouds to obscure the light of the moon so that he couldn't see his way, so he ended up going back to what he thinks is his own house and goes to sleep. In the morning, he wakes up and finds out he is sleeping in Papa Smurf's bed.
  • Big Dam Plot: The Smurfs have a dam protecting their village from flooding. Many stories have the dam breaking or treathening to break, like in the Smurfette's initial appearance, where she makes Poet Smurf open the dam out of curiosity.
  • Big Eater: Greedy Smurf and Bigmouth.
  • Big Friendly Dog: Puppy, who is relatively bigger than the Smurfs, becomes Baby Smurf's pet.
  • Big "Never!": In the comic book story "You Don't Smurf Progress", the waste disposal robot, who became the tyrant of the Smurf Village, shouts this when he tries to escape from the front door of his castle, but finds himself surrounded by the Smurfs that were once his captives, demanding for his surrender. He tries to use a secret escape hatch, only to be turned into furniture when Handy cuts off his escape with his furniture-making machine.
  • Black and White Morality: Smurfs = GOOD. Gargamel = Evil.
    • Though Gargamel become more of a minor character as the series went on. The most important problems come generally from the Smurfs themselves, especially when Papa Smurf is away.
  • Blind Without'Em: Brainy Smurf.
  • Born as an Adult: Smurfette.
  • Broken Aesop: The Smurfs, who generally do not use money in their society since they emphasize friendships and family more than personal possessions, pay the player of the Facebook game The Smurfs & Co. with coins which can be used to purchase more Smurf houses and structures to populate their village with.
  • Brown Bag Mask: Vanity Smurf uses a shopping bag mask in "The Smurfs and The Book That Tells Everything".
  • Brown Note: The turlusiphon (shazalla-kazoo in the cartoon show), a magic trumpet that caused anyone who heard its song to fall into a permanent magical sleep.
  • Butt Biter: The Bzz Fly from the comic book story "The Black Smurfs", who turns Smurfs black by biting them in the tail. Also the purple fly in the Animated Adaptation counterpart "The Purple Smurfs", and the Japanese slumber bug in "Papa's Big Snooze".
  • Butt Monkey: Brainy Smurf, although half the time he does earn what he gets.
  • Calvin Ball: The sport of smurfball.
  • Canon Foreigner: Among many original creations in the Hannah Barbera cartoon, Grandpa and Nanny Smurf. They did appear in the comics that were issued in the short-lived Schtroumpf! magazine, though
    • A lot of the spin-off merchandise have Smurf characters who don't appear in either comic or cartoon.
  • Casual Interstellar Travel: Failed. An adventurous Smurf built himself a space rocket but couldn't even get it to take off. The other Smurfs set up an elaborate hoax to convince him he had actually made it to another planet. It didn't work the second time around in the cartoon show as the spell used for turning the Smurfs into Swoofs wore off too soon.
  • Captain Ersatz: Wild Smurf is essentially Tarzan as a Smurf, and Don Smurfo was Zorro as a Smurf.
  • Catch Phrase: -Brainy Smurf: "As Papa Smurf always says...", "I'll tell Papa Smurf on you!"
    • Jokey Smurf: -"I've a gift for you!"
    • Anyone (with multiple Lampshade Hangings) receiving a gift from Jokey Smurf: "A gift? For me? That's kind! What is it?" (*BOOM!*)
    • Gargamel: "I'll get you, I'll get all of you if that's the last thing I ever do!"
  • Cats Are Mean: Azrael, Gargamel's cat, is eager to eat Smurfs.
  • Character Development: Grouchy Smurf was mostly a one-note character who said "I hate (whatever was said last)." When Baby Smurf arrived in both comic and cartoon, Grouchy is shown to care more for Baby Smurf that he wants to admit to anyone else (though it's this devotion to Baby that allows Baby to stay with them). He also warms to the Smurflings, so if it's a younger Smurf, especially Baby, involved, he's sometimes been allowed to act out-of-character to save them.
  • The Chick: Smurfette.
  • Child Mage: Baby Smurf.
  • Civil War: Two of them. The first when King Smurf took over as Papa Smurf's replacement, and his despotism drove some of the Smurfs into underground dissent and eventually open rebellion. The second when a linguistic divide between the northern and southern halves of the village degenerated into actual war. Peyo was from Belgium... hmmm...
    • The Animated Adaptation had "Romeo And Smurfette" where the village takes sides in Hefty and Handy's feuding over Smurfette, which was induced by a spell cast on her by Gargamel.
  • Clockwork Creature: The Clockwork Smurf, followed by his companion the Clockwork Smurfette in the cartoon show.
  • Color-Coded Patrician: Papa Smurf wears red, where everybody else wears white. Grandpa Smurf - who is no longer a leader, but used to be one, and is considered a great adviser - wears yellow.
  • Comically Missing the Point: In the cartoon, Clumsy Smurf isn't so much clumsy as he is Too Dumb to Live.
  • Conjoined Eyes
  • Creator Backlash: Peyo was quite sorry that the Smurfs became so popular he couldn't concentrate as much on his other series.
  • David Versus Goliath: Usually played straight in that the Smurfs always win against Gargamel. Subverted at one point when a single Smurf tried to take down Azrael with a sling, but his tiny pebble harmlessly bounced off the cat's forehead. ("I always knew this whole David versus Goliath story was just make-believe!")
  • Deal with the Devil: Quite literally in Gargamel's case in the story "Sagratamabarb", where the evil wizard makes a deal with Beelzebub that if he helps to get rid of Gargamel's cousin, then he would belong to him forever. It didn't turn out well for Gargamel.
  • Delivery Stork: Smurfs have a symbiotic relationship with storks, and their reproductive process actually involves baby delivery by stork.
  • Did Not Get the Girl: For all the troubles Weakling Smurf went through in the story "The Olympic Smurfs", he winds up not getting Smurfette (or at least, not getting a kiss from Smurfette) by the story's end.
  • Disguised in Drag: Hefty Smurf had to disguise himself as Smurfette to protect her from the unwanted affections of a troll king.
    • Gargamel disguised himself as a female fairy in "Smurphony in 'C'" in order to trick Harmony into taking a magical musical instrument that would put the Smurfs into a death sleep when he plays it.
    • He also later disguised himself as the Tooth Fairy when Sassette lost her first tooth.
    • And again as a Wishing Fairy when Clumsy wanted to make a wish with a penny.
    • Jokey Smurf once disguised himself as Smurfette to play a joke. His disguise was a total failure and got him a black eye.
    • A male Smurf had to dress in drag in order to be a queen when two Smurfs were using their fellow Smurfs to play a game of chess.
  • Does Not Like Shoes: Nat Smurfling and Wild Smurf. Justified in Wild Smurf's case since he is a Nature Hero who only wears a Smurf hat and a Loin Cloth.
  • Dramatic Slip: In "The Weather-Smurfing Machine" (the second story of the book "The Astrosmurf"), the Smurfs are trying to return to the Smurf Village during a snowstorm. Brainy Smurf falls, and when another Smurf offers to carry him, he tells "no, let me die here". The Smurf takes his word and leaves him, so a scared Brainy gets up again and keeps running.
  • Dreadful Musician: Harmony Smurf.
  • Dressing as the Enemy / The Mole: Gargamel and Hogatha posed as actual Smurfs at one time or another, with Hogatha (Gargamel in the original comic books) being the first but lacking a tail which made her a dead giveaway near the end of the story.
  • Dropped a Bridget On Him: the originally female Azrael canonically became a tom when the animated series began.
  • Dumb Is Good: The other Smurfs disliked Brainy's bossy know-it-all behavior, despite the times he actually has a point.
  • Enfant Terrible: The so-non-aptly-named Jeantil (which sounds like "gentil", meaning "considerate").
  • Ephebophile: Papa Smurf's one-time attraction to Smurfette, which also overlaps with Pervert Dad.

"You could be Mama Smurfette!"[3]

  • Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": None of the Smurfs has a name; they are known by their occupation or most obvious personality trait (Handy Smurf, Clumsy Smurf, etc.). The only Smurf that has an actual given name is Sassette.
  • Everyone Loves Blondes: Smurfette is modeled after Gargamel, so he creates her with short black hair. At the beginning, everyone finds her unappealing, so Papa Smurf gives her a makeover. After she becomes a blonde, everyone falls in love with her.
  • Everything Is an Instrument: The Smurflings upstaged Brainy's orchestral performance in one story (and the animated episode adapted from it) with music from instruments made of junk.
  • Evil Sorcerer: Gargamel.
  • Evil Twin: The Smurfs deal with evil duplicates of themselves in The Smurf Threat that were created by Papa Smurf to get the Smurfs to stop fighting with each other.
  • Exactly What It Says on the Tin: the Smurfs' names.
  • Face Palm: Papa Smurf does this a few times in "Bathing Smurfs".
  • Faceless Masses: All identical Smurfs in white clothing. It works for the creators of both the comic books and the cartoon show so they can bring in a character that becomes prominent for a while and then easily write him out.

Smurfs: Now do you think we're the same? This very claim, we're not the same...

  • Failure Is the Only Option: Gargamel's goal of vengeance is condemned to failure, of course. But there's also Season 9 of the cartoon series, when the Smurfs were sucked into a time warp and spent the remainder of the series desperately trying to make their way back to Smurf Village. So it's two Sisyphean goals in one!
    • Actually, only one Sisyphean goal replaced by another, as the Smurfs in the final season mostly dealt with Gargamel's distant ancestors and not the wizard himself.
  • Fauxtastic Voyage: Happens in "Astro Smurf". The Smurfs help another Smurf's dreams of visiting another world by pretending to go on one of these. Using a volcano crator as the moon and dressing as aliens called Schlips, which in the Animated Adaptation were renamed Swoofs.
    • The cartoon show sequel story, "Dreamy's Pen Pals", had the Smurfs this time transform the Smurf Village into the Swoof Village when Dreamy as Astro Smurf entered his spaceship to "travel" to their world. Unfortunately, Brainy had cut corners in completing the transformation formula Papa Smurf used to transform the Smurfs into Swoofs, so they changed back a bit too soon, revealing to Dreamy that he had never really traveled to the stars.
  • Feathered Fiend (type C): The Cracoucass/Howlibird, a giant mutant bird that laid waste to the Smurf village.
  • Flight: The main method of air travel for the Smurfs is to ride storks. However, one Smurf wanted to fly unaided and tried all sorts of methods, none of which was successful. He eventually drank a magic potion that made him lighter than air, but found he couldn't get back down to ground level. The others fed him bricks until he was too heavy to fly again.
  • Follow the Leader: The extreme popularity of the comics and the animated series led to many attempts at repeating this success. Examples include the Galaxians from Le Scrameustache and The Snorks (part of a few attempts by HB studios itself!).
  • Fountain of Youth: Three Smurfs get youthened unexpectedly in "The Smurflings".
  • Four-Fingered Hands: The Smurfs have four-fingered hands and four-toed feet, while the humans they encounter have five-fingered hands. In their first comic book appearance, though, they did have five fingers.
  • Freaky Friday Flip
  • Frothy Mugs of Water: Averted. Gargamel and Azrael were bottle partners, and the Smurfs themselves were fond of drinking alcohol- at the point that Papa Smurf had to invent a wacky story of an evil genie trapped inside a bottle to prevent the Smurfs from opening it and drinking the special liquor he had on it.
  • Furry Female Mane: Although not a furry, Smurfette embodies the spirit of this trope: Males of a species are apparently bald but females must have plenty of head hair.
    • The Smurfs are rarely seen without their hat, Papa Smurf being an exception while in the first album.
  • Gang of Critters: You can blame The Smurfs for starting this trend.
  • Genghis Gambit: In order to reunite the Smurfs riven by Civil War, Papa Smurf swaps bodies with Gargamel and attacks the village.
  • Genre Blind: everyone keeps falling for Jokey Smurf's overused prank. When they do refuse the "surprise package", it turns out it wasn't a prank but a real present, often a big cake. Done several times.
    • One time in the cartoon show, Jokey was magicked so that his surprises actually contained gifts.
    • Slouchy Smurfling turns Jokey's prank against himself, then shrugs him off by calling him and his old prank as something outdated.
  • Ghibli Hills
  • Giftedly Bad: Harmony Smurf. Just carrying a music box makes it play badly.
  • Grumpy Bear: Grouchy Smurf. In the comic books, it was speculated at one point by other Smurfs that he never quite got over being stung by the Buzz Fly (apparently because he was the first victim and stayed the longest under its effect).
    • In the cartoon show, "The Smurfette" took place before "The Purple Smurfs", indicating that Grouchy's behavior was natural.
    • In the comic, the Smurfs also had Snappy Smurf, but this one, unlike Grouchy, was violent and tended to shout and curse a lot. He mellows down a bit after being turned into a Smurfling, though.
  • Hair of Gold: Smurfette.
  • Hate Plague: The Black Smurfs.
  • Hates Everyone Equally: Grouchy Smurf. Although, he does like Baby Smurf, Smurfette, and Papa Smurf.
    • He loves flowers, but he doesn't likes the idea of everyone knowing that.
  • The Hecate Sisters: At least in form, Sassette (maiden), Smurfette (mother), and Nanny (crone)
  • Heel Face Turn: The Smurfette. Note she was never evil in a The Vamp or The Baroness way, more a case of The Scrappy: She got on everyone's nerves, offered her help despite not being useful, and expected that everyone paid attention to her and fulfill all of her wishes, no matter how outrageous. Also note the list of "ingredients" when Gargamel creates her, which includes Envy and vanity. Strangely, her most negative deed (she actually tried to have the entire village flooded) happened after said smurfical surgery. Yet, when she reveals that Gargamel created her, she is put on a trial. Which is heavily biased, but in her favor: everyone testified for her because she was pretty! In later stories, she is good, but no real explanation is given.
    • In the cartoon show, Smurfette was changed into a real Smurf through the use of magic, and this following her attempt to flood the village and she confesses she was doing it on Gargamel's orders. With that her change of heart is genuine and she quickly proves it to everyone.
    • In the cartoon, Smurfette followed Gargamel's orders out of fear because he created her and could un-create her as well. In the comic, Smurfette was just left to be found by trhe Smurfs and her mere presence should have cause them to fight for her [4], so she was never following any orders and just knew Gargamel as the guy who created her, something she didn't find important to tell and ended coming in casual conversation. On both cases, she ended up ditching Gargamel by her own will.
  • Hello, Nurse!: Smurfette, after her makeover, elicits this response in her fellow Smurfs. She actually became a nurse several times in the comics, such as in Doctor Smurf.
  • Hidden Elf Village: in the original books and the first few seasons of the cartoon.
  • Hidden Heart of Gold: Grouchy may say he hates everything, but if theres one thing he does love, it's Baby Smurf. Papa Smurf even lampshaded this after Brainy accused him of getting rid of Baby when he went missing.
    • In an earlier episode that showed Smurfette's origin, after Grouchy and the others were captured by Gargamel and they believed that Smurfette tricked them, Grouchy says, "I hate the Smurfette". But at the end after she saves everyone, he privatly draws a heart with an arrow through it and says, "I love the Smurfette too, but I hate anybody to know about it".
  • Hollywood Giftwrap: Jokey Smurf's stock exploding gifts take this form.
  • Hollywood Tone Deaf: Peewit and the Smurfette (even Harmony Smurf notices how bad she sings).
    • Harmony Smurf himself is a very bad singer, as noted in both the comics and the cartoon show.
  • Homage: Doctor Smurf is largely inspired by Jules Romains' well-known and beloved play Dr. Knock. It lampshades the play with a comical footnote and a retake in smurfing of the play's most popular lines.
  • The Hyena: Jokey Smurf generally finds everything funny.
  • Idiot Ball: Jokey's presents are a physical example of this. No one ever sees it coming.
  • If You Kill Him You Will Be Just Like Him: The reason the Smurfs engage in Save the Villain moments, particularly when it's their Arch Enemy Gargamel. Papa Smurf even mentions this in the episode "For The Love Of Gargamel".
  • Incredible Shrinking Man: Gargamel was shrunk to Smurf-size twice.
  • Informed Attractiveness: Vanity Smurf considers himself the most handsome smurf in the village. If it wasn't for that flower in his hat, he'd be indistinguishable from most smurfs.
  • Insufferable Genius: Poor Brainy.
  • Invisibility: Gargamel once used magic paint that made him invisible. Strangely enough, that paint seemed to make any surface look paper-thin when seen through the invisible part.
    • Jokey in the cartoon show once wore a cloak that made him invisible, though when he got wet wearing the cloak, it made the invisibility permanent until Papa Smurf took care of the problem.
  • Jerkass: Jokey Smurf and his constant pranks.
  • The Klutz: Clumsy Smurf.
  • Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Brainy.
  • Lady in Red: Smurfette wore a red dress in the comic book story "The Great Smurfette", though it was more the feminine version of Papa Smurf's outfit, and it was mostly to show that she was in charge of the Smurf Village.
  • Lilliputians
  • Limited Wardrobe: Just a hat and pants for the male Smurfs. Papa Smurf wore red pants and Grandpa Smurf yellow; other Smurfs wore white.
    • Nat Smurfling wear a brown hillbilly hat and footless pants with a suspender, Wild wore a leaf-woven hat and a loincloth, and Sweepy wore a black suit due to his being a chimney sweep.
    • Smurfette is shown to have multiple copies of the same dress she wears.
  • Literal Ass-Kicking: In a comic book story where Handy Smurf creates problems with a new handheld power driller by drilling through everything he can get his hands on, the Smurfs retaliate by turning his power drill into an ass-kicking machine.
  • Loin Cloth: Tailor Smurf made one to Wild Smurf to wear. Before that, Wild Smurf was covered with leaves.
  • Loves Me Not: Deconstructed. One smurf was doing the routine, and ends up with "Loves Me Not". Another smurf asks him about his luck and he replies, gesturing to the now barren flower field that "Yeah, I can't find one that has an odd number of petals!"
    • And there's other time that, as a joke, two Smurfs take petals from the flowers to ensure the one doing the routine always gets "Loves Me not".
  • Ludd Was Right: Whenever a Smurf decides to bring a new technology or system that is meant to make their lives easier, it will always be dropped by the end.
  • Mad Libs Catchphrase:
    • Grouchy Smurf: "I hate (X) !"
    • Clumsy Smurf confusing an object with another: "Bring me a (X)!" "Sure." "No! That's a (Y) !!" "Ah ?"
  • Magic Feather: The smurfberry jam in the Smurf Olympics and in the episode "A Little Smurf-Confidence".
  • Magic Music: The first time the Smurfs were mentioned in Johan & Peewit was because of a magic flute they had made, which causes people to dance uncontrollably until consuming all of their stamina when played. Also, Gargamel once tricked the Smurfs by giving Harmony Smurf a magical instrument that causes everyone who hears its sound to fall into catatonia.
  • Magic Plastic Surgery: Or "plastic smurfery", according to the original English translation of the comic book story "The Smurfette" for how Papa Smurf made Smurfette into a real Smurf. The cartoon show version of the story eschews that and simply has Papa Smurf transform her into a real Smurf through magic.
  • Magical Land
  • Magnum Opus Dissonance: Peyo's favourite work, and actually his original main one was Johan and Pewitt (Johan and Pirlouit in its original French title)... But, one day, in one of this series' album, appeared a certain band of little blue creatures. They were intended to be one-shot characters, but quickly became Ensemble Darkhorses... And from then, The Smurfs (Les Schtroumpfs) became the single most remembered work of Peyo.
  • The Makeover: Papa Smurf gives one to Smurfette.
  • Mass Oh Smurf!: Happens when a crowd of Smurfs instantly find themselves confronting Gargamel or some danger bigger than themselves.
  • Meaningful Name: Every Smurf character seems to have one, which is coupled with Everybody Calls Him Barkeep.
  • Merchandise-Driven: Smurfs tend to be created more for collectible plastic figures than for stories.
    • Not to mention that much of the latest comic book stories are cliché storms that do little to add depth to the universe.
  • Meta Guy: Brainy.
  • Mirror Self: In the Smurfs story "The Hundredth Smurf", Vanity Smurf's mirror is struck by lightning, which brings his reflection to life. The reflection speaks backwards and does everything Vanity Smurf does, but in reverse (lifting the right arm when Vanity lifts the left, for instance). After he causes chaos in the village by his opposite nature, the reflection decides to return to the mirror, but he goes through it instead, and comes out a regular Smurf.
  • Mordor: Retconned. The Smurfs were initially supposed to live in a remote place called "the Cursed Land", surrounded with hostile deserts and ice-capped mountains, and covered with dark forests. By the time they got their own spin-off series, however, the Cursed Land had become a regular forest, whose only peculiarity was that humans would always get lost in it unless guided by a Smurf (except for the area where Gargamel lives, which retained a sinister look). As time went by, the setting became ever more hospitable, until it turned into an actual Sugar Bowl (see below).
  • Mouse World
  • Narcissist: Vanity Smurf.
  • Nature Hero: Wild Smurf, who is the Smurf expy of Tarzan. He was even raised by squirrels.
  • Nerd Glasses: This is why Brainy Smurf wears glasses. In the original French version, he is called "Schtroumpf à lunettes" which means "Glasses Smurf".
  • Never Bareheaded: The Smurfs rarely if ever take their hats off.
  • Nice Hat: All the Smurfs wear hats (Phrygian caps) which they keep on at all times; the only time in the comics a (male) Smurf is seen without his hat is Papa Smurf, who is bald, but this may be due to his age. (Grandpa Smurf later shows up wearing head hair around the sides and back of his head.) In the animation, some of the Smurfs get their hats off and are revealed to be bald. Apparently, keeping on a hat is a big deal for the Smurfs: In the album The Jewel Smurfer, Jokey Smurf refuses to take off his hat at the request of a human and gets very aggressive at his suggestion.
    • In one album, you can spot one smurf without pants, but who still kept his cap.
  • Nintendo Hard: The Smurf video game on the Mega Drive is infamous for its Fake Difficulty.
  • No Export for You: Most of Infogrames' Smurf-related videogames during the 8-bit and 16-bit system generations never saw an American release, with only a few exceptions.
    • Thankfully Averted with the books; arguably the best thing about the movie coming out is that nearly all of Peyo's albums are being translated, most of them for the very first time.
  • No Eye in Magic: In the comic book story Smurf vs. Smurf, Papa Smurf uses an eye contact magic spell on Gargamel the wizard so that the two of them would switch appearances and that Papa Smurf would be able to stop the Smurfs from fighting over the use of the word "smurf" in compounded words and phrases. During this, however, Gargamel breaks into Papa Smurf's laboratory and finds the magic words so that he can make eye contact with Papa Smurf and transform back to their original appearances. This scene is later adapted into the cartoon episode version of "Romeo And Smurfette".
  • Non-Fatal Explosions: Jokey's explosive presents never do any harm except just splatter black soot on people.
  • Off-Model: Comic example. In the original editions, there are several coloring errors, such as Papa Smurf's pants turning white in a panel, a Smurf's pants turning blue in another one...
  • Older Than They Look: The young adult male Smurfs are really about 100 years old (150 in the cartoon show), while Papa Smurf is 542. Grandpa Smurf was mentioned as being twice Papa Smurf's age.
  • Once in a Blue Moon: The stork brings new baby Smurfs when the moon is blue.
  • One-Gender Race: And it is to be remembered that all the female Smurfs were magically created.
  • Our Ogres Are Hungrier: Bigmouth, from the comic book story "Smurf Soup" and its Animated Adaptation, although in the original story he was technically a giant.
  • Papa Wolf: Don't threathen the Smurfs if you don't want to be on the receiving end of one of Papa Smurf's potions.
  • Paper-Thin Disguise: This was subverted when Gargamel once put on a rabbit suit — with his face still visible — and the Smurfs had a lot of trouble to keep themselves from laughing (even Azrael laughed) as they decided to pretend his disguise fooled them, until they trapped him with a paralyzing potion.
  • Perma-Stubble: The Swoofs (magically-disguised Smurfs in the album "The Astrosmurf") have what appears to be a ring of Fred Flintstone stubble around their mouths, though it could also simply be tribal face paint. In the animated adaptation of the story, there's a Swoofette, who is Smurfette in disguise, and even she has it!
  • Pervert Dad: Papa Smurf's one-time attraction to Smurfette in "Romeo And Smurfette".
  • Pet the Dog: In the album where Baby Smurf is introduced, when Grumpy Smurf learns that the stork is coming back to take away Baby Smurf, he decides to take him away in the woods because he doesn't want him to leave. When he eventually returns, he cries and shows more emotion that he has ever done in the series.
    • Gargamel has some regarding Azrael, despite being abusive to him sometimes. For example, when he dissuaded Bigmouth from eating Azrael in "Smurf Soup" (the animated version of that story tried to make Gargamel more self-centered, though).
  • Pie in the Face: Jokey masquerades as the Masked Pie Smurfer to attack his fellow Smurfs with pies. The reason he did this was because he thought they were getting too gloomy. Of course this resulted in an Escalating War and Jokey ended up being pied by Baby Smurf. In the comic version "The Masked Smurfer", Jokey did it to take advantage of the frequent arguments among Smurfs, and even pied himself to avoid suspicions.
  • Planet of Steves: All verbs and nouns are replaced with "Smurf".
    • Actually this trope is played straighter in the books: Smurfs who don't have a specific hobby/job are named just "Smurf". "I picked Smurf's bottle smurfer/smurf screwer" "Poor Smurf !" "Vote for Smurf"...
  • Product Placement: A 15-page spinoff story arc was an advertisement for the Benco breakfast chocolate powder brand.
  • Purely Aesthetic Era: Averted with most of the world who keep their Middle Ages setting, yet played straight specifically with the Smurf Village, thanks to Handy Smurf's somewhat advanced inventions.
  • Raised By Squirrels: Wild Smurf.
  • La Résistance: The opponents to King Smurf's tyranny.
  • Rightful King Returns: Besides Dreamy in the cartoon episode "The Smurf Who Would Be King", Papa Smurf also plays this role in "King Smurf" when he returns to stop the fighting among all his little Smurfs and to put an end to King Smurf's role as king.
  • Right-Hand-Cat: Azrael, who due to his relative size to the Smurfs, doubles as a Right-Hand Attack Dog.
  • Rip Van Winkle: In an episode, the other Smurfs fool Lazy into thinking he has slept his way into the future where all his fellow Smurfs are now elderly and Papa Smurf has long since passed away. However, Lazy discovers the truth when he uses magic to try bringing them back to their actual ages and they wind up being young Smurflings.
    • The comic version is almost the same, except that Lazy Smurf finds out when overhearing a conversation, and pretends to have added a de-aging potion in the soup to get even.
  • Running Gag: Several of them, most notably Jokey Smurf's exploding gift boxes.
  • Save the Villain: The Smurfs end up doing this to Gargamel at various occasions, one reluctantly being when Gargamel accidentally turned himself into a statue while the Smurfs rejoice afterward, Papa Smurf being the exception.
  • Screw the Money, I Have Rules: Papa Smurf in The Finance Smurf refuses to go along with the title character's suggestion of charging his little Smurfs for his services, even as impoverished as he is when he has to pay off his little Smurfs for their services during the time he was sick when the Smurf Village monetary system was in place. Eventually every Smurf decides to go Screw The Money to Finance Smurf when they realize that the old ways of cooperation and sharing were better.
  • Series Continuity Error: the story The Finance Smurf introduces the money system and the Smurfs are revealed as not knowing what money is at all. This contradicts earlier stories, such as The Egg and the Smurfs where a Smurf makes a wish to become "rich" - and ends with jewels and money as a result - and in Smurf Stories where Handy Smurf creates a machine that can turn hazelnuts into gold coins and Handy Smurf tells Papa Smurf he'll use the coins to buy more hazelnuts.
    • During the Smurflings origin story, three Smurfs are sent to Father Time's home to get a new sand clock for Papa Smurf. The place is full with all kinds of clocks, and there's a lot of coins scattered in the floor, because "Time is money". The Smurfs recognize them as money and even can tell their worth.
  • She's a Man In Japan: Azrael was female in the original Spirou stories and made male in the Hanna-Barbera cartoon. In what has to be a first for this trope, the gender switch was made canon!
  • Silly Reason for War: In Smurf Versus Smurf, a civil war erupts in the Smurf village over whether the word "smurf" should be used as an adjective (south end) or a verb (north end). This gets funnier in languages that allow for many composite words (e.g. Dutch and German) because now the war is about whether the proper term is "corksmurf" or "smurfscrew".
    • As a whole, this was parodying the language divide issues in Belgium.
  • The Smurfette Principle: The Trope Namer. so many smurfs, yet only two of them are female.
    • Three, if you count Nanny.
  • Smurfing: Trope Namer.
    • There was often Lampshade Hanging, such as in a Johan & Peewit album where Peewit attempts to explain the Smurf language to other humans, but things get extremely confusing:.

Peewit: If I say "I smurf the smurf", it means...
Humans: Well... urr... I eat in bed?
Peewit: No, it doesn't! It means: I go to the woods! I mean, it's obvious!
Smurf: No, no! "I go to the woods" is "I smurf the smurf"! As for "I smurf the smurf", it means "I warble at aurora" !

  • Status Quo Is Almost God: Save for some new characters (the Smurfette, the Smurflings...), the village always come back to its previous state at the end of the story.
  • Stealth Pun: The waste disposal robot in the comic book story "You Don't Smurf Progress" would eat garbage and turn them into bricks that he would expel from his rear hatch. In essence, he was shitting bricks.
  • Stern Chase
  • Sticky Situation: Gargamel creates a treat that ends up trapping a Smurf that touches it, but as Gargamel runs over to where he has set the trap, he also gets stuck in the trap, and so do birds, a cow, and several other things on his way home. Papa Smurf makes a potion that frees everything that got stuck in the trap -- everything, that is, except for Gargamel, whom Papa Smurf has no more potion for, but he does leave a recipe for the formula for Gargamel to make up.
  • Stroke the Beard: Papa Smurf can be found doing this.
  • Suddenly Sexuality: The Smurfs are supposed to be an One-Gender Race or genderless. Yet, right after Smurfette's transformation (plastic surgery or magical transformation into being a real Smurf, depending on the version), they are like Hello, Nurse!
  • Sugar Apocalypse: The rather infamous Unicef ad campaign that bombs the Smurf Village.
  • Sugar Bowl: Medieval Stasis never looked so good. Also Gargamel creating a Female Smurf being the only change he ever successfully made to their village.
  • Symbol Swearing: You might be surprised but it happened all the time in the original comics by Peyo. Yep, the comic overall was much less childlike than its Animated Adaptation.
    • Snappy Smurf cursed all the time.
    • It was even played with in one one-page gag story, where a random Smurf hits his foot with a hammer and begins Symbol Swearing up a storm until Papa Smurf tells him to wash his mouth out with soap. In the last panel, when the Smurf speaks again, his word balloon is completely clean, but now soap bubbles containing swear symbols are floating all around him.
  • Take That: Peyo got the inspiration for Brainy Smurf through one of his childhood friends, who liked to show off and to play the wise guy.
  • Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Smurfette gets changed into a 'proper Smurf' by Papa Smurf because the other Smurfs don't approve of her.
  • That Poor Plant: Papa Smurf once tried a growth serum on a daisy, but it ended up turning the flower into a huge Man-Eating Plant.
  • Theme Park: There was a Smurf theme park in France, but it didn't work well and has now become Walygator Parc (with not a single Smurf-related element in it).
  • This Is My Side: In Smurf versus Smurf, the village is divided and one enterprising north Smurf paints a line along the middle. Unfortunately, it runs right through one poor Smurf's home, creating confusion as to which side he belongs to.
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: Sassette and Smurfette.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: Sarsaparilla leaves, in the original comics. In real life, sarsaparilla is poisonous and Peyo intentionally drew them different so that child readers would not attempt eating them if they found it. In the series it's Smurfberries.
  • Turned Against Their Masters: The robot servants in You Don't Smurf Progress.
  • TV Genius: Brainy Smurf.
  • Tyrant Takes the Helm: King Smurf's arc. Also "The Finance Smurf".
  • Unusual Euphemism: "Smurf" has been used as such a few times, like that time a Smurf insulted another one for taking his ladder. In parodies, it's used only as such.
  • Vague Age: Granted, The Smurfs are defined as 100 years old (150 in the cartoon show), but what makes them an example of the trope is the fact that it's unclear which human age equals that; most of them have specific jobs inside the village, yet they frequently play ball and act immature. Maybe one thing or the other may be the consequence of living in a small village led by their father (Papa Smurf is no mere name - he raised the 98 Smurfs). They were more clearly defined as adults when three of them were age-reversed to Smurflings, which made the adult Smurfs behave somewhat more mature and proved that we were better with the vague age.
    • The vagueness is amped up with the live-action movie character Gutsy Smurf, who sports really long sideburns while most of his fellow Smurfs are barefaced.
  • Vapor Wear: Mostly with the male Smurfs, as they are shown to not have any underwear when putting on or taking off their pants.
  • Verbal Tic: Using the word 'Smurf' in every single sentence can be very annoying.
  • The Virus: "The Black Smurfs" (adapted into the episode "Purple Smurfs").
  • Walking Shirtless Scene: Pretty much what a male Smurf's life is, coupled with the Limited Wardrobe. Given that in cold weather they tend to wear little else besides a scarf, it would suggest that they are adaptable to weather changes.
  • We Are as Mayflies: The Smurfs are definite long-livers compared to humans — they can live up to 600 years (Grandpa Smurf is a few centuries beyond that) and still remain active and sprightly. In the Animated Adaptation, it's mostly due to the Long Life Stone which gives the Smurfs their longevity, though its power must be replenished every 1000 years or the Smurfs will suffer Rapid Aging that leads to their death.
  • We Want Our Jerk Back: In a comic book story, Papa Smurf plays a prank on Jokey Smurf in order to get him to stop playing his pranks on other Smurfs, only to find out that the other Smurfs are bored from the lack of his pranks, so he allows Jokey to play them once again.
  • Weather Control Machine: The Smurfs invented one, but Farmer Smurf and Poet Smurf fought over which weather they wanted, and caused it to go berserk. Papa Smurf in the comic books, and Handy in the cartoon show, had to destroy it.
  • Why Am I Ticking?: When Gargamel finds about the creation of Sassette, he uses sorcery to make everything made with that clay to explode with the noon sun. Papa Smurf manages to create an antidote, and uses it just in time before she does explode as she scares Gargamel by trying to befriend him after she was initially rejected by her fellow Smurflings.
  • Why Didn't You Just Say So?: Even the ever-respectable Papa Smurf does this in A Child among the Smurf.
  • Wild Card: Bigmouth, who can be an ally or enemy of the Smurfs, depending what will get him some food.
  • Wishplosion: One Smurf episode featured a Literal Genie.
    • The comics and cartoon show featured a magic egg that conceded wishes when hitting it.
  • Wizard Beard: Homnibus the good wizard.
  • Worthless Yellow Rocks: Miner Smurf dislikes gold, as he thinks it is a too soft metal to be of any use. Finance Smurf decides to take the gold to turn them into coins and create a money system. The gold coins ends up being melted and reforged into musical instruments at the story's end.
  • Would Hurt a Child: Gargamel would even hurt Baby Smurf.
  • Xenophone: The peddler who sells musical instruments in The Smurfs and the Magic Flute produces one while showing of his wares. He even admits that he doesn't know what it is but says it sure makes a lot of noise.
  • Younger Than They Look: Smurfette, despite being an adult Smurf, is only about a few years old, being a magically-created Smurf.
  • Zombie Apocalypse: "The Black Smurfs" ("the Purple Smurfs" on the international markets), who are the result of being bitten by a fly. Black Smurfs can infect other Smurfs by biting them. The webcomic Ménage à 3 pointed out that this is the original Zombie Apocalypse, done in the comics seven years before Romero's first film.
  1. ↑ And, no, the plural of smurf is not "smurves". Although maybe it should be.
  2. ↑ Actually, the name was chosen to mock the german word for Stockings, Strümpfe
  3. ↑ Smurfette, ironically, is appointed as Mama Smurfette in the comics in a recent album, but because Papa Smurf wanted the Smurfs to learn to respect her despite her gender.
  4. ↑ which failed because the Smurfs didn't find her attractive, and even despised her annoying attitude
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