Bear Nuts

Bear Nuts is a webcomic by Alison Acton. It chronicles the antics of the bear population of Discount Zoo - which mainly consists of hiding their un-bear-like behavior from the humans that run the place.

The strip itself can be best described as what you'd get if you put the Care Bears, Dragon Tails, Happy Tree Friends, and The Hair Bear Bunch in a blender.

Tropes used in Bear Nuts include:

• Amusing Injuries: To be fair, Evil bear totally deserves most of them.
• Art Evolution: Subtle, but there.
• BST: One theory for why Gay and Lech are always so mean to each other.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Prozac, Nerd, Tanked and Death are all usually pleasant and friendly. Prozac without meds, Nerd pushed too far, Tanked without booze, and Death when stressed or on coffee are more dangerous than Evil. And Evil is trying.
  • Gay and Nerd here
  • Also, Gimp.
• Big "What?": Here and followed by a smaller one.
• Bratty Half-Pint: These kids suck.
• Break the Cutie: Evil picked on Nerd one too many times.
  • Evil himself used to be cute and less nasty. Then that one circus trick happened. Also why he hates kids.
  • And Prozac had his bigger siblings...
• Broken Aesop: When Evil is thrown out of the zoo for trying to eat children, Prozac's reasoning for rescuing him even though nobody likes him is Family is Family. This apparently does not apply to Sloth Bear, who suffered the same fate, and was actually present when the rescue party found Evil. Prozac didn't even seem to notice.
  • To be fair, between his weight and laziness, chances are they couldn't bring him home.
    • Judging by his remarks, he's had this "eat another bear" thing brewing for a while. It's not unthinkable that Prozac disowned him over it.
• Brutal Honesty: Subverted with Vanity, who thinks he's just being honest.
• Bunny Ears Lawyer: Why is Death carrying that scythe?
  • Death and scythes makes sense.
• Card-Carrying Villain: Guess
• Child-Hater: And a Justified one, at that. Evil. See: Break the Cutie
• Dark and Troubled Past: Prozac; Evil; Tanked
• Dark Is Not Evil: Death Bear is the ultimate voice of reason in the group, while Gimp Bear is a caring medic despite (or because of) his BDSM-ness.
  • Gimp Bear would know a thing or two about first-aid kids, if you think about it.
  • Literal. Evil is the lightest colored one. The "dark" ones are both pretty nice.
• Did Not Think This Through: He had one left.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Any resemblance to the Care Bears is strictly intentional.
• Dragged Away: Nerd, after he gets mad.
• Even Evil Has Standards: What Tank did to Crack is a mystery, but even Evil called it sadistic.

Evil: That-that's just sadistic.

• • He clearly forced corn in his mouth and duct taped it shut.
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: The guys' names (except for Death, naturally).
• Extreme Omnivore: At the very least, Tanked will try to eat it. (Much to Evil's amusement)
• Eye Scream: Evil scares us sometimes.
• The Fashionista: Gay Bear.
• Foe Yay: Invoked by the author herself. Gay and Lech momentarily bond over teasing Crack before coming to the horrifying realization that they're having a moment and switching to Silent Treatment mode.
  • She's just doing it on purpose now.
• For the Evulz: Evil's MO.
• Gang of Critters: An Affectionate Parody.
• Gourmet Pet Food: Subverted - the bear's zoo-mandated food is anything but.
• Groin Attack: Poor Lech.
  • And Nerd
• He Who Must Not Be Heard: Gimp (We don't yet know if he can't speak or just doesn't)
• Hollywood Voodoo: Evil manages to make working voodoo dolls, with unfortunate consequences for Gay.
  • ...and one giraffe neighbor.
  • ... and Steven the Polar Bear.
• Ho Yay: Mostly between Gay and Lech. That, or Vitriolic Best Buds, which would be interesting because they can't stand each other. Unless they're picking on Crack.
• Hulking Out: What happens when Prozac is off his meds for long enough.
• I Know Mortal Kombat: Tanked ends a fight over control of the TV using what he's learned from his Pro Wrestling shows.
• I'm A Humanitarian: Sloth Bear was planning to eat one of his own kin.
• Jekyll and Hyde: Prozac on his meds, and Prozac off them.
• Jerkass: Evil. So very much Evil. Lech, especially to Gay. And the polar bears to everyone else.
  • Tanked, when he's not... tanked.
  • The polars. The monkeys from Tanked's childhood are the reason the above is the case.
• Jerk Jock: Lech, somewhat. And the polar bears.
  • The Polars.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Vanity subverts his apparent Jerk with a Heart of Gold moment in quick order.
• Kick Them While They Are Down
  • Evil does it.
  • Nerd does when angry.
  • Prozac does not like Vanity.
• Man Child: Evil does not respond well to not getting his way.
  • Psychopathic Manchild: He practically gets off on causing trouble/death/pain.
• Masquerade: The bears take turns doing amusing animal antics to cover for their amusing human-like antics.
  • They clearly enjoy these new apparatus.
• The Medic: Gimp.
• Nice Guy: Gimp and Prozac, except when he's off his meds.
• Not So Different: When Evil planned to gruesomely murder Vanity, it wasn't his well-being, but their getting in trouble, that got the others to stop him, showing they hated the new guy too.
• Obviously Evil: Evil, obviously.
• Oh Crap: Prozac's reaction to the Nerd's link in Kick Them While They Are Down.
• Only Sane Man: Death and Prozac.
• Pandaing to the Audience: Vanity.
• Psychotic Grin: Evil loves the look. Even Gay has it at times.
• Punny Name: The comic's title itself.
• Pyromaniac: Evil. Ironic, considering...
• The Quiet One: Death.
  • Also, Gimp. Sure, Death isn't around much, but Gimp has had almost the same dialogue, but has been present for many more scenes.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Guess
• Seven Deadly Sins: Well... not quite. Evil is Wrath, Vanity is Vanity/Pride, Lech (and maybe Gimp) are lust, Sloth is sloth, as well as gluttony, and Tanked could qualify for Gluttony as well, but there aren't things for envy and greed.
  • Envy and Avarice are some of the ways Vanity shows pride.
• Stepford Smiling: Any smile for zoo employees can be assumed to be this. Check it out.
• Talking Animal/Animal Talk
• Team Dad: Prozac and when he's not around, Death.
• Team Mom: Gimp.
• This Is for Emphasis, Bitch: "WHO'S THE KING NOW, BITCH?"
• Token Evil Teammate: I wonder.
• Touch of Death: Though Death's touch only brings instant paralysis.
  • Well, he can kill flowers at least.
  • Based on one chapter, he probably just keeps it from killing.
• Transparent Closet: Gay. So very much Gay. I mean, for Christ's sake, his name is "Gay"!
  • Word of God says the name's the old "gay", meaning cheerful or happy. It changes nothing, though.
• Unstoppable Rage: See Break the Cutie
  • Prozac without his meds. Death on coffee was almost unstoppable.