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Tuan's gone Retraux, no kidding.
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This is a neat issue, no kidding! I ripped part of the cover so you can view the inside!
—Tuan Nuaghen
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Peter Paltridge, who later became the host of Platypus Comix, began Scrambled Eggs in 1990. Loosely adapted from a juvenile fiction novel titled Hello, My Name is Scrambled Eggs, the comic features Tuan Nuaghen, a Vietnamese boy adopted by a Massachusetts-based family with no confirmed last name. Paltridge's longest-running comic, the series features random exploits of Tuan and his adoptive siblings Quint (The Smart Jerkass), Harvey (The Straight Man), and Julia (The Chick), with fluctuating levels of realism and Medium Awareness.
Tropes used in Scrambled Eggs include:
- Art Evolution: Pretty much inevitable for a comic with stories spanning 20 years: Here's a page of a comic from 1991, and here's one from 2010.
- Bland-Name Product: Most products in comics are referred to by real-world names, but occasionally Paltridge will use this trope. Hilarity usually ensues when he does, as evidenced by examples Creepy-Looking Teenage Dolls With No Noses and We Do Stuff!.
- Born Lucky: According to Paltridge, "Tuan has been in TV ads, invented major products, won the Nobel Prize and been involved with Hollywood and major politicians in various issues, oftentimes without warning or explanation."
- Breakout Character: Tuan, as Harvey became demoted from the main character to one who's "usually just there to react to everyone else."
- Brick Joke: "The Wizard II: Fax Me an Angel" includes a scene where Michelle, the kids' Dumb Blonde neighbor, decides to search the country for the boys and force them to attend her birthday party. Unbeknownst to her, the boys never left Massachusetts. The last panel of the comic shows her rowing to Hawaii.
- The Cameo: Tuan meets Riff Randell from Rock and Roll High School during "It's Square to Be Hip". (Paltridge reviewed that movie a few months earlier.)
- Canon Immigrant: TeBOING!ss, a Kesha pastiche from "It's Square to Be Hip", later appeared in Mulberry and Princess Pi comics.
- Chekhov's Gag: Three in "Wack Friday:"
- Quint drugs the Thanksgiving turkey to prevent Harvey and Tuan from beating him to buying a Nintendo Wii, only to discover no one ate the turkey except Julia. Her going unconscious as a result receives at least two callbacks.
- A woman impulsively buys a Friends Complete Series DVD selling for $9.99, laughs and happily screams all her way home, sets the DVD on her table, calms down, and immediately regrets the purchase, throwing the DVD out the window. Later, she returns to the store, finds Julia sleeping next to a "75% off" sign, impulsively buys her, and repeats the whole gag.
- Quint buys a Wee DVD Player from Michelle, who previously mistook it for a genuine Wii. The payoff is listed under "Jerk With A Heart Of Jerk"
- Complaining About Singers You Don't Hear: In universe, Quint hates Jimmy Zoopie-Doo purely because of overexposure and his own lack of faith that teen singers can produce quality songs; the only Zoopie-Doo song he ever heard was a Gee cast member's cover, which to Quint's credit, has pretty awful lyrics.
- Cool and Unusual Punishment: In "IT....HAD FUR!" the kids receive visits from the 2003 live-action Cat in the Hat and various other poorly-conceived live-action Dr. Seuss characters.
- Crossover Punchline: Beefer from Keiki greets Michelle when she reaches Hawaii in "The Wizard II".
- Dolled-Up Installment: Word of God says "The Wizard II" started out as a Mulberry comic criticizing casual video games.
- Dumb Blonde: Michelle, who's quite unpopular as a result.
- Episode Title Card: Every issue from 2004 onward has a title card in lieu of a front cover.
- "Everybody Laughs" Ending: "Scrambled Eggs: LA" has one, prompting Harvey to ask what's so funny about going to Jamba Juice.
- Gainax Ending: Paltridge tries to make one for The X-Files in "Retro Cafe".
- Happy Birthday to You: When Michelle sings "Happy Birthday" to herself in "Leap of Doom," she uses the lyrics for the This Loser Is You version.
- Heart Is an Awesome Power: Awesome Blossom from the site's Variety Section makes appearances in "Retro Cafe" and uses her "Heart Power" to burn down the Crazy People Tent.
- Hidden in Plain Sight: Tuan spends the last six pages of "Season's Greetings! Bah Humbug!" searching the town for his Christmas present. The last panel shows it underneath his adoptive family's Christmas tree.
- Homage: Tuan is left Home Alone in "Summer Break-Tuan Style!" and proceeds through various references to the classic comedy, such as catching unwelcome guests with booby traps lifted directly from the movie.
- Hypocritical Humor: "It's Square to Be Hip" has Quint expressing disgust at the current generation of teen singers, until Harvey catches him listening to Justin Bieber's cover of "Rubber Duckie"
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: In the first panel of each comic, the title is written as "Scrambled Eggs in X," even though the title doesn't refer to any character or team in the comic.
- In Name Only: Paltridge says the only similarities this comic shares with Hello, My Name is Scrambled Eggs include some character names and the Vietnamese kid's catchphrase. ("No kidding!") The boys weren't even brothers in the book.
- Intelligible Unintelligible: Arnold Schwarzenegger, according to "Scrambled Eggs: LA".
- Invisible Parents: Tuan's adoptive mother only appears in two of the Scrambled Eggs comics that are still on the site, and his adoptive father only appears in one of the archived comics. Also, Tuan and his adoptive siblings never met Michelle's parents, a fact lampshaded in "IT...HAD FUR!" as Quint rose the possibility that she doesn't have any.
- In "Summer Break-Tuan Style," Paltridge drew a sign next to the mother, which references the fact she rarely appears.
- Jerk With A Heart Of Jerk: Quint proves he's one at the end of "Wack Friday".
- Leap Day: Michelle was born on February 29th. The birthday parties she holds every four years have become a Fate Worse Than Death for the other characters.
- Live Action Adaptation: The Head Executive of Platypus Comix proposes one at the end of "IT.....HAD FUR!"
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Head Executive: There's no better way to make a decent creation look stupid than to make a real guy dress like it! |
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- Non Standard Character Design: Julia has a simple spiral for hair instead of a more realistic hairstyle, a relic of the days when Paltridge drew all his girls with curly hair in order to distinguish them from boys.
- Older Than They Think: Occurs in-universe in "It's Square To Be Hip": Tuan develops an obsession for Huey Lewis and The News whilst blissfully unaware that their music is pushing 30.
- Painful Rhyme: The tormentor from "IT...HAD FUR!" does a few invoked examples, including some achieved through Perfectly Cromulent Words.
- Science Fair: Paltridge has written some comics in which Quint loses science fair prizes to Tuan.
- Skintone Sclerae
- Suck E. Cheese's: Michelle's 2004 birthday party took place at Chunky Cheesy, as documented in "Leap of Doom."
- Shout-Out:
- The cover of "Retro Cafe" looks similar to a scene from Dr. Strangelove.
- Tuan obtains Arnold Schwarzenegger's Wii by telling him to go stop Phil Hartman from hitting on his wife.
- Huey Lewis dies in "It's Square To Be Hip", but his brothers Dewy Lewis and Louie Lewis promise to carry on his legacy.
- Take That: "Scrambled Eggs LA" doubles as an Affectionate Parody of 1980s detective shows and Paltridge's way of addressing several things wrong with 21st Century Disney (such as Disney Channel's Network Decay and the mediocrity of Disney's California Adventure).
- In fact, practically all of the stories released after Platypus Comix's transition to color serve as Take Thats to some aspect of modern pop culture.
- Verbal Tic: Tuan frequently exclaimed, "No kidding!" when he didn't know much English. Today, he continues to exclaim it, even after expanding his vocabulary.
- Lampshaded in "Season's Greetings! Bah Humbug!" written back in 1991.
- Whole-Plot Reference: "The Wizard II: Fax Me an Angel" has Jimmy Woods once again compete in a video game tournament and go to California, this time in his middle ages and competing against casual gamers. Also, the tournament takes place in Massachusetts; he doesn't go to California until he decides to move there after winning.
- Written in Absence: Julia asks Quint why Harvey isn't present in "Retro Cafe," so he explains that Harvey's on jury duty.