Sabrina Online

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Sabrina Online is a furry webcomic created by Eric W. Schwartz and which has consistently managed to put out its monthly batches of strips since its start in late 1996.

The comic revolves around the Slice of Life tales of Sabrina, a quiet skunk who works as a web designer. Unable to find another job after she was replaced at work by a clip-art library, she finds work as webmaster for a porn studio, run by the flirtatious Zig Zag. However, the tone is gently restrained, with an uncomfortable heroine only now growing used to this bizarre job, while her friends (including her living Transformers toys!) around her have their own antics. Updates once a month.

Not to be confused with that Sabrina or that Sabrina, or even the 1954 film called Sabrina.

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Tropes:

• Adorkable: Sabrina.
• Anything That Moves: Zig Zag, though she exaggerates this to get a rise out of Sabrina.
• Art Evolution: Averted; the strip pretty much looks the same in 2011 as it did in 1996.
• Art Shift: Sabrina's webcomic that is an Expy of herself drawn in a grittier style. Lampshaded to no end, of course!
• Aside Glance: Often enough to smash the fourth wall.
• Author Appeal: Sabrina's Amiga advocacy, the talking Transformers toys, and, by Schwartz's own admission, the inclusion of Zig Zag.
• Author Filibuster: Though it's turning into more of an Author Tract as the last several months of strips have been literally nothing but two to three characters standing or sitting around espousing Eric Schwartz's opinion on various things.
• Barefoot Cartoon Animals: The entire cast.
  • Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Subverted; Sabrina's pants are actually skunk-print.
• Berserk Button: Bringing up Zig Zag's past as anything other than a set of facts (and even that chafes).
  • It's also hinted that Zig doesn't take kindly to anyone who tries to hurt her or her friends.
  • An arc launched in December 2010 implies she doesn't take kindly to the GIFT in action.
• Big Beautiful Woman: Tina Lynx, Zig Zag's secretary/assistant/lover.
• Bleached Underpants: Eric Schwartz's own commissioned stuff, plus the porn-based origins of much of the supporting cast. (Although the whole "they're porn stars" premise is not hidden at all in the comic.)
  • Special mention goes to Sabrina, which the artist has done nothing erotic of, even on his adult art site. The closest thing he ever did of naughty Sabrina art was an oil painting of her in a pose out of a well known Victorian-era nude painting. In fact, he rather vehemently goes after risque Sabrina fan-art on the web, for all the good that does.
• Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: Zig Zag complains of her lack of friends to hang out with:

With the others it's about business, or sex... or sexy business.

• Breaking the Fourth Wall: Special strips for holidays - most especially April Fools - will be completely and utterly medium-aware. The main storyline has some moments of this as well.

Amy: Must be tough waiting so long to get a car. [points out to the viewer] To them, too. Timothy: [Waves 'Hi']

• Calling the Old Man Out: Fairly early on, Sabrina gently but firmly tells her mom to back the hell off.
• Cheerful Child: Tabitha.
• Cool Big Sis: Zig Zag, to Sabrina's younger sister (by 19 years), Tabitha.
• Covert Pervert: Sabrina, as shown here.
• Cursed with Awesome: Doesn't actually happen by trope in the comic, but the phrase itself (word for word) is on one guy's shirt in a recent strip... before he gets curb-stomped by a VERY PISSED-OFF Zig Zag.
• Cutaway Gag: Lampshaded and crossed with a Shout-Out.

Sabrina: It's tough keeping up with Tabitha, isn't it? Zig-Zag: You're telling me! It's harder than picking camera angles for a scene with an elephant! [Cutaway to a camera's eye view: only the top of Zig's face is visible, with an elephant flooding the background] Zig-Zag: Can you see anything? Cameraman: Maybe if I backed all the way out of the room... [Cut back to Zig and Sabrina, the latter looking very confused] Sabrina: What the hell was THAT!? Zig-Zag: Hey, we work in media! We should have more power to set up random cutaways than some fat New England guy!

• Dark and Troubled Past: Zig Zag.
• A Date with Rosie Palms/Caught with Your Pants Down: In one of the early strips, Sabrina decides to indulge in some "hands-on" "cybering" with her (then still-unseen) internet boyfriend, Richard. She's just getting into things when her roommate, Amy, walks in on her. (This later earns Richard the nickname "Sticky Fingers".)
  • Also that one time Carli the Chinchilla was eavesdropping on Sabrina and Richard during one of their sessions.
• Death Glare: Amy does a truly magnificent one in this strip.
• Did Not Do the Research: "What sort of movie studio would be caught dead outside of California?"
• Did You Just Have Sex?: Zig Zag has, unsurprisingly, a sixth sense about this sort of thing.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Say mean things on the internet about Zig Zag and she'll hunt you down to administer beatings and\or psychological torture.
• Double Standard Rape (Female on Female): Averted hard at the porn convention hotel when Sabrina slaps some sense into Zig. Zig snaps out of it and admits that she went too far and nearly fell into the same patterns that she suffered herself, leading into some Character Development and a closer friendship for the two. Not that Zig stops from teasing the hell out of Sabrina either.
• Eye Scream: Zig Zag gets a scare when she wakes up and finds she has a subconjunctival hemorrhage of the eye, but her doctor says that it's essentially just a bruise.
• The Faceless: Both Carli's husband and Thomas' father are wolves who, possibly as a species trait, are much taller than anyone else, thus they are only "shot" from the neck down for long periods to avoid awkward scene angles.
  • Though Spike, Carli's husband, has had his face shown on his first (at the time un-named) appearance, and several times more since (he was sitting, so his head was level with Carli's).
• Flame Bait: In-Universe: After a scrape with the Image Boards, Zig Zag discovers that mentioning her name is enough to cause bouts of fury.
• Four-Fingered Hands: The entire cast.
• Freudian Excuse (Averted)/Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Zig Zag refuses to blame any of her behavior on her tragic past, and hates it when anyone tries.
  • Alternate Character Interpretation: Zig Zag is in heavy denial and hasn't recovered emotionally from her abuse. That's why she screws almost Anything That Moves. That's why Sabrina is her ONLY platonic friend. After getting forcibly rejected by Sabrina in comic 138, Zig Zag told her "I've had to deal with abuse like this my whole life. I can't believe I almost fell into doing it myself." Zig Zag also told Sabrina "Calm down a bit, and I promise you'll love this" right before Sabrina gave her a black eye. That doesn't sound like someone who's over her past abuses. Let's face it, Zig Zag needs therapy. A LOT of therapy. However, she has been shown to open up...but to a point, and under her own terms. Then again, as ahe herself put it - "Honestly! Can't someone behave playful or slutty without there having to be some deeper meaning behind it!?!" Either way, one never truly recovers from that sort of abuse - the best that can be hoped for is a life in which it doesn't weigh on the mind or constantly interfere. Zig Zag arguably does that. Therapy might still help her, but the belief that one can just rollback their life and edit out the bad parts is something that has to be fixed in therapy. Zig at least seems to have understood this, and acts accordingly. (That said, Blackrabbit would know more than Schwartz on the matter.)
• Fridge Horror: Sabrina experiences this after she fends off a mugger.
• Genki Girl: Carli.
• Girl-On-Girl Is Hot: Some people watching the studio's webcam show certainly think so.
• Glasses Girl: Sabrina.
• Good Angel, Bad Angel: Happens with Thomas when he finds out Amy is pregnant with Timothy.
• Good Bad Girl: Tina Lynx.
• Hands-Off Parenting: Richard's hippie parents.
• Head-Tiltingly Kinky: Here's an example.
  • Or, for a slightly earlier one:

"I'd pay you fifty bucks to watch you do something suggestive with a banana."

• She Who Fights Monsters When Zig Zag discovers her name is a Berserk Button on Image Boards.
• He Who Must Not Be Seen: Richard's first appearances were as "RC", Sabrina's unseen online "friend".
• The Hedonist: Zig Zag. So much.
• Hey It's That Girl!: In-Universe example: Apparently Amy and Sheila went to the same high school together. It's unknown whether or not they were friends/enemies/etc. during that time.
• Hot Mom: Amy Squirrel after her son Timothy is born.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Carli, a chinchilla and her husband Spike, a wolf. Also, Thomas' parents, a fox and another wolf, respectively.
• Hulk Speak: One of the Transformer toys running for president delivers a speech using this.
• Hype Aversion: An In-Universe example in this strip; when a co-worker recommends My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic, Sabrina reacts by saying that she's "just not caught up in pony hype".
• I Banged Your Mom: In response to a teenage Troll who called her an unattractive slut, Zig Zag went to his house and met his mother; when the boy shows up, he finds that his (divorced) mother finds Zig very attractive.
• Image Boards/Troll: A two-part discussion.
  • GIFT:Brought up almost by name in the second half.
    • The "anonymity" part has been subverted and Zig got her revenge
• Informed Ability: Before going into porn, Zig Zag was aiming to be a professional actress. Subverted when said abilities were shown during a visit to Sabrina's family, leading to a subtle Crowning Moment of Funny...

Endora: I don't see how someone can be taken seriously with a name like that. Zig Zag: *in cheerful tone* Why? Am I supposed to be taken seriously?

• Innocent Fanservice Girl: Subverted and lampshaded; during Amy's pregnancy, she borrows a pair of Sabrina's pants, which gives her skunk colored legs. Sabrina breaks the fourth wall to accuse the readers of thinking she was walking around half naked the entire time. (Of course, since she's drawn before, during, and after that as being essentially pants-less, well...)
  • To the point of "Sabrina's clothes" becoming a Running Gag for some fan artists.
• In the Style Of: 1990's era Warner Brothers cartoons, such as Animaniacs. In fact, some of the character roster might have actually influenced them, such as Amy, who was first drawn in 1988.
  • Arguably, Tabitha looks and acts as a Dot expy.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: In a variation, Zig Zag is more infatuated with Sabrina than in love, knows it, and just wants her to loosen up and enjoy life more.
  • If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...: Zig Zag to Richard.
• Jerkass: Darke Katt. A perpetual grouch who would put even Oscar to shame, she refuses to socialize with the others in the studio, let alone be in their films. She can't stand her job as the janitor and the only reason she hasn't left is because she has nowhere else to go and that the others are polite to her, giving her money and shelter for her work.
  • Sabrina's Optimus Prime toy, which went on a rampage beating up the Decepticon figurines until Timothy intervened.
    • To be precise, it's a Movie Optimus toy, which explains his Ax-craziness. Also:

"Decepticon... GIVE ME YOUR FACE!"

• Karma Houdini: Zig Zag is basically able to do whatever she wants whenever she wants to whoever she wants with little to no consequence, up to and including stalking, sexual harassment, and physical assault.
  • Having a talented lawyer takes care of the remaining lawsuits.
• Les Yay: Zig Zag wants this with Sabrina, and has this with several members of her staff, notably Sheila Vixen and Tina Lynx.
• Living Toys: Sabrina's toys have their own little society, complete with a president (a Transformers Animated Blackarachnia figure). They refer to Sabrina as "The Mistress".
• LOLcats: Used as a coping mechanism (see Image Boards/Troll above.)
• Longest Pregnancy Ever: Amy was pregnant with Timothy from Feb. 1997 to Jan. 2000.
• Long Pants: Sabrina wears pants that do not look like pants.
• Lysistrata Gambit: Inverted and later subverted
  • Zig Zag does a variation of this to an internet troll who essentially said she was such a slut that that he wouldn't have sex with her even if she walked up to him and asked for it.
• Mary Sue: The In-Universe reaction to Sabrina's web comic is that her Author Avatar is one of these.
• A Man Is Not a Virgin: Richard balks at admitting this, until Sabrina admits that she's a virgin as well.
• Medium Awareness
• Meganekko: Sabrina.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: Zig Zag is three quarters skunk, one quarter white tiger.
  • Timothy is a quarter fox, a quarter wolf and half squirrel.

Thomas: Zoologically speaking, shouldn't this also be impossible? Amy: Well, that's why we have comic strips.

• Ms. Fanservice: Zig Zag, obviously. Sheila and Amy also qualify.
• My Beloved Smother: Endora, Sabrina's ultra-conservative mom.
• Not So Different: Played with here.
  • Happens again here, albeit unintentionally on Schwartz's part. See also She Who Fights Monsters above.
• Not What It Looks Like: Invoked: Zig Zag deliberately makes a lunchtime invitation to Richard look like a proposition for sex, much to his bewilderment.

Play along. Sabrina and I are taking you out to lunch.

• Notable References to TV Tropes: Right here.
• Nude-Colored Clothes: Sabrina's pants.
• Obvious Pregnancy: Amy skips from not showing to this.
• Only One Name: Over a decade later, we still don't know Sabrina's last name. (Accepted Fanon says it's simply "Skunk")
• POV Cam: The first panel of this comic.
• Really Gets Around: Zig Zag.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Arguably Sabrina (blue) and Zig Zag (red), the former being a somewhat reserved computer/Transformers nut and the latter an outgoing porn star legend.
• Resistance Is Futile: Played for laughs here.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Zig Zag goes on one against the chat room people who made fun of her movies and performances. She takes her porn very seriously.
• Schedule Slip: While it really does update once a month (first day of the month) and is generally on-schedule, it originally featured about four strips with each update; nowadays, at least one is often a Filler Strip, or there may be as few as two, or both.
• Screaming Birth: Amy's labor was really difficult and she was hollering like a banshee, but she was loudest when she realized just when she was signing into the hospital that she and Thomas hadn't married yet.
• Self-Deprecation:
  • Strip 49 has Sabrina meet Schwartz's Author Avatar and call him a "loser" behind his back.
  • Strips 602 and 603 show Sabrina explaining her ideas for a comic project of hers (including a schedule and an art style mirroring those of Sabrina Online itself), only to have Amy criticize her choices as ridiculous.

Amy: (looks straight at the reader) So, you buying any of this?

• Shaped Like Itself: Sabrina wears skunk-print pants.
• Shout-Out: So many, they have their own page.
• Show Within a Show: Sabrina's own Web Comic, Lena's Net Adventures.
  • Art Shift: Used when showing panels from Lena's.
• Sliding Scale of Fourth Wall Hardness: It slides an awful lot.
• Sour Prudes: Zig-Zag sometimes (jokingly, one should hope) calls Sabrina a prude because she refuses to become a porn star and because she can sometimes get embarrassed.
• Stalker with a Crush: The "Funny Bunny Man", as Tabitha called him (actually Max Blackrabbit, the fursona of Malcolm Earle, Zig Zag's creator).
• Sunglasses At Night: Tina Lynx, most likely for Purpose 1 of the trope.
• Surprise Pregnancy: Only a surprise to the characters...since Eric was so kind as to show the audience Timmy's conception.
• Terrible Interviewees Montage: Implied to have happened before Sabrina got her first job.

Secretary: Remember that one guy who looked confused whenever we said "Computer"?

• There Are No Girls on the Internet: Discussed and eventually subverted. One strip even is titled almost exactly that.
• There Is Only One Bed: Intentionally set up by Zig Zag.
• Thought Bubble: Being a baby, most of Timmy's dialogue is shown in one. He even has these before he was born.
• Token Wholesome: Sabrina in her workplace.
• Unusual Euphemism: "Holy dammit Christmas!" At least, it's a euphemism compared to what people would normally say. (And a reference to The Venture Brothers.)
• Webcomics Long Runners: Along with User Friendly, Sluggy Freelance and Kevin and Kell, the longest of the long.
  • Although that's only in terms of age. In number of comics, it still hasen't reached 1000...
    • It's got 500+. In twelve years. If you count holidays, filler and April Fools strips.
      • Let's see, that's... a little over 41 strips a year, or 0.8 comics a week, or 0.11 comics a day.
• Webcomic Time: The comic has been going since 1996. At the most, 18 months have passed, storyline-wise.
  • Yet Schwartz keeps mentioning real-life products in the comic... So basically, no more than two years have passed in-universe between Windows 95 being the most recent version of Windows, and Sabrina's toys complaining about the new Revenge of the Fallen-based Optimus Prime toy.
    • To reference the figure above, if one were to figure every strip wound up averaging one day of time In-Universe, time for the main cast is somehow being distorted into running at one tenth the speed of normal time.
    • Subverted several times; Sabrina apparently goes went to college, and explains that she does this "in the free time between strips" when Amy questions this; another occasion, when Amy wakes up to find her pregnancy greatly developed, and asks "how long between strips, anyway?"
• Where Did We Go Wrong?: Richard's parents. They are ultra-liberal flower-child hippies, and extremely open-minded - and he rebelled by becoming a perfectly straight-laced IT graduate, working tech-support for Microsoft.
• Wish Fulfillment: In one arc, Zig Zag steals papers detailing information on a group of trolls (courtesy of a well-meaning Sabrina) and abuses them psychologically and, in one case, physically.
• Write Who You Know: Sabrina starts drawing her own web comic, which is based on events that happened previously in the comic.
• You Bastard: While the don't explicitly say it, this is probably what Sabrina and Tina think of the viewers who want them to joke about Zig Zag's past.
  • Or the author for even bringing it up in the first place.
• Youtube Poop: Several of Schwartz's old animations of the characters