Flipside (webcomic)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Flipside | |
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| Author(s) | Brion Foulke |
| Website | http://www.flipsidecomics.com/ |
| Update schedule | Monday, Wednesday, Friday |
| Genre | Fantasy Adventure |
Flipside is an online manga written by Brion Foulke. The plot centers mainly on two women who live in the fictional world of Flipside: Maytag, a libidinous jester with an alternate personality, and Bernadette Lashoar, a reserved yet extremely capable swordswoman.
The webcomic is updated three times a week.
Contents |
[edit] Plot summaries
Flipside's plot can be most easily divided into two sections, being the "Book Zero" portion and the "Book One" portion. Foulke put the first 26 chapters of the webcomic into a separate section, stating that the initial art and stories as "training" for the actual comic which starts in Book One. Book Zero is considered a prequel, and everything that occurred in it is still canon, but Book One can be read without any knowledge of Book Zero.
- Book Zero
- Book Zero begins with the introduction of Maytag and Bernadette in the small town of Vestige, their journey with the sorcerer Seraph and his students Lucient, Moss, and Regina. The whole book spans over 500 pages and 26 chapters, and ends with Maytag and Bernadette parting company with the other characters in the city of Solstice, where Book One begins.
- Book One
- Book One is set in the city of Solstice, several months after the end of Book Zero. It's centered mostly around the character of Crest, a young boy living in Solstice, and how he crosses paths with Maytag and Bernadette. So far, Book One has eight completed chapters, of which the first few were introductory, re-introducing the personalities and skills of Maytag and Bernadette and introducing the background of Crest.
[edit] Characters
[edit] Current major characters
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- Maytag
- Her real name is said to be Veranda Kingfisher, but she prefers to go by the name of "Maytag." Maytag is unique in that she is one of the few female jesters in the world of Flipside, although it's possible others exist. She has a very liberal attitude towards sex, often using racy material in her jokes and promoting her audience to go out and have more sex. However, Maytag has a different personality when she's not wearing her jester costume, or at least part of it. When out of costume, Maytag is meek, soft-spoken, and a little ditzy — a big change from the other Maytag, who seems to fear nothing in the world. Both aspects of her personality are aware of her dual nature, and neither seems to think it's something unusual. Maytag's jester personality is the one that has so far been on display the most often, with her meek persona showing up only rarely. Maytag's background is mostly unrevealed at this point in the story. We know from Book Zero that her mother abandoned her when she was little, and we get a glimpse of her early days as a jester during the Flipside Side Story, but of her childhood, we know nothing. We also don't know how Maytag and Bernadette met, or the reasons for their close bond. She claimed to have a boyfriend, although this turned out to be Bernadette; they have been keeping this a secret, but Crest and Orransong are now privy to it.
She is an expert knife-thrower. She hides her knives and many other useful objects in a "dimensional bag", a sort of interdimensional storage device.
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- Bernadette Lashoar
- Calm, polite, and proper, Bernadette is the perfect partner for Maytag. She is reasoned enough to keep her from getting into too much trouble, and strong enough to bail her out of trouble she does find herself in. Bernadette works as a swords instructor, and in Book One she was officially inducted as a member of the Lashoar Knights. Her sword technique, the Split Rose, is the ultimate defensive dual sword style. It's only flaw is a lack of offensive moves, relying entirely on counter attacks and disarms. Bernadette was reared by someone named Grant Lashoar, who was most likely a member of the Lashoar Knights. In her teens, Bernadette joined the Steel Serpent Gang, where she met her friend Clairen. Even at that age, Bernadette was skilled in the Split Rose sword style. Some unspecified time later, she met and became friends with Maytag.
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- Crest
- A fairly ordinary boy living in the city of Solstice. Crest lives with his blind mother, and seeks to earn enough gold to have her blindness cured via sorcery. Sorcery is forbidden in Solstice, thanks to the Knights, but there seems to be no other way of curing her. He isn't above doing illegal activities to obtain the gold, and the first chapter of Book One shows him cheating at poker to try to get the gold. Crest is distant and rude to most people he meets, except with girls. When around women, Crest ends up horribly tongue-tied, shy, and awkward. Crest has a grudge against the Lashoar Knights, and is often quite vocal of his opinion behind their backs. Crest had a serious crush on Maytag in Book One, and asked her out early in the first chapter, only to be turned down. However, Maytag later helped him escape the angry poker players who realised he'd been cheating them, and she showed renewed interest in him; the two went out on a single date, which ended badly.
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- Umber Dycone
- Umber is a dancer at the Heart's Shadow club in Solstice. The star attraction of the club, she's renown for her beauty and grace on the dance stage. She has the nickname of "The Heart Breaker", and before her performances the announcer would warn audience members not to fall in love with her. During Book Zero, Umber and her husband Dirk had a threesome with Maytag, after which Umber became quite enamoured with Maytag. Umber invited Maytag to be her (and her husband's) lover, but Maytag turned her down, for reasons that were not revealed until recently. In Book One, Umber reappears during Maytag's date with Crest, where she warned Crest not to fall in love with Maytag. This doesn't seem like an advice given out of kindness though; Umber appears to be immensely jealous that Maytag would spend time with Crest, but not with her. Umber is the first character from Book Zero, aside from Maytag and Bernadette, to appear in Book One.
[edit] Past major characters
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- Seraph
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- Lucient Rayluster
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- Regina Fleetwing
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- Moss Flowless
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- Noventia
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- Clairen
[edit] Minor characters past and present
- Britannus- A cocky fighter who offered in the beginning of book zero to be Maytag's bodyguard, later learning he had bit off more than he could chew.
- Ashley- A member of the Black Poison Angel's assassin group, Ashley is considered the leader and considers herself an expert swordswoman. She has sworn revenge on Bernadette, and is still bitter that she (a "mere woman," she claims) beat her so easily.
- Elai- Leader of Ashley's gang of assassins.
- Dirk- Umber's husband, and manager of The Heart's Shadow.
- Sir Orransong- Current leader of the Knights that Crest detests and Bernadette is currently a member of. He worries about Crest and is appalled to discover Bernadette's true sexuality.
- Sierra- Crest's mother. She is currently blind. She wants to see her son again and by any means necessary to achieve her goal even using sorcery which is forbidden in Solstice. She is constantly wishing Crest would find a woman and give her grandchildren.
- Dice- Hellmouth's henchman, and a level two sorceress. She tries to stop Maytag and Crest as they escape from Hellmouth, but as she has fallen in love with Crest, she can't bring herself to attack.
- Hellmouth- A professional gambler and an ex-pro-cheater. He attempts to cut out Crest's eyes when he discovers him cheating.
- Voulger- A man who was under the influence of one of the three Xibulba collars, turning him into a deranged psychopath with amazing powers.
