Howler/Tropes

Howler is an American supernatural-comedy video game series created by Daniel Wright, being published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment since October 30th, 2007.

Tropes

 * Absurd Phobia: Lex is shown to have a fear of cucumbers. According to Daniel, it was supposed to be a reference of how cats are scared of cucumbers because they think they're some kind of snake.
 * Action Girl: Bella, Jeanette, and many female villains.
 * Actor Allusion: TBD
 * Adorkable: Jeffrey himself, especially in his human form.
 * George as well.
 * All Animals Are Domesticated: Lex, who is a lynx, acts like a cat rather than an actual lynx.
 * All Men Are Perverts: Greg is pretty much this.
 * Amazon Chaser: It is shown that Greg can become attracted to girls because of their badass fighting skills.
 * Ambiguosly Brown: Wylda is supposedly African-American, yet she has green skin.
 * Animated Adaption: The 2019 cartoon.
 * Being Good Sucks: Howler feels this way due to the constant menaces he does.
 * Berserk Button:
 * NEVER harass/bully George around Georgia. Gavin the Ghoul Bully learned this the hard way in one of the comics' issues.
 * In the beginning of Howler 4: The Dark Virus, we saw that Greg will get pissed if you break his mirror.
 * The Naga would be pissed if you call him something he is not, like "worm" or "caterpillar".
 * Wylda will get really mad if you tend to steal her potions and/or break them.
 * Beware the Nice Ones: TBD
 * Beware the Silly Ones: George, since he can sometimes throw violent temper tantrums.
 * Big Bad: The Cthulhu qualifies as one.
 * Big Damn Movie: Howler ended up getting a movie in 2019, where the action in it became pretty epic, just like the first game.
 * Black Best Friend: Basically, Phillip is this to Jeffrey/Howler.
 * Brainless Beauty: Zoey. While she does look pretty for a zombie girl, she is straight-up dumb, similar to her brother.
 * Bratty Half-Pint: TBD
 * Butt-Monkey: The Naga when it comes to his plans.
 * Casanova Wannabe: Greg.
 * Catchphrase:
 * The Naga: "Muahahahaha!"
 * Howler: "Oh, for the sake of everything!"
 * Bella: "Holy Bat!"
 * Cloudcuckooland: TBD
 * Cloudcuckoolander: George qualifies this trope.
 * Continuity Reboot: The 2019 film somewhat counts as one, since it's a retelling on how Howler came to be with a few differences.
 * Crossover: This franchise had three: A comic series with Good Ol' Magic, a DTV film with Collin the Speedy Boy and a TV episode with The Mysterious Mysteries of Mystery Manor as part of an arc.
 * Cursed with Awesome: Howler ends up getting bit by a supernatural wolf, which gives him an amazing ability to become a werewolf.
 * Cute Cry: George and Georgia fall into this category.
 * Darker and Edgier: Howler 4: The Dark Virus was sorta like this. While it still had its funny moments, this was considered the darkest game of the Howler game series.
 * Decoy Damsel: Leilani fits this.
 * Depending on the Writer: TBD
 * Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Howler managed to defeat the Cthulhu, who is considered to be the largest enemy Howler ever faced.
 * Distracted by the Sexy: Greg often gets distracted by hot chicks.
 * Dumb Muscle: Greg.
 * Dumbass Has a Point: George, despite not being too smart, has moments like these.
 * Enemy Mine: This happened once in Howler 4 when Naga joined forces with Howler (along with Lex and Wylda) to find a cure for the virus and defeat Shade.
 * It happens again in Collin and Howler: Speedin' and Howlin', where Naga teams up with Collin, Howler, and their allies to fight off Zargak.
 * Epic Fail: Many of the Naga's plans.
 * Evil is Hammy: The Naga.
 * Evil Laugh: The Naga has one.
 * Expy: Kris and Kloe serve as expies of the Kanker Sisters from Ed, Edd n Eddy, since they have a crush on Howler, even though he's not interested in them just like the Kanker Sisters with the Eds. However, unlike them, they aren't antagonistic and they are considered pretty beautiful as their crush isn't that obsessive.
 * Genius Ditz: Frank qualifies as one, mainly due to his disorder.
 * Getting Crap Past the Radar: There has been adult jokes hidden in the franchise. For example:
 * In the first game, when TBD.
 * In the fourth game, when Howler, Naga, Lex, and Wylda hide from an infected Greg, when we suddenly see his pants and underwear getting thrown out and hear him sigh in relief, while Howler and the others are disgusted.
 * Heel-Face Turn: Howler 6: The Great War has a character who had this trope. Sasha was an antagonist and supported the war at first, but when she ended up getting betrayed by the general, she ends up turning good and joins Howler and the others to fight the General and all of his soldiers.
 * Hello, Nurse!:
 * Howler had this moment when he first saw Bella in the very first game.
 * Greg has these moments towards any chick he finds hot.
 * Hollywood Autism: It is revealed by Daniel and William that Lacey's nephew, Wayne, has high-functioning autism.
 * Horny Devils: Sasha is a family-friendly example that falls into this category.
 * Hunk: Greg.
 * Hunter of Monsters: Jeanette Helsing.
 * Hypocritical Humor: TBD
 * I Am Not Weasel:
 * Both in the very first game and the movie, Howler was first mistaken by George, Greg, and Frank as a dog, a bear, and even a cat.
 * The Naga deeply hates when he's called a worm or caterpillar, even if in most of those cases, it's just to mock him.
 * Incoming Ham: TBD
 * Interspecies Romance: Howler (a werewolf) and Bella (a vampire) are in a relationship, despite being different species.
 * Jerkass: The Naga.
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Georgia usually gets annoyed at others, especially her brother, to the point where she acts as a jerk towards them. However, despite all of that, she indeed has feelings for him and everyone else she gets annoyed by.
 * Wylda is known for sometimes getting cranky at people like the Zombie Duo, though she does show care for them and apologizes when she makes others cry, like in Howler: Attack of the Shadow Army, where Wylda yelled at Zoey and made her cry, and apologizing to her after realizing how much she hurt her feelings.
 * Large Ham: Naga: WHY?! JUST WHY?!
 * Lovable Sex Maniac: Greg.
 * Made of Evil: Shade qualifies this trope.
 * Meaningful Name: Howler (a werewolf), Frank (a Frankenstein's monster) and Greg (a gargoyle). (More TBD)
 * Mood-Swinger: Frank N. Stein falls into this category due to his multi-intelligence disorder.
 * Most Common Super Power: TBD
 * Ms. Fanservice:
 * Bella due to her attractive appearance.
 * Jeanette since she has her attractive appearance. She is considered the hottest villain in the Howler series.
 * Akamai due to her attractive appearance, just like Bella and Jeanette.
 * Sasha since she is a succubus, and succubi are attractive female demons.
 * Narcissist: Greg.
 * Nice Guy: Howler is this.
 * Non-Human Sidekick: Lex is this to George.
 * Official Couple: Howler and Bella.
 * Out-of-Character Moment: TBD
 * Prequel: Lex's Origins counts as one since it takes place before the events of the first Howler game.
 * Polar Opposite Twins: George and Georgia. While George is immature and likes to crack jokes, Georgia is more serious.
 * Rated M for Manly: TBD
 * Release Date Change: The movie was originally going to release on October 18th, but got delayed to October 25th to avoid competition with The Addams Family (before it got delayed to a week earlier).
 * Really 700 Years Old: Bella is revealed to be 100+ years old, and yet, she appears 21.
 * Shifted to CGI: The game series ended up gaining a CGI-animated movie.
 * Shout-Out: Basically, the games, comics, TV show, and films (both Attack of the Shadow Army and the 2019 film) has made tons of references of Collin the Speedy Boy.
 * References of other WBIE games like Good Ol' Magic and The Dinosaur Princess were made throughout the franchise as well.
 * Since Howler was made by the same guy who created Me and a Different Dimension and The School-tastic Misadventures of Ray the Robot, you should expect references to those too.
 * Slapstick Knows No Gender: Bella, Georgia, Wylda, Zoey and Jeanette are shown to suffer from physical comedy as much as the guys do.
 * Spin-Off:
 * Lex's Origins is this to the main franchise.
 * It was announced that more spin-offs are potential.
 * Story Arc: The comic has a couple of them, with it being Lost in Time and Reign of King Howler.
 * Super Window Jump: Lex once did this in an episode of the TV series.
 * He does it again in Collin and Howler: Speedin' and Howlin'.
 * Sweet Tooth: Throughout the franchise, it is shown that Bella has a huge love for candy, especially cherry-flavored ones.
 * Team Mom: Bella often acts in a motherly/sisterly way towards George and Georgia, both being the youngest of the bunch.
 * The Baby of the Bunch: The Ghost Twins.
 * The Cameo: The supernatural wolf that bit Howler made various cameos throughout the series, including the comic and TV series, starting in Howler 2.
 * The Ditz: George, Lex, Frank N. Stein (whenever he's stupid) and the Zombie Duo.
 * The Virus: In Howler 4: The Dark Virus, when Shade infects his victims with the virus he created, causing them to turn into hideous monsters.
 * Toilet Humor: There were a few toilet humor jokes here and there in the franchise.
 * Tomboy and Girly Girl: Georgia's tomboy to Bella's girly girl.
 * Too Dumb to Live: George and Frank.
 * Took a Level in Badass: TBD
 * Took a Level in Dumbass: TBD
 * Vocal Dissonance: We have George who, despite being 7 years old, has a voice that sounds more "SpongeBob-ish", according to some fans.
 * What Does She See in Him?: TBD
 * Would Hurt a Child: TBD
 * Would Hurt a Child: TBD

Trivia

 * Children Voicing Children: Wayne is voiced by Jay Gragnani in the TV series, who is a child actor.
 * Creator's Favorite:
 * The creator did admit in an interview that the Naga is his favorite villain of the whole franchise.
 * In general, his favorite characters are the Ghost Twins.
 * Dawson Casting: All young adult characters in the series are voiced by full-grown adults in the series.
 * By the time the first game was released, Charlie Schlatter (Jeffrey) was 41 years old and Bumper Robinson (Phillip) was 33 years old.
 * Mae Whitman (Lacey) was an exception since she was 19 when the first game was launched. However, as the years passed, she felt into this as well.
 * Bella is a cross between this and Playing Gertrude. Her voice actress Jennifer Hale was 35 by the time Howler was launched and her character is physically 21. However, since she's a vampire, she's actually 100+ years old.
 * Executive Meddling: the Howler TV series was originally planned to be add for Netflix, until the Warner Bros. executives thought it would be better for it to air on a basic cable channel (Cartoon Network) for better visibility, since not everyone has subscribed to a streaming platform (either Netflix, Amazon Prime or Hulu).
 * Fake American: Bella, like all the other main characters, is American. Yet, she's voiced by a Canadian voice actor.
 * God Does Not Own This World: Like every other WBIE game, Howler has its rights owned by Warner Bros., not the creator himself.
 * Playing Against Type: Kat Cressida, better known for voicing the overenthusiastic and ditzy Dee Dee in Dexter's Laboratory, ends up voicing Georgia, who, unlike Dee Dee, is way smarter and is often annoyed by her brother's immaturity.
 * Scarlett Johansson and Angelina Jolie, who are strongly associated to the roles of action heroines like Black Widow in Scarlett's case and Lara Croft in Angelina's case, end up voicing Bella (who is rather TBD) and Jeanette (who is the film's main antagonist) for the movie.
 * Rule 34 - Creator Reactions: a user on Twitter once asked him about Rule 34 pictures with Howler characters, and Daniel did reply, saying, "Well, in all honesty, I knew stuff like this would happen to my game series. I did stumble across all of these "sexy" pictures of Howler and Bella on the web, and one fan even sent me a picture of the Zombie Duo... having fun while licking each other's tongues. Nuff said."
 * The same user replied with, asking what if he told him that Stella McDonnell was one of those people who made those Howler/Bella pictures. Daniel replied, saying "I like Stella and I like her work, but I don't see why she should make those kind of pictures and fanfics with my characters along with hers and some other creators' characters. I mean, you don't see me and other WBIE game creators like Oscar, Ryan, and Maria doing it, do ya? Now, I have NOTHING against fanfics and fanart. I sometimes read and look at them whenever I'm off work. There's those that make me burst into laughter, and there's some that... take things a bit too far. Of course, I'm talking about those adult fics and pics, and of course, all fanbases including that of my series will have messed-up fans. However, with Stella, a creator of another Warner Bros. Games, making these... That's different. What I'm saying is that she should stop with these over-the-top eye-burning pictures, or at least make it more kid-friendly for the sake of everything! Heh! See what I did there? Anyways, Stella, if you're reading this, think about how us creators would feel about this. If you don't find a way to redeem your mistakes, there WILL be consequences."
 * What Could Have Been:
 * When first announced, the Howler TV series was originally gonna air on Netflix. However, for an unknown reason, the idea of putting it on Netflix was scrapped and the show instead aired on Cartoon Network.
 * According to Daniel on his tweet, the Warner Bros. executives believed it would be better to air on Cartoon Network instead, since people have a bigger access to cable and satellite television systems than streaming platforms (Netflix included), besides the fact the channel being available on basic packages.
 * The series would eventually be available for streaming on HBO Max in 2020.
 * When he first started working on the first game, Daniel Wright originally had an idea for Jeffrey/Howler to have a pet similar to Collin with Cooper and Tommy, Kitrina with Terry, Charlotte with Tux and Bailey with Battie. However, as time passed, Daniel wanted to make his series different from the rest, so he scrapped the idea of Howler having a pet.
 * Indirectly, that still happened with Lex. However, he is George's pet instead of Howler's.
 * While Howler 6 was in production, one of the developers had an idea for a succubus character, but Daniel was unsure about having one in a kids' series, therefore it was at first rejected. However, after a few talks with TBD, Daniel found a way to make her appropriate for the series by TBD.

YMMV

 * Acceptable Targets: TBD
 * Accidental Innuendo: Jeanette ends up telling Howler how good he fights in a rather unintentional flirtatious way, which is thought to be the main reason why some people ship Howler with Jeanette.
 * Alternative Character Interpretation: Is George smarter than he appears to be?
 * Americans Hate Tingle:
 * People in the Arab World have shown a hatred towards the character, Greg, ironically despite its laws about women's rights.
 * Frank was not well-liked by people from the United Kingdom, France and Germany due to his disorder being played for laughs.
 * Awesome Art: The game series was praised for its Western art style.
 * Base-Breaking Character:
 * While most fans adore George, there are some fans who find him straight-up annoying.
 * Similarly to George, while fans like Frank, some find him annoying and that the use of his disorder for comedy is rather offensive for some.
 * While Greg is liked by fans, many female SJWs hated him due to his personality, being often accused of being a misogynist and a potential sex offender.
 * Daniel replied those accusations by saying that, much like Johnny Bravo (owned by Cartoon Network, itself also owned by Warner Bros.), Greg is supposed to be an exaggerated parody of the macho stereotype and he wouldn't go that far as he knows when to give up.
 * Broken Base:
 * (reserved for Donaldo)
 * Cargo Ship: Greg x his mirror.
 * Complete Monster: The Cthulhu.
 * Crack Pairing:
 * Some fans jokingly shipped Howler with Jeanette Helsing.
 * Since April 2019, the meme community made up a new shipping called Gurga (Gurkha x Naga) as part of a Gurkha meme.
 * Crossover Ship: There has been some ships where characters from Howler are shipped with characters outside their franchise.
 * Howler fans do like to ship George with Claire from Eric and Claire, due to their similarities.
 * Few fans ship Howler with Collin the Speedy Boy, though this example is rather controversial due to the former being 20 and the latter being 17. However, they opt to age Collin up and since the age gap isn't that big, it wasn't a big deal to them.
 * Another shipping between a Howler and CTSB character, and a rather ironic one... Lex x Cooper.
 * Designated Hero: Howler is this.
 * Designated Monkey: Naga has been this throughout the series.
 * Designated Villain: Both Jeanette and the Naga were this.
 * Ensemble Dark Horse:
 * Both of the Ghost Twins gained popularity among the fanbase.
 * Greg became a pretty popular character in the franchise's fanbase as well.
 * Lex's popularity grew once he was introduced in the very first game. He even had his own comic book miniseries spin-off.
 * Naga gained popularity when first introduced and was considered the fanbase's favorite villain.
 * Evil is Sexy: Jeanette (and Sasha before her redemption) fits this trope.
 * Fan-Preferred Couple: Some people tend to prefer Howler/Lacey rather than the official couple Howler/Bella.
 * Fandom Rivalry:
 * Some fans in the fanbases of this game and Good Ol' Magic, despite most Howler fans liking GoM and vice versa, had some rivalry with each other.
 * Some fans of The Dinosaur Princess have shown a minor rivalry towards Howler fans as well, mainly due to the fact that it had a crossover with CTSB and GoM, but not TDP.
 * When The Cryptids first premiered, fans of Howler showed rivalry to fans of that show.
 * With The Addams Family. Specifically, the film.
 * Foe Yay Shipping:
 * Some fans jokingly ship Jeanette with either Howler, Bella, or even both of them.
 * A few fans jokingly ship Howler with the Naga.
 * Greg is commonly shipped with random villainesses. It makes sense considering his personality when it comes to hot chicks.
 * Friendly Fandoms: As said before, most fans of Howler enjoyed Good Ol' Magic and vice versa.
 * The Howler fanbase have shown to have a good relationship with the The Dinosaur Princess fanbase.
 * The fanbase of The Mystic Woods have shown to get along well with the Howler fanbase.
 * Fans of Courage the Cowardly Dog and The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy have shown to like the franchise due to it use of comedy and horror.
 * Fans of Howler have enjoyed Collin the Speedy Boy and vice versa. Once the crossover between the both of them were confirmed, TBD.
 * Fans of Me and a Different Dimension and The School-tastic Misadventures of Ray the Robot absolutely adored Howler, mainly since it's made by the same creator.
 * Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Outside of the USA and Canada, it had a HUGE fanbase in Japan.
 * Hilarious in Hindsight: TBD
 * Ho Yay Shipping:
 * A few fans ship Frank N. Stein and Greg.
 * Despite being enemies, a few fans jokingly ship Bella with Jessica.
 * Incest Yay Shipping: A few fans also ship George with his sister Georgia.
 * Jerkass Woobie: TBD
 * Memetic Molester: Greg has been portrayed as a molester in several memes.
 * Memetic Mutation:
 * "Muhahahahahaha!", a quote from Naga, became a meme in the early 2010s.
 * There was a mash-up meme of Ricardo Milos with Greg portraying him.
 * A video showing a clip of an infected Greg from Howler 4: The Dark Virus shaking his butt while this song plays became a meme and a way to troll people similar to the infamous Rickroll.
 * Frank himself was a meme back in the late 2009.
 * Misaimed Fandom: TBD
 * Nausea Fuel: TBD
 * No Yay: TBD
 * One True Threesome:
 * Howler/Bella/Lacey is the most popular one throughout the fandom.
 * Howler/Bella/Jeanette... Yes, this threesome ship exists.
 * Self-Fanservice: TBD
 * Squick: TBD
 * The Woobie: Lex, due to all of the things he went through before George found him.
 * They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: TBD
 * They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: TBD
 * Ron the Death Eater: Several fan-fictions do this.
 * What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: While Howler is frankly a video game series for children, TBD.

Funny

 * Frank N. Stein is seen as a comic relief for the video game series. Other characters such as George, Greg, The Naga, Phillip, and the Zombie Duo are seen as comic relieves as well.
 * Every time Kris and Kloe chase after Howler can make fans laugh.
 * When Greg beat the crap out of Frank in Howler 4 after he broke his mirror.

Tear Jerker

 * In Howler 6: The Great War when Sasha started sobbing after being betrayed may bring viewers into tears.
 * Whenever Lex has flashbacks of his old owner, Sally Cox, in the series can bring some viewers to tears.

Nightmare Fuel

 * Things got dark in Howler 4: The Dark Virus when Shade's victims got infected and turned into hideous monsters, making it the darkest game in the whole franchise.