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File:Roommates2007-01 9869.jpg

Our main cast of lovable misfits[1].


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Somewhere, there is a place where all stories are real and all dreams are truth.

This is not that place.

This is not quite that place, but it's close.
—Narration form "Roommates 61 - Lundi"
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Welcome to the Buildingverse! This article is about the Weekly Web Comic (normally[2] updated on Mondays) that started all: Roommates by AsheRhyder and the fans[3] on Deviant ART. It's mainly about Jareth, Erik, Commander James Norrington and Javert, who all live together in the same apartment building. Also along for the ride (occasionally) are Crowley, Aziraphale and Legolas and the romantic interests Christine and Sarah as they try to survive each other and life outside of their normal existence. This building, this town and possibly this whole world is a special place. Sure it looks quite normal on the surface (urban Present Day setting) but how sane can it be if Gandalf teaches science at the local university? All fiction exist as movies / books / etc. and as real past for the characters? And there isn't much of a fourth wall either...

Further expanded in the spinoffs Girls Next Door by Pika-la-Cynique and the Down the Street by Heroes-Daughter.

Someone does a(n admittedly less than perfect) Hungarian translation of it titled "Lakótársak" (Has a mirror here)

This page has Your Mileage Might Vary, Wild Mass Guessing, Trivia, Shout Out, and Fridge Logic entries as well as Character Sheets and subpages for Scary, Really Funny, Heartwarming, Awesome, and Tear Jerking moments.

Not to be confused with the other Web Comic also called Roommates (Not Safe for Work).

Tropes used in Roommates[]

Tropes - A-C[]

  • Actor Allusion: Lots and lots. The reason why Norrington can't stand Legolas and also why Erik gets younger and younger. The entire Copies miniarc.
  • Added Alliterative Appeal: Sweet sustained sonatas
  • Alliterative Title: More like Alliterative Subtitles actually. The pages of some (mini)arcs have these, like the Erlkönig Arc (pages 135-140) Loom, Lurk, Lee, Loss, Lethe, Legacy; or the Kid!Jareth Arc (pages 130-133) Falling, Flying, Faery Tale, Forsaken. See also: Pun-Based Title.
  • All Just a Dream: Such Stuff as Dreams Are Made On but a dream shared by (at least) part of the cast and one with consequences.
  • All Love Is Unrequited : Averted marvelously... most of the time. Most characters, due to being villains or side characters, don't get the girl in their own canon. In the comic they are either given girlfriends, oneshot dates, or a chance with the canon love interest. But there's liberal doses of "He just never got over her..." for at least Erik.
  • Animesque
  • Anti-Heroic BSOD: Javert suffers a textbook one (maybe even bordering Angst Coma) when he notices that Valjean moved to the building. Later James when he learns that his mother is coming to visit. Erik after seeing Labyrinth in HD.
  • Art Evolution: Compare this to this and then this.
  • Art Shift: The more serious the mood the more realistic the art gets (but remains Animesque) just to become Super-Deformed when something silly happens.
  • Attractive Bent Gender: As Sarah called Jareth out about it:
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    • Also James in his own right.
  • Back to Back to Back Badasses: when they find themselves in Oz.
    • Also, the imagery is invoked here, though Crowley and Az are dealing with a flood of information rather than physical opponents.
    • Zombies!
  • Beach Episode: The last third of the First Vacation Arc
  • Big Damn Heroes: Or Anti Heroes. The main Shadow!cast here. Perfectly in line with Jareth's Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner.
  • Bittersweet Ending: Almost all the arcs with definite endings. The only thing the cast tends to win is the right to continue their life as it is now (with all its happiness, sadness, weirdness and relative freedom) and even that comes with a price.
  • Blood Magic: The Erlkönig used his own blood to seal his son's magic.
  • Brain Bleach: Erik's reaction to seeing Javert and Valjean kissing.[4]
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 Erik: "...can't unsee..." *whimper*

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Tropes - D-H[]


Tropes - I-M[]

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 Jareth: How I've longed to say this... You have no POWER over me.

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Tropes - N-R[]

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 Jareth: Well, come along, Dorothy. We're Off to See the Wizard and all that jazz.

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Tropes - S-Z[]

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 Javert: You were monologued to death?

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  • Tangled Family Tree: It has been established that in the continuity of the comic, pretty much the entire magical community of every fandom ever is related in one way or another.
    • Even a few non-majic characters are somehow connected through the magic family tree. Case in point, Morgan is Jareth's Aunt and Javert's mother, which makes the two of them cousins. Jareth's father Der Erlkönig currently dates James' mother, if this lasts the two will become stepbrothers.
  • Tempting Fate: Most of the time the characters are too Genre Savvy for this, but still happens sometimes:
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 Javert: "Generous?! We are tragedies, you ass! There is nothing generous in making us repeat the same mistakes that cost us everything the first time!"

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  1. (From left to right: The Phantom of the Opera - Erik, Les Misérables - Javert, Labyrinth - Jareth and Pirates of the Caribbean - James)
  2. (Schedule Slip happens sometimes but more often it gets published on a more rapid rate. The Zombie Halloween arc of 2011 holds the record with 2 strips/day!)
  3. (Ashe reads the comments and regularly holds polls to see what they want)
  4. It should be noted that this even only happened in the Omake... So far.
  5. (Jareth tends to ally himself with this side)
  6. (Depending on the given value of "evil" as "not the protaganist")
  7. Yes, that is, in fact, Erik
  8. This example also doubles as one of his Signature Move Instant Cosplay Surprises
  9. (James', even if he is also terrified of him)
  10. (because of the Magical Tangled Family Tree this actually includes the Witch Species so also wizards.)
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