FoxTrot

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FoxTrot
First panel of FoxTrot Sunday strips since 1999.
Author(s)	Bill Amend
Website	FoxTrot.com
Current status	Every Sunday
Syndicate(s)	Universal Press Syndicate
Launch date	April 10, 1988
End Date	December 30, 2006 (end of dailies; Sunday-only continues)
Genre(s)	Humor, Family

FoxTrot is an American comic strip written and illustrated by Bill Amend. As of December 2006, FoxTrot is carried by over 1,000 newspapers worldwide.^[1] It was published on a daily schedule from its inception in 1988 until December 31, 2006, when Amend switched it to a Sunday-only format.^[1] FoxTrot is translated into many other languages, including Spanish, Portuguese, Hebrew and Swedish.

The strip covers a wide range of subject matter, including spoofs of pop culture fads and popular consumer products. As a Mac owner, Amend has been known to satirize Microsoft^[2] in his strips.

[edit] The Characters

[edit] Main Characters

Main article: List of FoxTrot family members

[edit] Supporting characters

See also: List of minor FoxTrot characters

Marcus Jones

Marcus is Jason's best friend, with whom he often emulates science fiction, usually Star Wars.^[3] He is the most frequently appearing non-family character, and the only African-American character. He also enjoys video games, and he plays Dungeons & Dragons^[4] with Jason on occasion. Like Jason, Marcus enjoys school and TV, dislikes being outside and doesn't seem to like girls, but his dislike of girls isn't as strong as Jason's. Marcus has four sisters (Doreen, Lisa, Lana, and Cybil); his mother is a nurse and his father is a scientist of some sort. Except for Marcus himself, the Joneses remain unseen characters.

Camp FoxTrot.

Eileen Jacobson

Eileen is Jason's sometimes-nemesis, sometimes-crush. A fan of Harry Potter, Eileen first appeared in the strip in 1995. Eileen also showed up when Jason and Marcus went to summer camp, in which she and her friend pulled pranks on Jason and Marcus. She has made quite a few appearances since and Jason eventually admitted that he liked her. However, Jason's constant insistence on hiding their relationship began to annoy Eileen, and as a result, she became angry at Jason and they decided to stop being a couple. It seems she still has feelings for Jason, though, since she has tricked Jason into spending time with her in exchange for something Jason wants^[5] Eileen also enjoys playing World of Warquest, a fictional video game in the strip that references the popular MMORPG, World of Warcraft.

Steve Riley

Steve is Peter's best friend from high school. He owns several electric guitars and an amp set that Peter sometimes borrows, much to Roger and Andy's dismay. Steve also has a job at Luigi's, the local pizza parlor. Peter and Steve sometimes have study sessions together.

Denise Russo

Denise Russo

Denise is Peter's girlfriend. Denise's parents have spoken in the strip, but have never appeared in the panels. Denise is clearly the one in control of the relationship, and knows exactly how to get what she wants from Peter, whether it's just for him to put his arm around her or to take her out to dinner at La Maison Rouge, the most expensive restaurant in town.^[6] She seems to genuinely like Peter, but once admitted that she liked him because with his flawed nature, no other girl would take him. Peter attempted to break up with her once in late 1989 so he could see other girls and "gain experience in the field of dating", but his attempt ended in failure when he discovered he missed her. Denise is blind, which is an occasional source of humor or more serious storylines in the strip. Peter once punched one of his classmates for joking that all his dates with Denise were "blind dates."^[7] Jason has occasionally claimed to be Peter while speaking to her on the phone or in person, but has never managed to fool her.

Nicole

Nicole is Paige's best friend, also fashion-obsessed but somewhat more level-headed than Paige. She seems to have slightly better luck with boys than Paige does, which has caused problems in their relationship a few times. However, she is also not without faults, as one time, she almost convinced Paige to shoplift a CD from a music store from the mall, but luckily Paige's conscience won out.

Morton Goldthwait

Morton is the "biggest geek in school", according to Paige. Apparently, the entire science department calls him "Sir".^[8] He has a crush on Paige and hasn't given up, despite what she thinks of him, even inviting her to a Halloween party at his house one year. He took the SATs as a freshman and was mad that he got a 1590 (just shy of perfect at the time the strip ran).^[9] He was also a counselor at Camp Bohrmore (see below) over the summer, and ruled his cabin with an iron fist. Until he learned of Morton's crush on Paige, Jason had planned to set Morton up on a date with Paige as revenge. Several times, he has shown likeness (and hatred) toward Peter (and vice versa).

Miss O'Malley

Miss O'Malley has been the teacher of Jason's and Marcus' class since 1991. She was the replacement for Jason and Marcus' former teacher, Ms. Grinchley. Considerably younger and more "on the ball" than Ms. Grinchley, she appears to have a marginally better handle on Jason as well, much to his dismay. Of course, this seems to encourage Jason to try even harder to get under her skin.^[10] Sometimes Jason succeeds, and sometimes he fails. One time, Jason brought his iguana for show-and-tell, thinking that Quincy would frighten the teacher; instead, she thought Quincy was cute.

Grandma

Andy Fox's mother was introduced later in the strip's life. She is often described as being "perfect" (to quote a New York Times article about her) and her turkey stuffing has been featured in a number of cookbooks. All of the Foxes love her except for Andy, who fears she can never live up to her mother's standards and that everyone will like Grandma better (as some of her friends actually said to her face during her youth). They were able to make peace during Grandma's first appearance in the strip, when she visited over Christmas, but the underlying antagonism caused by fear of failure on Andy's part has never been removed.

[edit] Places

The Fox Family home is located at 1254 North Elm Street, but the city and state have never been specified. Older comics suggest the family may live in Kansas City, Missouri, as Peter and Roger were big Chiefs fans. However, newer comics suggest the family lives near Chicago, as Roger used that airport for business trips and Andy was given Chicago Bulls tickets as a gift once. Further evidence includes a field trip whose destination bears uncanny similarities to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, complete with a planetarium and Foucault Pendulum. One strip showed Jason celebrating the New Year at 8 a.m., saying, "It's midnight in New Guinea. Next up, Tokyo." This statement places the Fox family home in the Central Time zone (6 hours behind GMT). In one strip a state flag can be seen on a flagpole at Paige and Peter's school. While not entirely visible, what can be seen of the flag bears a strong resemblance to the Illinois state flag.

Some fans have suggested that the Foxes live in Hillsdale, Illinois (a suburb of the Quad Cities) or Hillsdale, New Jersey, as an early strip shows Paige and Andy shopping at a certain Hillsdale Shopping Center (the Hillsdale theory is supported by the fact that the high school sports teams have an H somewhere on their uniforms). However, when Bill Amend was asked about it, he said: "I've never established a town name for where they live. The mall sign was meant as an homage to the Hillsdale Mall in San Mateo, California, where I used to shop as a teenager."^{[citation needed]} However New Jersey is not completely out of the realm of possibility, for in one strip Roger blows "soothing" cigar smoke into Andy's face only to have her say that it makes her feel not like she's on vacation, but in "Industrial New Jersey."

Uncle Ralph's Cabin is a typical camping spot for the Fox family.^[11] The location of the cabin is never explicitly stated in the comics, even relative to where the Foxes live. However, one could assume it is fairly isolated, because the family seems to have a long drive.

Fun-Fun Mountain is an amusement park.^[12] The park's mascot is "Mickey Mosquito". Attractions include the Hall of Vice Presidents, roller coasters (including the Drop-O-Death) a log ride that barely passed national safety requirements; whirling coffee cups; and a fun house. The food is extremely expensive: for example, A hotdog, hamburger, milkshake, and a snowcone was $120.

Fun-Fun Universe is another amusement park that seems to be a parody of a real one, and in this case it is the Walt Disney World Resort. There is a hotel that is connected to the actual amusement park by unirail, a glass-bottomed boat, and a "sky-tube." The rides mentioned include a log ride and several roller coasters.^[13] It has also at one time have thought to have been a parody of Worlds of Fun, an amusement park located in Missouri. However, Amend denied this, saying he had no idea there was a place with such a name.

Cactus Flats is a desert community in Arizona, where the Fox family once went camping. According to a pamphlet, Cactus Flats was the home of the Muckatoo Indian tribe until the whole tribe died of heat stroke. The desert is also home to various snakes (including rattlesnakes), lizards, scorpions, spiders, etc.

Skeeter Falls was another camping destination of the Foxes. According to Roger, Skeeter Falls is an eight-hour drive from their house. It is 100 miles (160 km) away from the nearest city and the grounds cover 400,000 acres (1600 km²). The falls get their name from the mosquitoes that live there. Skeeter Falls has the most mosquitoes per unit area of any place in the world during August. There is also a geyser that erupts every 24 hours at 3:38 am, as well as rivers, mountains, and "200-foot" (60 m) trees.

Camp Bohrmore is an eight week co-ed summer science camp. The camp contains waterfalls, hiking trails, a redwood grove, a T-1 line in every cabin, and a paleontology lab. This is also where Jason and Marcus met Phoebe and Eugene Wu. Morton Goldthwait served as camp counselor. At camp, Eileen and Phoebe would often play tricks on Marcus and Jason, such as luring them into poison-ivy infested fields, putting snails in their bedsheets, and putting pepper in their pudding cups. Jason and Marcus attempted revenge by trying to sabotage their experiment, but sabotaged their own by mistake. However, at the end of camp, they made a truce with Eileen and Phoebe, and eventually joined their friendship club.

The Isles of Fun-Fun Caribbeanny Resort is an artificial Caribbean resort, utilizing reproduced island life with "state-of the-art water park technology." The resort has special Caribbean-themed rooms, such as the Limbo Suite, which features a low ceiling. There are many Caribbean-esque activities as well, such as snorkeling, body boarding, voodoo doll puppetry, and steel drum lessons. However, many aspects of the resort are fake (hence the word "Caribbeanny"). The ocean is just a big pool (complete with chlorine) with walls painted to resemble the ocean. The steel drum music at the beach consists of a staff person playing the synthesizer. However, according to Andy (who had been adamantly opposed to going), the children enjoyed their trip.

[edit] Popular culture

Two FoxTrot cartoons that have mentioned Wikipedia so far. In the top one (May 7, 2005), Jason introduces the site to Peter by editing the (Warthog). In the bottom one (September 7, 2006), Peter attempts to use the Thomas Edison article to do a school assignment.

In addition to typical family humor, the strip has many stories built around fandom, nerdiness and popular culture. The characters (especially Andy and Jason) frequently have new obsessions or interests which reflect the time period at which the strip was published.

Andy, for example, has had obsessions with Doomathon II, collecting "Bitty Babies" (Beanie Babies), the movie Titanic, the Nintendo DS game Nintendogs, and her Mango-Kiwi-colored iFruit computer^[14] in the past.

Similarly, Jason, as a stereotypical nerd, loves and frequently quotes Star Wars, Star Trek, Spider-Man, the X-Files, The Lord of the Rings and has tried to make parodies of four popular movies, The Blair Witch Project, Jurassic Park, Finding Nemo and King Kong. Jason's obsession with The Lord of the Rings (he had memorized the books word-for-word, and the idea of his starring in the movie was explored)^[15] is one of the few fascinations he shares with Paige, who developed a crush on Orlando Bloom. Jason has also attempted to make an improved version of the popular computer games Half-Life and Myst, a competitor to Microsoft Operating System Windows 98,^[16] and sent in suggestions to Lucasfilm to digitally insert him into the Star Wars Special Edition Trilogy. He is also an avid player of 'World of Warquest', a portmanteau of the real-life online video games World of Warcraft and EverQuest, and there are many strips where the joke centers around World of Warcraft specific humor. He has also created a "Darth Jason" computer virus, as a product for his "Jasonzonbayhoodotcom" Internet stock binge. The news network CNN is also mentioned in the strip, only rarely (most often with Jason hacking into its teleprompters). In the past, Jason has also had an obsession with Duke Quakem (a portmanteau of Duke Nukem and Quake) (see "Games" section below for other examples).

Peter has been shown to be a Bruce Springsteen fan consistently since the early 90s. An early strip featured a headline "Cartoonist to tour with Bruce", presumably Amend. Peter also has been known to like Pearl Jam, Aerosmith and Guns N Roses

Fox News is occasionally referenced, often in a negative way.

Jason also once styled his hair with hair gel in order to look like Yami Yugi from the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise. In fact, he even held up a deck of Yu-Gi-Oh! cards and told his father, "I'm off to the Yu-Gi-Oh! tournament", which shows that he even has a love for anime.

Jason also had an obsession with Bart Simpson, gelling up his hair and pestering his parents to buy Simpsons paraphernalia. That ended quickly when Paige got interested in Bart Simpson.

[edit] Scientific references

Amend majored in physics at Amherst College, and this is reflected in FoxTrot's frequent inclusion of complex mathematical or physics formulae, usually written by Jason Fox. The formulae are correct, though oddly flavored; Jason often uses them to describe bizarre situations, or, more rarely, they are school assignments for Peter Fox. Amend also uses Jason to express his knowledge of computer languages in much the same way that he uses physics formulae (once Roger asked for a cup of java to start his day and Jason gave him several pages of code written in the Java programming language).^[17] Both these elements add a layer of superfluous complexity to the strip, and juxtaposed with the odd circumstances in which they appear, give FoxTrot a uniquely surreal air.

[edit] Style

[edit] Passage of time

Similarly to most comic strips, the characters do not age. For example, an early 1990 storyline involves Paige making an effort to go from being a child of the '80s to a woman of the '90s. As she is still 14, she now would have been born by 1992 or 1993. In 2003, on the strip's 15th anniversary, the Foxtrot site stated that "Paige wonders if she's still 14."

There was an in-joke on this subject in a strip published shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks, in which Andy told Jason that Roger had donated blood even though he was scared of needles because "We all have to grow up, kiddo." Jason replied, "Whoa, did I stumble into For Better or For Worse?", referring to a comic where the characters actually do grow up.

The comic strips change along with the seasons; the kids go back to school in September, the family celebrates important holidays on their respective dates, and one will find the characters tanning themselves or throwing water balloons during the summer.

In the earlier strips, the family would only live in the present-tense: that is, the family would only refer to the present — or, as in the case of a storyline, the very near future — but never past events (save for once when Jason remarked "you're still mad about the car, aren't you?," which referred to an earlier time when he inadvertently wrecked the car playing "Mad Max"). However, more recent storylines have broken this "rule", most notably when referring to Jason's summer at Camp Bohrmore. In cases where the past must be referenced it's always "last year", even if the referenced storyline happened more than a year ago.

[edit] Parodies and subtitles

[edit] Cartoonists and Comics

The characters appear to be aware that they are living a comic strip, with references to such events as ink shortages and toothpaste that erased Roger's teeth lines.

If one observes closely, one will notice that in any scene where a character is reading a newspaper, there are headlines that say things such as "Cartoonist Delivers Triplets in Elevator" or "Cartoonist to join NASCAR,", "Bruce sick, Cartoonist to sub for upcoming tour", or "Cartoonist to direct Jurassic Park II" or "Cartoonist wins presidential Election" or "Cartoonist in jail!" or "Cartoonist becomes UN secretary general" and just recently "Cartoonist wins another nobel prize". This is usually accompanied by a caricature of Bill Amend himself. There are also times where one can see a Calvin and Hobbes comic on the back of the newspaper.

In scenes with large crowds, Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes can often be seen in the background.^[18] In some scenes, characters from various comics can be seen in the background. On one occasion, pictures of Cathy, Dilbert, and Calvin and Hobbes were seen as pictures above a staircase, or on a picture frame; sometimes, they are even shown for what they really are, as comics in the newspaper. In one comic, Jason and Marcus are shown in a store called "Calvin's Hobbies."^[19] He also creates a snow Calvin and Hobbes making a snowman with a hole in its center after being shot with a snow cannon and cannonball. (In Calvin and Hobbes, Calvin often builds snowmen going through painful moments like being eaten or buried.) There are two other snowmen, depicting Calvin and Hobbes, building more snowmen. Jason says, "This way it's an homage, not a ripoff."^[20] When the family is in line for their airline tickets to the carribeanny resort, one can see Dilbert in the line. On another occasion, Peter is shown wearing a Calvin and Hobbes T-Shirt, at a time when Bill Watterson was having licensing conflicts with his publisher.

Jason sometimes attempts to send other cartoonists his ideas for their comic strips, often pitching his ideas to Peter. When Aaron McGruder went on sabbatical from The Boondocks, Jason wanted to fill in for him. Peter pointed out that Jason knew nothing about black culture, and could not write political commentary without offending some readers. He also became frustrated at other cartoonists taking vacations without using his submissions, specifically Cathy, The Family Circus,^[21] Pearls Before Swine, Zits, For Better or For Worse, and Garfield. However, almost all of his strips are simply some way of insulting Paige, with the exception of his Garfield submission, which he edited to insult Peter when he criticized him for insulting Paige, and his The Family Circus submissions, which were filled with poisonous animals, ghosts, and a reference to The Exorcist. Often, one panel of each strip would show Jason's depiction of the strip in question.

In addition, in many older strips, the characters of FoxTrot can be seen reading Luther and Locke comic strips, a reference to the naming scheme used by Bill Watterson for Calvin and Hobbes (Luther and Calvin were both religious figures, and Hobbes and Locke were both philosophers. Also worth noting, Calvin and Luther, and Hobbes and Locke, are historically regarded as having conflicting philosophies.)

Also, in a few strips, Andy gets obsessed with Dilbert, describing several possible reasons for its success.^[22]

The comic also features references to The Far Side, such as that the family drinks "Larson Farms" milk, whose logo is one of Larson's famous cows.^[23] Jason also drew several comics insulting Paige when he heard that the author of The Far Side was going to retire.

Also, whenever the Foxes go to large places such as the airport, mall, interstates, and etc. Amend like most other cartoonists, puts his name in the companies that appear in the background such as Amend air, Amendpostale (Aeropostale), Amend logistics, AmendCard (MasterCard), Amend Motor company (Ford Motor Company) , McAmends (McDonalds), and so on.

[edit] Theaters

In the cinema where Peter works you can also often see names such as Trek Wars.^[24] The week Garfield: The Movie came out, Peter dressed up as Garfield to promote the movie.^[25] Often signs in the theater are edited to have a humorous effect (such as "Mission Impossible 2: The Comic Strip Deadline").

[edit] Products

Many products seen in the strip have altered names, such as:

• Chips McCoy (Chips Ahoy!),^[26]
• Brucy Juice (Juicy Juice),
• Roughels (Ruffles),^[26]
• Toridos (Doritos, Tostitos),^[27]
• Tofu Helper (Hamburger Helper),
• Cap'n Sucrose (Cap'n Crunch),^[28]
• "Fax Mactor" (Max Factor),^[29]
• The Humbler (Hummer),^[30]
• Coffeebucks (Starbucks),^[27]

The Foxes often get their pizza from Dominic's (Domino's Pizza, in which a few comics call it its real name) or Luigi's (Mario's Pizza), also parodying Luigi from the Super Mario Bros. Series.^[31] In one strip, Peter is eating from a bag of "Bugles," but in the next panel, the bag changes to "Trumpets," and in the last panel, the bag reads "Flugelhorns."

The fast-food restaurant that the Foxes occasionally patronize has two Ms back-to-back, parodying the McDonald's logo. Roger is not allowed to go to Costclub (Costco, Price Club, Sam's Club, BJ's Wholesale Club) by himself, because he makes a high amount of purchases there.

[edit] Magazines

Most of the magazines shown in the comic strip are parodies of real magazines or magazine genres. For example "Fourteen" magazine (Seventeen),^[32] "Thyme" (Time),^[33] "Guy's Life" (Boys' Life), Meiman Narcus (Neiman Marcus), Life (with a picture of the grim reaper on the front), "Chick" (except with a baby bird on the cover), and (at least for a while) "Illustrated Sports" (Sports Illustrated),^[34] or, most recently "Vōg" ("Vogue"). Roger is sometimes seen reading Golfster magazine. Paige is often seen reading copies of "Self" with a photograph of Paige on the cover.^[35]

[edit] Games

Many video games in the comic strip are a portmanteau of two or more different names. Examples include:

• Doomathon (a combination of first-person shooter games Marathon and Doom),
• Duke Quakem (a combination of Quake and Duke Nukem),
• Grand Zombie Auto 3 (Grand Theft Auto and Zombie Rally 3),
• Iron Mysticus (Iron Helix, Myst, and Lunicus),
• Riviablo (Riven and Diablo)
• Prince of Assyria (Prince of Persia and Assyria)
• Blizzerdbund (a combination of computer game companies, Blizzard Entertainment and Brøderbund),
• World of Warquest^[36] (World of Warcraft and EverQuest) (in fact one weapon Jason found in the comic was made into a real item on World of Warcraft, the Doomulus Prime),
• Zeldakong (The Legend of Zelda and Donkey Kong).

The same occurs with Jason's video game systems, his Jupiter-64 Gamestation (a combination of the Sega Saturn, the Nintendo 64, and the Sony PlayStation) and GameStation 2 (a combination of PlayStation 2 and GameCube). Note: The controller of the Gamestation 2 still resembles that of a Nintendo 64. Also, the accessories to these games systems are altered, such as the Rambo Pack, which is a spoof of the Rumble Pak, (however, unlike its real-life counterpart, it does more than just vibrate, especially when Jason instructed his father have his character touch an electrified fence on the screen).

Ironically, earlier strips had Jason playing the actual Nintendo Entertainment System and Super NES systems, with some games having altered names such as Mortal Karnage, Primal Instinct, Super Mario Universe and Super Earthworm Mario Country 3, while other games had their real names featured in the strip, such as the Super Mario Bros. series, Carmageddon and Myst. Other examples of real names used in the strip are the Nintendo DS, its game Nintendogs, the game console Wii, the Diablo series, the Doom series, and Star Wars Battlefront.

Andy has also joined the organization MAGG (Mothers Against Gory Games, a parody of MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving)), partly out of concern for the level of violence in the games Jason and Peter played, but her primary motivation most likely was to make sure they stopped altogether. The list of video games approved by MAGG included such titles as "Nice City," "Pacifist-Man," "Ms. Pacifist-Man," "Eternal Lightness," and "Resident Good" (takeoffs of, respectively, "Vice City," "Pac-Man," "Ms. Pac-Man," "Eternal Darkness," and "Resident Evil").^[37] Roger supports less-than-violent games, but he thinks that "M-Rated" stands for "Mild". At one point Jason gave Peter cheat codes that would make the days in "Nice City" even sunnier, a parody of cheat codes for Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, when it is possible to change the weather.

[edit] Bands

Occasionally Paige talks about a band she adores called "The BackSync Boys," which is a portmanteau of the boy bands Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync. Paige once received an autographed picture of The BackSync Boys after sending in fan mail; she would gaze at the picture continuously, to the point of neglecting sleep. Later faced with the problem of going to school with the picture, and risking it getting damaged, or going without the picture, risking it getting damaged at home, Andy said that she would take care of the picture; however, Quincy slipped out of his cage and ate the photo. Paige became distraught as her mother tried to do anything to make it up to Paige, and Paige soon uses her mother's guilt to her advantage. This is ended when Paige receives a new photo for every letter she sent in, for a total of 20 new photos (much to Paige's displeasure).^[38] The strip also usually mentions both bands as a whole. Another strip shows a poster in her room of a band named "Henson" (Hanson and the Muppets--via Jim Henson), portraying three long-haired teen-age Muppet style boys.

The strip has also frequently made reference to real-life bands and musicians. Peter listens to Bruce Springsteen (his idol), U2, Aerosmith, Pearl Jam, Metallica, and Guns N' Roses. Some musicians that have appeared in the strip include Bruce Springsteen and Prince. In one early strip, Paige gossiped to Peter's girlfriend, Denise, that Peter liked to dance in his underwear to George Michael records. Paige is a Britney Spears fan and was also shown listening to Madonna record albums and cassettes in early strips. Andy also appears to be a fan of classic rock, as her old record collection includes such artists as The Eagles, Elton John, Joni Mitchell, Fleetwood Mac, The Beatles, and Jefferson Airplane. In one strip, Jason and Marcus played Frisbee with Andy's records and were surprised to find that Led Zeppelin flew farther than the others, followed closely by the Eagles and then the Byrds.

[edit] Physics

The nature of the world in general is also often exaggerated. This has been shown as when Andy claims it's 95 degrees out, yet the rubber football Peter is practicing with starts to melt. This is also done in jokes about Jason, Peter, and Roger's respective weights; how low Andy keeps the thermostat; the ingredients of Jason's cereal; the weather in general; Jason's physical strength; and the speeds Peter drives: he has reportedly "flirted with four digits."

[edit] Other subtleties

The first one of these subtleties to appear was a picture of a unicorn next to a fly in Paige's room. In the next panel, the unicorn notices the fly and eats it in the next panel. The first subtlety to be shown in a color Sunday strip appeared April 12, 1988 in the "throwaway panel" identifying the strip. It shows Jason eating "Honey Skulls" (Honeycomb) cereal.

Often it can be seen that one thing in the background changes in the next panel. For example, the position or expression of characters in a picture may change, or a fish hanging from a mobile may explode by the end of the strip.

Also in Foxtrot is the infamous picture of fruit in their kitchen. The fruit in the picture change between apples, pears, watermelon, cherries, and even a large bowl of fruit, sometimes several times per strip.

Signs on walls have been seen to change message between panels. For example, in the first panel of a cafeteria scene, a paper sign in the background reads, "No food fights!" In the next panel, it reads, "Really!" In the last panel, it reads "We mean it!"

Peter's posters in his room also are often edited to read things like "Baywitch", taken from the television show Bewitched and Baywatch (almost all of Peter's posters are a parody of Baywatch).

Also, in one early Sunday strip, the strip appears to break through the fourth wall, because on the back of the newspaper Roger is reading, the first 2 panels of that same strip can clearly be made out.^[39]

Sometimes in Andy's office, where the iFruit is located, you can see a covered picture of the Golden Gate Bridge partly inundated in fog. In the next panel that the picture is shown, the fog gets higher until it completely covers the bridge. Sometimes it goes back down in a longer strip.

In another strip where Paige is working on a dissection and talking to a boy about the prom, in one panel, one of the frog's eyes opens to look at Paige, then goes back to an X. In the same story arc, while Paige is at the prom, you can see in the background a couple dancing intimately, and ultimately ending with the girl slapping the guy for getting too fresh and storming away.

Sometimes, when they are playing golf, you can see a man playing in the background, messing up, and repeatedly slamming his club against the ground.

[edit] Computers

The first computer to appear in the FoxTrot strip was an old Apple II used mostly by Jason to play Star Trek video games. By 1991, Andy bought a new computer which although not specifically named, was probably a Mac Classic II from the design and the time. The next computer "upgrade" is silent; there are no strips referring to the family buying a new computer. It is probably a Power Mac or a Macintosh LC of some sort, modular, with a CPU and a monitor, and is "three years old" by the time the family opts for a new one. Again, this computer is not named, but many strips refer to it as an Apple computer. (Bill Amend is a vocal fan of Apple computers.) However when Amend was privately asked about it, he said "The computer itself is an Apple, but I never did specify or decide which model it was, neither did I make a strip of how the Foxes got it, because the only important thing about it is that it is their computer, but after the revolization of the Internet and new computer products and jobs now available to ordinary life I could finally make a good strip in which they switch to their iFruit computer and to show that Roger has some knowledge of the computer but not a lot. "^{[citation needed]}

[edit] iFruit

The Fox family's current computer is an iFruit (based on the original Apple iMac), a computer Andy purchased in a 1999 storyline after Roger's disastrous attempt at earning a living through online trading ended with him selling the family's old computer.

Jason originally wanted a computer with a fancy new 3D chip, dual processors, and gobs of RAM, but Andy didn't listen to him so they ended up with the iFruit. The iFruit can talk, criticize font selection and even change the wallpaper (of the room). Though initially mortal enemies with the geeky Jason due to its emphasis on ease of use, Jason grows attached to it, especially after matching color schemes (or "flavors", with the Fox family's iFruit being mango-kiwi) persuades his mother to buy all manners of peripherals, such as scanners and CD burners.^[40] The iFruit has also been upgraded and taken apart by Jason many times. However, the iFruit cannot handle most of the games Jason wants to play (The iMac Macintosh computers were not able to play Windows video games, such as Half-Life 2, or Doom 3, until the first Intel iMac was released in 2006, which was probably part of the reason Andy bought it), and Jason wanted to get a Windows computer. The iFruit once beat Roger in chess 250,000 times in a row; the one time Roger beat it, Andy was convinced to call the repair center. Evidently, it is made of bullet-proof plastic (just like the original G3 iMac on which it is based), and is durable enough that even Roger cannot damage it, although in one strip he pushed it off the desk when Andy told him that it needed "backing up". The only know time it has been visually damaged is when Jason makes the flamethrowers in .0000005 Life "a little flamier", causing it to melt, soon fully restored.^[41]

[edit] iMac

On March 4, 2007, Jason is shown "teaching Quincy how to work Bittorrent" in front of a new computer strongly resembling an Intel iMac.

[edit] Books

The newest FoxTrot collection, Houston, You Have A Problem

For the complete list of FoxTrot books, please see List of FoxTrot books.

There have been 34 FoxTrot books published so far, all by Andrews McMeel Publishing. Of the 34 books, 23 are collections and 11 are anthologies. The anthologies are comprised of the two or three previous collections, and include Sunday strips in color.

[edit] Merchandising

During the late 1990s, the character of Jason Fox was licensed to Wolfram Research as a product spokesman for its Mathematica software package.^[42] In fact, Mathematica was referenced at least once in the strip (though several years before Jason was licensed).

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Links last verified on January 3, 2007

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

FoxTrot

• FoxTrot.com
• Universal Press Syndicate FoxTrot Page
• Bill Amend's Homepages
• FoxTrot comics at GoComic
• Biographies of Bill Amend
• Bill Amend's press release about FoxTrot Ceasing Dailies