Webcomic / Twin Dragons (2015)

(aka: Twin Dragons)

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Twin Dragons is a Slice of Life Urban Fantasy Webcomic by Robin Dassen, also known as DragonKai.

Over the past sixteen years, one in every one thousand humans has inexplicably been born with varying degrees of animal characteristics. The story focuses on the lives of Kai and Kaya Romero, dragon hybrid fraternal twins, as they move from a rural upbringing where the locals demonize them to an urban setting where hybrids make up a large bulk of the population.

The comic doesn't follow a specific panel format, generally following a size format instead with as many (or as few) panels as needed. Mostly plot-driven with humorous moments sprinkled liberally (though not always ending on a joke).

Currently updates once a week and can be seen here. An archive of the comic's in-progress "World Guide" can be found here. An in-progress fandub of the comic can be found here.

Not to be confused with the Jackie Chan movie of the same name.

This comic provides examples of:

• All Part of the Show: Jackie, a Jesse's Adventure production team member, mistook Kaya's fire-breathing for pyrotechnics despite not attending the karaoke contest and there being no evidence of anything during Kaya's performance that would be required for any pyrotechnic display, never mind an unsanctioned one.
• All There in the Manual: Further world information in the form of 'Twin dragons world guide' is available from the artist's other website.
• Alt Text: Generally an added joke or line to the current page.
• Animal Eyes: The twins and Cleo have slitted eyes due to being reptilian hybrids (bonus points for Cleo being a snake hybrid).
• Auntie Pennybags: Cleo has no problem at all spending ridiculous amounts of money for her friends. Kaya has to explain to her how to tone down her spending.
• Bilingual Bonus: Jin's shirt in Chapter 8 says ガオー (Gaō), which means "Roar".
• Birthday Episode: Chapter 12 is a Birthday Chapter, depicting the twins' birthday.
• Bizarre Baby Boom: For the past sixteen years about one in every thousand births has produced a hybrid.
• Bland-Name Product: The comic features product stand-ins, such as the social media sites Utube, TokTok and Instawham, the soft drink brand Cope-a-Cola, the clothing brand Tommy Gecko, and the movie franchises Jurassic Pool and Galactic Wars. Kaya also has a Pearl Jelly poster in her room, and several bands are identified as 'Drowning Tub' and 'Daywish'.
• Blank White Eyes: Dragons' dad seems nervous about them playing with fireworks.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Larissa's clique—Larissa's the redhead, Liz is the blonde, and Dinah's the brunette.
• Breath Weapon: Kai and Kaya can breathe fire.
• Bullying a Dragon: Literally when Larissa, one of Cleo's "friends," shoves Kaya to the ground (for the second time no less). When they start threatening Cleo, Kaya decides she has had enough and fights fire with fire.
  • Larissa later proves that she hadn't learned her lesson, and again antagonizes Kaya during a field trip.
  • Even after the field trip assault failed, got her suspended, and causes her uncle to put her to work in his fishery, she still hasn't realized how stupid this is, and goes after the twins again as soon as the chance presents itself, though her planning to dump rotten fish heads on food from their food truck and give it a bad review shows that she's at least smart enough to not go after them physically anymore.
• Color-Coded Speech: Italian dialogue is presented in green speech balloons, while Dutch is in orange.
• Color Failure:
  • Happens to the twins when they realize their dad knows about their Crop Circles prank, see below.
  • Also Amy, when Rex (her crush) holds her hand.
• Crop Circles: Kai and Kaya make some as a last prank on their religiously conservative hometown before moving to Hybrid City. They're elated to see it make the news.
• Cross-Popping Veins: visible sometimes, mostly subtle.
• Deep-Immersion Gaming: The Gamer Dragons side comics where the twins and friends play video games and are depicted as their avatars. The Catacombs and Drakes arc as well.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Cleo comes off as cold at first, but actually she's just so afraid of being alone that she doesn't challenge her clique when they say someone else can't be Cleo's friend. She gets over it when Kaya proves to be a real friend.
• Distinction Without a Difference: When looking for something to eat at a pop culture convention, Kai mentions a place that sells "Belgian fries". When Rex asks what the difference is between "Belgian fries" and "regular French fries", Kai says that "Belgian fries" are fried twice - which is the recommended way to cook french fries.
• Does Not Know Her Own Strength: Subverted in the second-to-last page of Chapter 4 when Kaya tries to give Cleo a light jab in reprimand. She does know her own strength (she's perfectly capable of handling delicate objects), but she's used to Kai taking the hit and forgets to account for Cleo's more tender scales.
  Cleo: You hit like a truck, you know that?
  Kaya: Sorry!!!
• Dream Episode: Most of Chapter 9 takes place in a dream world while Kai sleeps through his cold.
• Duck!: When the group first meets Nora, Benji's girlfriend, Kaya attempts her glomp on her. Benji sees it coming, having been subject to this in the past, and warns her to duck, though she doesn't understand for a while before she does duck.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: In her first appearance on the second page of the comic, Kaya's hair is red like Kai's rather than orange.
• Egocentric Team Naming: School's basketball team, Evergreen High Wolves' founder and captain is Rex, a wolf hybrid.
• Embarrassing Hospital Gown: When Kai and Kaya do a check-up at the hospital, they have to wear backless hospital gowns. Kai isn't happy they're open at the back, but the doctor just points out he can tie up the laces. Kaya doesn't notice or care that they're backless, and her brother has to tie up her laces for her, lest she walks like that everywhere.
• Exact Words: While attempting to make Crop Circles before moving to Hybrid City towards the beginning, Kai asks Kaya to “tie the long rope”, expecting her to attach it to the barn so they can get back in the dark. She instead ties it to one of their boards.
• Exhaustion-Induced Idiocy: In Chapter 4, Kaya pours her orange juice into a cereal bowl and her cereal into a glass of milk instead of the other way around because she's tired.
  Kai: Uhm, sis?
  Kaya: Shut up! This is fine!
• Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: In Chapter 13, Kaya takes a bit longer than she should to realize the ramifications of Misha, someone older than her, using the textbook from the twins' previous year; she's already stuck her foot in her mouth when it finally occurs to her how rude she's being.
• False Friend: Cleo's clique before Kaya butted in. They gave the impression Cleo was off-limits to others at school and used her as a living wallet.
  • It turns out that Liz actually did like Cleo as more than a wallet, being from a well-off family herself (if not to the same extent as Cleo's family) and only went along with the others with asking for stuff (albeit minor purchases like candy) because of peer pressure and a belief that doing so made Cleo happy.
• Fan Convention: Chapters 16 and 17 are built on one of these, with Cleo getting free tickets for her friends thanks to her father being its sponsor. The twins dress up in Jessie and James's Team Rocket uniforms, Benji dresses as Han Solo, Rex wears a green T-Rex costume, and Cleo wears Enma Ai's Sailor Fuku.
• Fantastic Racism: Kai and Kaya were the only two hybrids in their town, and the small, rural community was rather afraid and superstitious of them even after 14 years, believing that they were monsters sent by the Devil. The very first page has Kai trying to convince a woman at the store that he just wants to buy some grapes instead of eating her dog or destroying the store, and the next page has Kaya mentioning that the local priest has, not for the first time, which was apparently when they were babies, tried to exorcise her, and on a previous occasion he threw holy water at her. Both of them are ecstatic when they move to Hybrid City, where the trope is largely averted.
• Fiery Redhead: Both the twins, especially since they can breathe fire, but Kaya is especially energetic and emotional.
• Forgotten State of Undress: In Chapter 8, Kai and Kaya change into hospital gowns for their checkups and Kaya doesn't remember or notice the ties on the back, leaving her gown open. Thankfully, Kai points this out and ties it for her, lest she walks around the hospital with her underwear showing (not that it bothers her).
• Foreshadowing: In Chapter 11, Kai mentions that he and his family visit his grandparents in Italy for a month every year. That's exactly what they do in Chapter 14, when summer break begins.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Kaya is sanguine, Rex is choleric, Cleo is melancholic, Benji is phlegmatic, and Kai is leukine.
• Funny Background Event: This strip has one hybrid throwing something at another hybrid who subsequently falls backward and smashes a stall.
• Genki Girl: Kaya tends to act first, think later and pull others along for the ride. She also has an extremely twitchy tail and will sprawl out into positions that'd make cats jealous while sleeping. Just as long as it isn't morning.
• Girls With Mustaches: Kaya seems to like wearing beards.
  • In this page of Chapter 8, Kaya wears the novelty beard her dad got from the hospital gift shop for a Time-Passage Beard joke.
  • In Chapter 16, while waiting in line to have her Jesse's Adventure merch signed by the cast, Kaya imagines herself as a fantasy warrior on a long journey, complete with a long, grey beard.
• A Glass in the Hand: In this side comic, Near's dad crushes a drink can when he finds out that his daughter has posted parkour sessions on Instawham.
• The Glomp: How Kaya first introduces herself to Benji. It's also her preferred way to greet Cleo.
• Gratuitous Italian: Zig Zagged, as we only see the translation, but Kai (and, according to the author, Kaya as well) is fluent in Italian and is used to conversing with native speakers, as seen here. Justified, as his father is Italian and his family visits their paternal relatives each year in Italy. Later Kai gets into a conversation in Italian with a food truck patron.
  • Played Straight with the name of the Romero family's restaurant, Due Draghi ^note  "Two Dragons" in Italian, you can guess why .
• Gratuitous Japanese: Jin is a native Japanese speaker and speaks English as a second language, so he has a habit of speaking in his native tongue. It's also displayed when we see Jin's family residence while his grandfather is teaching a martial arts class, starting here.
  Robin: Twin dragons, your one-stop source to learn single words of Japanese you will never use xD
• Hidden Eyes:
  • Those of the dragons plotting to repay their hometown's citizens.
  • Also those of Benji (who's playing an imposter in a session of Among Us) as he reveals the trick he pulled on his friends to Kaya and Cleo
• Horrible Judge of Character: Subverted when Kaya homes in on the class Alpha Bitch as a potential friend. It later transpires that the real Alpha Bitch(es) are those surrounding her, and Cleo is merely stuck in the middle.
• Human Furniture Is a Pain in the Tail: Hybrid City is specifically designed for these types of issues.
• Human Hummingbird: When the twins are poking each other during a boring car ride.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: Cleo's backstory is having to bribe kids to hangout with her. It isn't until Kaya literally burns a 100 dollar bill that Cleo learns what actual friendship is. Even then, she's still learning how to be generous without being too generous.
• Impossible Task Instantly Accomplished: During Chapter 9's "A Wondrous Journey" arc, Kai is given a challenge by the Guardian Khon, Rex's doppelganger, who presents Kai a Rubik's cube-esque puzzle called the Rah'Aba Hexahedron. While Khan monologues about how only the gods are said to be able to solve it, Kai solves it in one panel. Khan is flabbergasted to hear that the cube is a toy where Kai is from.
• Insult Backfire: When Rex calls Kai a shrimp, Kai retorts that he's a dragon hybrid. Rex has to clarify that he's insulting Kai's height, not his species.
• Italians Talk with Hands: Marco and his brother Emilio demonstrate this in Chapter 14 when they have an argument.
• Jerk Jock: Rex initially comes off this way, calling Kai a "shrimp" and blocking his attempt to join the basketball team. But after Kai challenges him to a match, and loses, Rex reveals the jerk act was a test, and he passed. He is legitimately gruff, though.
• Limited Wardrobe: Averted: The characters have different outfits while still having some consistent articles like jackets. Kaya's shown wearing a blue t-shirt more often than other garments, but she mentions in Chapter 7 that it's her favorite shirt.
• Lonely Rich Kid: Cleo as a kid. She had to bribe other kids to be her friend. Kaya is seemingly her first true, actual friend not out to use Cleo just for her money.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane:
  • Jin, a Lion Dog Mythical Hybrid, can see a Lion Dog called Katsumi, but he's the only one who can. Kai and Kaya couldn't see her either, but Jin's doctor notes that he doesn't suffer from any of the usual conditions that would cause a hallucination, and no medications have made Katsumi go away, so the doctor is keeping an open mind.
  • The existence of Hybrids in general counts, no one seems sure whether the cause is natural or not. They just started being born one day, with no known explanation given.
• Meaningful Name: In Chapter 12, Kai visits a game shop called "The Lucky Bunny Shop". Amy, the namesake and the owner's daughter, is a rabbit hybrid who was Born Lucky. Benji warns Kai just as they are about to play Chō-Han Bakuchi against her that 'her lucky is ridiculous'.
• Money to Burn: When Cleo shoves a bill at Kaya to make her go away, Kaya torches it with her fire breath to make the point that she wants to be Cleo's friend. After the initial shock, Cleo yells at her to put out the $100 bill and Kaya panics on realizing the denomination.
• Mundane Utility: In Chapter 15, when Kai is having the lunch portion of his date with Near, he uses his fire breath to relight a candle that blew out. This ends up shocking Near, causing her to realize her date is a Mythical Hybrid.
• Noodle Incident:
  • In Chapter 4, on the page where Rex is introduced, he says that he already told the teachers that he had nothing to do with the exploding pie incident.
  Benji: Exploding pie?
  Rex: Don't ask!
  • In Chapter 5, Benji talks Kai down from attacking Rex, saying he knows from experience that burnt fur smells awful.
  • In Chapter 8, Dr. Franklin alludes to a past instance where he accidentally tranquilized himself.
  • In Chapter 11, Rex recalls the last time he played basketball with Nate's cousin Charon, a 9-year-old bat hybrid. Charon somehow destroyed half of the gym, which took the entire year's worth of the club's budget to fix. Rex is still bitter about it despite knowing it was an accident.
  • In Chapter 15, while imploring local boy Antonio to replace the ladder leading to a 'Geostash' that Kai and his date Near are approaching, the twins' cousin Annabelle threatens to tell Antonio's parents that he was responsible for breaking some trophy if he fails to replace it soon.
• Not a Morning Person: This comic pretty much says it all. Not only did Kaya pour her cereal (and milk) in the glass and the orange juice in the bowl, she falls back asleep before even touching either one. Kai is significantly more energetic in the morning, prompting their father to jokingly wonder if they're really twins.
• Oh, No... Not Again!: The image above shows Kai and Kaya lighting the fuse for New Years fireworks with their firebreath, while Sabrina looms in the background with a fire extinguisher and an expression like she's seen this before. The full version, posted for New Years 2016, shows that they are quite close to the fireworks with Kaya's tail being incredibly close, with Marco acting like this isn't the first time they've lit fireworks at that close a distance.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: The twins are abnormally strong for their size
• Playing with Fire: Both twins can breathe out fire. Chapter 8 reveals that it stems from glands in the backs of their throats that produce liquid that ignites with any mild friction.
• Polar Opposite Twins: Kai is generally the calm, calculating one while Kaya has very poor impulse control.
• Power Incontinence: Sometimes the twins lose control of their fire when they sneeze. It happens more often when they're sick.
• Pummel Duel: Technically, a Poking Duel. See below for details.
• Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: Well, Rapid Fire Poking. Kai and Kaya engage in a friendly duel of rapid fire poking while in a car ride to their surprise birthday party. While blindfolded.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Kai's blue to Kaya's red. In Kaya's own words:
  Kaya: I can't believe you did that! How can you be so stupid to accept that bet? I'M supposed to be the stupid one of us two! Did I really just say that out loud?
  Cleo: Yep, and I got it all on video.
  Cleo's Smartphone: ...The stupid one of us two!
  • Speaking of Cleo, she's also a blue to Kaya's red.
  • Also, Rex is the red to Nate's blue. The author seems to be fond of this trope.
• Remember the New Guy?: Justified trope. Nora is said in Chapter 16 to have been Benji's girlfriend for a couple months, but this chapter is the first time the twins meet her. Benji explains that she goes to another school and lives on the other side of Hybrid City.
• Removing the Rival: Larissa tries to do this to Kaya during the museum arc.
• Required Secondary Powers: The twins are resistant (but not immune) to fire.
• Revenge Before Reason: After two attempts to get Kaya to back off of befriending Cleo didn't work, Larissa continued to scheme against Kaya to the point of trying to chuck a stone ball at her. Unsurprisingly, this didn't work either.
• Right on Queue: In Chapter 16, the group decide to get some food before going to a signing. Over an hour later, Kaya is complaining about having to wait what apparently felt like an eternity just to get fries with mayo. Her friends reassure saying that at least they are in a queue for the signing - which the last panel reveals is several persons wide and snakes around quiet a bit.
• Shout-Out:
  • In Chapter 3, when Kai asks Kaya about him and Benji accompanying her while she stalks Cleo, she cites Solid Snake and Sam Fisher as examples of how stealth is best done alone.
  • Kai starts calling Rex, the wolf hybrid, a doggy.
  • In Chapter 7, Benji references several dinosaur movies, including Cold Age, The Megalodon, Howl of Thunder, and We're Back.
  • Also in Chapter 7, Benji uses a toy mask to jumpscare the daylights out of Kai and Rex, referencing a certain cranky farmer scaring a cowardly dog.
  • Late in Chapter 8, while Kai and Kaya are wrestling, they reference Frozen:
  Kai: Let it go!
  Kaya: The cold never bo—
  Kai: That's not what I meant!
  • Rex's full name is Rex Ruthor.
  • Chapter 16 sees Benji, Rex, Cleo and the twins attend a pop-culture convention, with the former dressed as Han Solo, Cleo as Enma Ai and the twins as Team Rocket. Additionally, Nora looks like she is dressed as Princess Leia.
  • In Chapter 17, when Nora is up against Mikey, among the first images we see that illustrate his deck are references to the Twins from The Matrix.
• Show Within a Show: Jessie's Adventure, a web video series that's also one of the voting incentive comics.
• Shy Finger-Twiddling: Happens a few times.
  • Kaya does this in Chapter 8 when she admits to her brother that she's a bit nervous about the checkup. And again shortly thereafter when she asks to try Dr. Fern's stethoscope.
  • Jin does this in Chapter 10 when he's expressing his nervousness about handing out flyers at the food festival.
  • Both twins do this in Chapter 14 when they admit to their mother that they accidentally tackled the wrong person in the airport, which Marco had to smooth over.
• Sick Episode: In Chapter 9, Kai is forced to stay at home after catching a cold, although the decision has a lot to do with him setting tissues on fire when he sneezes.
• Sliding Scale of Anthropomorphism: In-Universe, how prominent a hybrid's animal traits are can vary significantly. According to the World Guide, there is a system of hybrid classification created for medical reasons in particular:
  • Class 1 hybrids - light hybridization◊: the Little Bit Beastly variety, harboring only around a couple or so core differences to non-hybrid anatomy such as a tail or an animalistic set of ears. Examples of this type include Cleo (snake), Lilly Erkins (cat), and the first known hybrid, John Norton (tiger). These hybrids haven't been featured much in-comic outside of crowd shots.
  • Class 2 hybrids - partial hybridization◊: the borderline Little Bit Beastly/Beast Man variety, having a few more differences to non-hybrids such as more animal-like hands or feet. The most prominent hybrid of this class in the comic is lion-dog hybrid Jin.
  • Class 3 hybrids - full hybridization◊: the Beast Man variety, always having differences in their skull structures compared to non-hybrids, such as horns or a different jaw shape. Kai and Kaya Romero themselves are examples, as are many other characters like Benji and Rex (a dog and a wolf, respectively).
  • To the side, hybrids that have physical similarities with mythical creatures, regardless of their level of zoomorphism, are thus classified as "Mythical Hybrids"◊, the Romero dragon twins and Jin being examples of such. Even when 20% of the population are hybrids, there are only eight Mythical Hybrids in Hybrid City—including the twins—making it easily the rarest type.
• Sneeze of Doom: Kai has to stay home when he has a cold because his sneezes keep igniting the tissues.
• The Sociopath: Larissa has a total Lack of Empathy, sees others (especially Cleo, with some signs of general anti-Hybrid bigotry) as less than people, and never owns up to her screw-ups due to a very self-centered perspective.
• Strange Minds Think Alike: When they learn that Benji is adopted by a gay couple, Kai, Kaya, and their dad all think that they would've been burned at the stake in their old town.
• Super-Deformed: Kaya, after literally burning Cleo's money, is clueless why she finds her apologies hilarious.
• Super-Strength: Kai and Kaya both have enhanced strength. In Chapter 1, Kai is shown able to lift a sofa more easily than his father, and in Chapter 4, he's shown to be able to jump more than twice his height in the air. Kaya isn't shown using hers quite as much, but in Chapter 3, when Larissa pushes her one too many times, literally, she pushes back, sending her flying with one palm strike.
• Swarm of Rats: During the Cacatombs & Drakes session in chapter 6, the party's first quest is to clear out a rat infestation in a person's basement. When they get there, they find that the floor of the basement is completely covered with rats, as if the basement is flooded by a sea of rodents. Kaya decides to complete the quest by casting her strongest spell. She then rolls a natural 20. The resulting explosion not only blows up the building they were in/under, but sends the debris hurtling into the rest of the town, with pieces of it embedded into other buildings like spears.
• Swordfish Saber: In the beginning of chapter 11, Kai and Kaya decide to have a mock sword fight at a local fish market using swordfish. Their dad orders them to stop, but not before Kaya jabs Kai in the arm. Luckily, it wasn't enough to break his skin.
• Technicolor Ninjas: Kaya is surprisingly stealthy for someone with bright green skin, red(dish) hair, and a tail about as long as she is tall.
• Through a Face Full of Fur: Having fur or thick scales doesn't stop the occasionally blush showing though.
• Touché: Happens often.
  • In Chapter 2:
  Benji: I have my own vacuum cleaner next to my bed, who even has that?
  Kaya: Other doggy hybrids?
  Benji: Touché.
  • In Chapter 7:
  Benji: Where would the dinosaurs be?
  Kai: Can't you sniff them out?
  Benji: Why don't you fly up and take a look, Dragonboy?
  Kai: Touché.
  • In Chapter 8:
  Dr. Fern: You're pulling my leg, aren't you?
  Kaya: Ahahahaha! Yup! But it's only fair since you're pulling my ear.
  Dr. Fern: ...Touché.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Kaya absolutely loves chocolate. According to supplementary materials, so does Kai, but he's not comically obsessed with the stuff.
• Translation Convention: Languages other than English are depicted in color-coded speech bubbles for the readers' sake, apart from Misha's swearing.
• Weapon Tip Focus: Near the start of Chapter 11, when the twins are having an impromptu duel at a fish market, the shot of Kai holding his weapon seems to be this. Of course, it's a swordfish in this case.
• Wildlife Commentary Spoof: While on their way to the twins' birthday party hosted by Cleo, Kai and Kaya poke each other in the back seat of the car, prompting their father Marco to launch into a nature documentary spoof about dragons being territorial creatures.
• Wingding Eyes: Whenever Kaya is very excited (which happens often), she gets literally starry-eyed.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Kaya in Chapter 16 when she is disqualified from the karaoke contest (technically her score was nullified) for breathing fire.
• You Watch Too Much X: When Kai suggests that he and Benji ask Rex if they want to join him for some Catacombs and Drakes, Benji predicts that Rex won’t be interested because he’s a basketball team captain, but he is proven wrong when Kai does ask the question and Rex replies by asking what rulebook Benji uses. Rex’s response to Benji’s surprise is to say “You’ve been watching too many teen series.”