Warehouse 13



""If a radio landed in the hands of Thomas Jefferson, do you know what Jefferson would do? He would just lock it up, until he figured out it wasn't going to kill him. That's exactly what we do here. We take the unexplained... and we safely tuck it away.""

Sci-Fi series about Secret Service agents Pete Lattimer and Myka Bering who hunt down magical artifacts and store them in the titular warehouse. Essentially, it expands on the warehouse where they put the Ark of the Covenant in Indiana Jones.

After an ancient artifact turns a museum employee into a Manchurian Agent that tries to kill the president, the two Secret Service agents involved get transferred to South Dakota. Their new job? Find dangerous items and stow them away in the Secret Government Warehouse to end all Secret Government Warehouses.

And outside of hunting down the new artifacts, there is always a dilemma cooking up back at the warehouse where one of the miscellaneous items is being experimented on, stupidly misused or otherwise going haywire.

You could say it's SCP Foundation: The Series. Or emphatically say it's GURPS Warehouse 23: The Series.

Warehouse 13 is part of the "Syfy-verse": it kinda exists in the same fictional universe as Eureka and Alphas.

"Claudia: That was for"
 * Absurdly Sharp Blade: The Masamune sword is so sharp that it can cleave rays of light, effectively making its holder invisible.
 * Actor Allusion: Claudia wearing a The Dead Zone pin in the season 3 finale, which was Anthony Michael Hall's previous show on USA.
 * Casting Sean Maher and Jewel Staite as a couple in a sci-fi show? Definitely this.
 * Same can be said for casting Niall Matter and Erica Cerra, though it should be noted this was before the crossover.
 * Adult Child: Pete, to an extent.
 * Apparently, before he sobered up he was a lot worse.
 * Affably Evil: H.G. Wells. So much so that, past her introduction episode, you'd have a hard time believing she ever was evil until the finale
 * Agent Mulder/Agent Scully: Right from their very first mission, Pete and Myka are told outright that this is the reason for the Warehouse poaching them to work as a field team. Most of their predecessors seem to fit the pattern, too. The idea is for Pete to go with his gut and accept any possibility, while Myka works on every little detail and puts together evidence logically.
 * Reversed in "Past Imperfect," where Myka is the emotional, impulsive one while Pete is the methodical, logical one. Justified, as in this case Myka is investigating something personal, and Pete realizes he needs to pick up the slack.
 * AI Is a Crapshoot: Hugo One, at least at first. It turns out that the "AI" is actually the creator himself, or rather the left side of his brain downloaded into the computer. Without the other half, the program takes everything too logically.
 * The Alcoholic: Pete is a teetotal alcoholic, having been sober for several years at the beginning of the series. Tellingly, he shows clear signs of panic in one episode when Myka and he switch bodies when Myka was inebriated, fearing that this will cause him to suffer a relapse.
 * All Gays Are Promiscuous: Played with and averted. When Jinks reveals his orientation to Pete and Myka, Pete's immediate reaction is to take his shirt off, since he believes Jinks will appreciate his chiseled abs. Jinks just averts his eyes and urges Pete to put his shirt back on.
 * Alternate Company Equivalent: Of Steve Jackson Games' GURPS Warehouse 23, a roleplaying supplement first published in the 90s.
 * Though the warehouse in Raiders of the Lost Ark predates them both.
 * All Myths Are True: Probably. And probably not the way you think they'd be.
 * Almighty Janitor: Seems to be the standard operating procedure for the Regents. At least one of them works as a cafe waitress.
 * Another one,  is an elementary school teacher. She claims that Regents are picked based on their areas of expertise.
 * Ambiguously Jewish: Artie. He isn't shown outright to be Jewish until the Christmas episode in the second season.
 * Amulet of Dependency: The future-telling coin that affects your health with each use.
 * And I Must Scream: People who are "bronzed" are still self-aware.
 * Although they seem to forget this in an episode when Pete and Myka, drunk after touching W.C. Fields' juggling balls, bronze Steve. They're able to convince him that no time passed.
 * Though it's possible that H.G. was lying when she made that claim.
 * According to the Season 2 finale, there is a fate even worse than Bronzing, but the agents (and the viewers) aren't given any specifics. Turns out it involves getting your soul taken out and carried around in a little ball, or at least part of it does.
 * And This Is For: Delivered bone-chillingly by Claudia during the season 3 finale.

"Pete: You're still asking questions? Myka: I'm still waiting for an answer."
 * Anti-Villain: HG Wells for most of her screentime.
 * Animate Inanimate Object: A mixture of the three types, but how some of things are in the Warehouse. Also, the automatic vacuum cleaner...
 * Anyone Can Die: Until the next season shows them to still be alive.
 * Arbitrary Skepticism:
 * Myka has this habit. It's most explicitly pointed out in 2x01 when Myka has the nerve to proclaim that there's no such thing as cavorite while she and Pete are stuck to the ceiling due to a gadget made by H. G. Wells.

"Myka: You were almost killed by an artifact; you are now officially a Warehouse agent."
 * She also does it in Beyond Our Control, and in 3x10 Insatiable she does so in conversation about living dead. In fairness to the latter, there was an artifact responsible and they weren't zombies.
 * Pete does this in Season 3, laughing at the idea that H.G. Wells could have made a rocket in the 1800s. She immediately points out that he's used a time-machine she made in the 1800s. Of course, he pretty much hates her at the time, so he disregards everything she says.
 * Artifact Collection Agency: The premise.
 * Artifacts of Doom
 * Specifically, pretty much everything is a Happy Fun Ball. Dodgeballs that bludgeon people to death, locust-summoning whistles, hair combs that hypnotize people into becoming murderers... Warehouse 13 is full of dangerous crap that looks completely innocent.
 * Particularly things in the "Dark Vault," which include, among other things, Sylvia Plath's typewriter (which destroys your will to live) and the Aztec bloodstone (the artifact that turned the aforementioned museum worker in the first episode into a Manchurian Agent). They're so dangerous that they have to be kept in individual containment fields with their own backup generators.
 * Lampshaded in the holiday episode where Claudia makes everyone personalized t-shirts depicting an artifact that nearly killed each of them.
 * Lampshaded again by this sentence from Myka to Jinks:

"Pete: Here's what's clear, pal. You tell me I have something you want, and then you threaten my friends. So you are going down. Game on. *hangs up* Game on!"
 * As Long as It Sounds Foreign: In "13.1," the Babel Stones allow one to understand anyone else holding a Babel Stone while your own speech sounds like gibberish to anyone without a Babel Stone. The gibberish sounds a bit like playing speech backwards.
 * The Atoner: Pete when confronting people from his past makes it clear how much guilt he feels, due to his former drinking problem causing him to destroy many of his relationships.
 * Attack Reflector: The Corsican vest, worn by the Corsican twins who felt each others' pain, does this.
 * Auction of Evil: In the season 1 finale, it was part of a Batman Gambit by the Big Bad to enter the warehouse.
 * Back-to-Back Badasses: Fargo and Claudia in "13.1". With only one weapon, which they pass back and forth as needed.
 * Badass Boast

""I do know a thing or two about the opposite sex. Many of my lovers were men.""
 * Bad Boss: Walter Sykes is this trope in spades.
 * The Bad Guy Wins: Season 1. MacPherson escapes containment, frames Claudia as The Mole, and blows Artie up. He got better.
 * Topped by Season 3, where
 * Batman Gambit: MacPherson's plan to enter the Warehouse and put Artie through the same soulcrushing experience he had in his Start of Darkness.
 * In "Implosion," Artie gets stabbed with the samurai sword by MacPherson, who is unable to pull it back out before having to flee. Artie planned on this, saying it was the only thing he could think of to get the sword away from him.
 * Be Yourself: Artie's advice for Claudia's coffee date. It goes... interestingly.
 * Also played straight in "For the Team," when Myka tells Claudia that trying to imitate Myka's interrogation style is a bad tactic. Claudia calls Myka on the pep talk, but does much better when she goes about it her own way.
 * Beam-O-War: Between two opposingly-colored Tesla stun-guns.
 * Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: Not an alien spy, but he probably made an artifact that is now in the Warehouse. He and Edgar Allen Poe, Harriet Tubman, H. G. Wells, Alice Lydell, and on and on.
 * H.G. Wells is a woman and a Warehouse Agent.
 * Berserk Button: Pete was clearly pissed off enough to want to kill the photographer with the Man Ray camera after what he did to Myka in the "Age Before Beauty" episode. It's probably safe to say messing with any member of his team will get you on Pete's bad side in short order, but hurting Myka in particular, very bad idea.
 * It doesn't help that he mentions that the effects of this particular artifact (turning beautiful women into dying old ladies) disturbs him more than just about anything else he's seen.
 * Beyond the Impossible: In the tie-in book A Touch of Fever, it turns out that the Warehouse, in addition to storing sources of other idioms such as the original hot potato, the original can of worms, and the original case of red herrings, holds the fish that got away.
 * Bi the Way: The (female) Warehouse version of H.G. Wells. Her nonchalant coming out doubles as a Crowning Moment of Funny.

"Pete: I'm like your big brother, Myka is like your big sister and Artie is so much like your dad it's kinda annoying."
 * Big Bad: MacPherson in the first season.
 * H.G. Wells in the second after a plan to convince the Warehouse team otherwise.
 * And season 3's big bad is Walter Sykes, an Evil Cripple who has a grudge against the Regents; in particular since she took an artifact away from him that let him walk.
 * Big Brother Instinct: Pete towards Claudia.
 * Based on the DVD Extras, that's what they were going for, and what they'll continue to do as the show moves on.
 * Artie outright tries to be a father figure for Claudia in "Age Before Beauty", so he's cemented his place as Team Dad.
 * Outright stated by Pete in "The Greatest Gift";

"Pete: Artie's gonna be deeply pissed."
 * Bigger on the Inside: The titular Warehouse, which was designed by Edison, Tesla, and Escher.
 * Justifiable, as the Warehouse is clearly built into the side of a mountain; what we see of the exterior is just the entrance and probably a diversionary appearance (to make it seem like a normal warehouse), with the rest being underground/inside the mountain.
 * Big No: Pete has one while trying to resist an artifact.
 * In the Season 3 finale, Claudia gives a heartbreaking one when
 * Played for Laughs in the Christmas Episode with the Wonderful Life plot. At the end of the episode, everyone sits down to watch a Christmas movie. As soon as he finds out he's watching Its a Wonderful Life, Pete lets out one of these.
 * Big Ol' Eyebrows: Artie is remembered by Jinks as "the guy with the eyebrows". They are promptly exaggerated in Fargo's VR game.

"Myka: Are you hit? Pete: No, but I think my underpants are shot."
 * In "Insatiable," when Artie can't get the boy to open up to him, Pete remarks that "maybe it's the eyebrows."
 * Bizarrchitecture: The Escher room, appropriately enough.
 * Bland-Name Product: The "Giggy" search engine, with a logo somewhat reminiscent of the one Google uses for the Chrome browser.
 * Blooper: Claudia and Fargo keep switching positions at the end of the first act of "13.1"; one is in the chair while the other is leaning over the desk and then back and forth.
 * Bluff the Impostor: Used by Artie to confirm that.
 * Bound and Gagged: Well, more chained than bound. And gagged by a nuclear device with a mouth-localised blast radius. Happens to Artie, when MacPherson catches him at the Auction of Evil in the S1 finale.
 * Also happens to Pete in the S2 finale (without the nuclear gag), when Kelly is under the influence of Lizzie Borden's compact.
 * Brainwash Residue: After Leena is saved from being brainwashed by MacPhearson.
 * Brick Joke: In the second series opener, we finally get to see what the smell of fudge signifies: invisible mines.
 * When invited to the warehouse in the first episode, Pete is told "Pack light. We'll ship what you need and store the rest." In season two, he complains about his stuff still not arriving.
 * The scarab that appears in the first season opening shows up in the third season as one of the artifacts from Warehouse 2. It promptly burrows into the floor. Several episodes later, it ends up distracting a dog Artie was interrogating (long story) and the dog finally catches it.
 * At the end of the pilot episode, Pete throws an artifact football into the sky. At the start of the second episode, the football comes back down, and pops Myka in the head.
 * Bring My Brown Pants

"Pete: [speaking of Leena] How does she fly with those things? Claudia: They're wings. Pete: Yeah, those probably help.
 * Broken Bird: Claudia Donovan from the fourth episode. She gets better.
 * Brown Note: Several:
 * A record in the first season causes intense serenity in its listeners.
 * A telegraph machine drives Pete insane.
 * Two finger cymbals used by MacPhearson release a deadly sonic pulse.
 * The Horn of Jericho literally disintegrates whatever happens to be in front of it when someone blows into it.
 * Busman's Holiday: "Merge With Caution."
 * Butt Monkey: Claudia in season 1.
 * But Thou Must!: Used, like other Video Game Tropes, in "Don't Hate The Player".
 * Buxom Is Better: Apparently Fargo went ahead and gave Leena and Claudia cup-upgrades for his game.

Claudia: [speaking of her NPC counterpart] What are those things on my chest? Fargo: Freckles?"

"Pete shoves his sword through the Yandere's stomach. No Sell. Pete: Cheater!"
 * California Doubling: A particularly blatant example (there are others): One of the first season episodes is set in Chicago, yet there are streetcar tracks and a sign for York Avenue visible in the background.
 * Call Back: The first episode of Season 3 has a lot of Call Backs to the pilot, with Jinks in the place of Pete and Myka. It gets a Crowning Moment of Funny when, as they're doing the pull back from the office when Artie says "Welcome to Warehouse 13", it suddenly cuts back to the group, with Artie saying that they "don't have time for that".
 * Calling the Old Man Out: After  is killed, Claudia calls the Regents (particularly  ) out for their cowardice and letting their agents take all the risk.
 * Cassandra Truth: Often with Pete and Myka's Secret Service cover. Pete also gets this in a bad way when he can't convince the others that Valda has turned coat and kidnapped Mrs. Frederic .]
 * Inverted in the Season 3 premier when Jinks who can always tell when a person is lying. He quickly discards the easily acceptable lies Claudia and Artie offer up and readily believes the truth about the Artifacts of Doom.
 * The Cast Showoff: In "Insatiable", Allison Scagliotti shows herself to be a reasonably talented guitarist and singer. Subverted though, as the sequence in question is relatively unobtrusive and does not in anyway negatively affect the storyline (It's specifically stated to occur during Claudia's down time).
 * Cell Phone: Teslapunk videophones, no less. Invented by Philo Farnsworth, they only broadcast in black and white, but they have no dead zones, never seem to need charging (or at least it's never an issue) and use signals that can't be intercepted without knowledge of how they work. They also keep regular cell phones since there's usually only one Farnsworth between the field agents.
 * Farnsworths are also apparently capable of working anywhere on Earth, even including deep in deserts, underground, and in pocket dimensions.
 * Can't Live Without You: The Warehouse needs to have a caretaker to link to, which keeps it alive. This may also work in reverse, but it's not clear. At the very least, the implication is that Mrs. Frederic, the caretaker of Warehouse 13, has lived as long as she has thanks to the bond.
 * And now is connected to it and/or Warehouse 7 thanks to the ingenuity of Genghis Khan and several deaths.
 * Characterization Marches On: Artie loses his computer skills when Claudia arrives. HG Wells escapes the Bronze Sector, steals something from the Escher Vault, kills MacPherson, and leaves us hanging with an ominous mumbling.
 * Possibly justified with Artie as he is mentioned as having been one of the people who worked on the mainframe system in the Warehouse, which in of itself is one of the most advanced systems on the planet, and repeatedly shown as not being someone who is set in his ways of doing things. Claudia on the other hand constantly updates and tinkers with her gear in order to make it better. Given that we see some of the changes she made to certain things caused Artie to become irritable, it make sense that once she began making changes to the system, Artie could no longer keep up.
 * Charles Atlas Superpower: Literally - his trunks grant the ability to manipulate the wearer's density.
 * As do Bruce Lee's punching bag, Jack Kirby's belt, Samson's Jaw bone and Babe Ruth's baseball bat.
 * Chekhov's Gun: Many, many items. Under a dozen or so lines into one episode, Pete makes a passing remark, "that's a big-ass generator", before dealing with an artifact with a weakness to... guess what.
 * Taken to Beyond the Impossible levels in season 2. Remember the quick ad spot where Artie, Pete, and Myka throw a football in the room which looks like M.C. Escher's Relativity lithograph (the crazy stairs one)?
 * In the first episode of the first season, one of the many questions which Pete and Myka believe to be stupid asks whether or not the subject has recently smelled fudge. A season later, it turns out that.
 * In "Elements," Myka clues Pete in that she has a possible lead in mind with the words 'I smell fudge'.
 * A throwaway line from the pilot about the name Myka gave to her ferret ends up saving her life midway through the season.
 * Pete starts using Lewis Carroll's mirror to play ping-pong several episodes before it becomes plot-relevant.
 * A literal case, Chekhov's Grappling Gun: After it's given to Myka, she uses it to.
 * And now MacPherson's watch. It is implied to be
 * Chessmaster: of a literal sort. Artie has a chessboard he keeps outside his office and plays against himself for months between moves. Given how Claudia ignores his objections and makes a move half-way through the episode, and then at the end makes the first move of a reset board, she's also on-board for having this be her role.
 * H.G. Wells' mentor Catarunga was also a literal sort. The two of them played chess every day for years, and H.G. Wells (who was no slouch in this department herself) didn't win once.
 * Christmas Episode: Aired between seasons 2 and 3, involves a Badass Santa and a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming between Artie and his estranged father.
 * Another aired between Seasons 3 and 4; an It's a Wonderful Plot by way of artifact for Pete.
 * The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: Inverted in a game of Battleship.
 * Played straight in "Don't Hate The Player".

"Pete: Let's all grow up a little, shall we? Pete's cell phone starts ringing. Pete's ringtone: C is for cookie, that's good enough for me..."
 * Conversational Troping: Pete actually says "Video Game Tropes" in "Don't Hate The Player".
 * Collector of the Strange: Artie likes to take care of the things in the Warehouse, not just store them. He has a near encyclopedic knowledge of every item.
 * Cool Old Guy: Artie. So Artie.
 * Cool Big Sis: If we can consider Pete her big brother, then Myka is definitely this for Claudia.
 * Jinks mentions his own Cool Big Sis, saying Claudia reminds him of the way she used to stand up for him.
 * Cool Shades: Most every member of the regular cast has Cool Shades of some description.
 * Conspicuous CG: The CG effects can be really bad at times.
 * Seems to be improving a bit in the third season.
 * Corrupt Corporate Executive: In "For the Team". The CEO of a sports drink company is set up to look like the culprit... only for it to turn out to be the lead scientist in charge of the formula. The scientist was using a ladle that, when dipped into the drinks to test the quality, was imbuing it with muscle enhancement properties at the cost of causing eventual internal combustion. The scientist had a massive stake in the company merger, and so tried to keep the problems under wraps until he could cash in.
 * The Corruption: Certain artifacts have a chance of infecting your soul with darkness as their downside. This was the Start of Darkness for the Season 3 Big Bad.
 * Couch Gag: There are three different versions of the season three opening, each with a different set of artifacts on the floor of the warehouse- a fleet of sports cars, a trio of jet fighters, and a group of objects under tarps.
 * CPR: Clean, Pretty, Reliable
 * Creepy Child: Alice Liddell.
 * Creepy Doll: That doll in the Black Vault when Pete gets a close look at it...
 * Crossover: With Eureka and vice-versa. Douglas Fargo makes an appearance in the Warehouse 13 episode "13.1", while Claudia appears in the aptly titled "Crossing Over" in Eureka.
 * At Comic-Con 2010, the casts of both shows held out hope for a whole cast crossover perhaps in the form of a special movie.
 * The casts pitched the idea at DragonCon's Eureka/Warehouse 13 panel as well.
 * Dr. Calder, the Warehouse's doctor and Artie's love interest, also appeared on the fifth episode of season one of Alphas.
 * Fargo returns in "Don't Hate The Player".
 * Crippling Overspecialization: The Remati Shackle is a last resort defense system for the Warehouse, which seals the building in a force field. However, it can't protect from threats inside the Warehouse, and the force field doesn't dissipate until the threat is over, which would essentially trap anyone in the Warehouse inside with the threat.
 * This is a "containment" use keeping with the Warehouse's mandate of tucking artifacts "safely" away. The lack of control is still a problem though.
 * Crossover Ship: Dougladia Clargo (Fargo x Claudia) are a rare in-universe example.
 * The Cuckoolander Was Right: Even though Hugo was missing half of his mind, some of the things he said make sense.
 * Curse Cut Short: Graffiti by a grandma. Artie pauses the security video before the C is finished.
 * Cursed with Awesome: Jinks is a literal Living Lie Detector, but views his ability mostly as a hindrance to his love life.
 * Da Chief: Mrs. Frederic, to some extent anyway.
 * Darker and Edgier: Each series finale has gotten progressively darker.
 * Dawson Casting: Averted with Alison Scagliotti as Claudia. Scagliotti is about the same age as Claudia is supposed to be, at most a year or two older (she was 18 for Season 1).
 * Dead Older Sister:
 * Deadpan Snarker: Everyone has their moments, but Claudia and Artie feature their witty charms most frequently.
 * Death Ray: The binoculars used by the pilot of Enola Gay. They absorb ambient energy to fire radiation. The aftermath is exactly like a localized nuclear bombing.
 * Death Traps: Back in the old days before alarm systems, Warehouse security used these instead. It follows a simple mental, physical, and spiritual pattern. The Durable Deathtrap is implicitly justified through the use of artifacts. The floor magically regenerates in one trap once the puzzle is solved.
 * Descending Ceiling: The mind portion of the test. The participants have to complete a triangular peg solitaire game before the ceiling crushes them. It doesn't help that the pegs are almost needlessly heavy.
 * Death Course: The physical challenge. It's a long hallway with blades coming out of the floor and pits that spew fire. The wall writings indicate that some ancient form of martial arts holds the timing to get past. The team instead uses H.G. Wells' grappling hook to slide over all the death. Then again, the Regent with them fulfilling the Someone Has to Die prophecy might have had something to do with it, too.
 * Lotus Eater Machine: The spiritual portion involves a Medusa head which, rather than the predictable Taken for Granite effect, traps those nearby in a happy illusion while the floor crumbles beneath them. An obvious red light in the dream hints that it's not real.
 * Finally, it's implied that these were put in right before the abandoning of Warehouse 2, so it wasn't by any means something the agents of Warehouse 2 had to do on a daily basis. This was just in case it was ever possible to come back to the Warehouse to try to recover some of the lost artifacts.
 * Even as recently as W12, they were used as security systems. Though at least the previous ones gave a chance at living...
 * Deliberate Injury Gambit: Artie goads MacPherson, who is holding a samurai sword, into stabbing him in the chest, and then holds on to it so that MacPherson will have to run and abandon the sword, a valuable Artifact. He survives, but is injured for several episodes.
 * Disaster Dominoes: Episode 10.
 * Disintegrator Ray: Joshua's Horn of Jericho through sonic frequencies. Its debut episode involves a misguided attempt to use it to contact aliens, inadvertently making it into a WMD.
 * Disposable Pilot: Mrs. Frederic's driver is the person killed when Artie survives an explosion by using the phoenix.
 * Disproportionate Retribution: Appears to have happened to Jinks after the confrontation with Mrs. Frederic that
 * Distracted by the Sexy: Claudia, normally an ocean of confidence, is so embarrassed to be in a room of handsome, half-naked wrestlers in "For The Team" that she can't even make eye contact.
 * Does Not Like Men: H.G. Wells thinks all men are pigs, but it's a little more justified in her case since she lived before women's rights existed.
 * The Dragon: Marcus Diamond to Walter Sykes in Season 3, the first clear cut example on the show.
 * Drives Like Crazy: Artie. Claudia marvels at how he got his license. Also serves as an inversion as it's usually the spunky younger character that drives like crazy and the conservative cautious older character that freaks out.
 * Dropped a Bridge on Him: Daniel Dickinson, Pete and Myka's former boss, dies rather abruptly about halfway through the second season after having been absent since about halfway through the first season.
 * Dye Hard: Claudia frequently changes her Skunk Stripe to various unnatural colors. In a DVD commentary it was said that it's a different color every episode.
 * Easy Amnesia: The artifact in "Trial" causes an extreme version of this when not used correctly. The tie clip extracts memories while the cufflinks restore them, giving the user enhanced interrogation abilities. Using only the former causes accelerated memory regression in the victim until they lose involuntary body functions.
 * Embarrassing Middle Name: Double subverted. Myka refuses to say what it is at first, and finally reveals it to be the rather nice sounding Ophelia. Pete even says it's nice. And then asks "Can Ophelia boobies?"
 * Endless Corridor: Pete complains about this trope (even calling it a trope) in "Don't Hate The Player".
 * Enhance Button: Of *course* Claudia can do this. She's a super-hacker, remember?
 * Enemy Mine: Myka and H.G. Wells in "For the Team". Taken Up to Eleven in "Vendetta"; she's actually a Warehouse agent now.
 * Engaging Conversation: Claudia, to Fargo, after they combine a Eureka-tech laser cutting torch with an Amplifier Artifact to make a geek's wet-dream weapon lightsaber and use it to destroy some Mecha-Mooks.
 * Everything Trying to Kill You: Everything that's stashed in the Warehouse seems to be this way. Indeed, things such as old swords, combs, and creepy paintings might do some weird things, but then you realize that old typewriters, dodgeballs, silly string, lusty disco balls, and creepy things in mirrors are somewhat out for your blood, you know things don't look too good...
 * Evil All Along:
 * Although she's pretty much an Anti-Villain
 * Evil Brit: James MacPherson
 * H.G. Wells.
 * Evil Counterpart: James MacPherson to Artie. All of Artie's knowledge, if not more, with none of his morality, and with a dose of magnificence. H.G. Wells can be considered this to Myka, even if her scientific leanings are closer to Claudia.
 * Explosive Overclocking: The artifact in "For the Team" does this, causing people to rapidly develop muscle mass until they literally combust from the heat.
 * Eye Cast a Spell: A handful of artifacts are activated by eye contact. Explored in "Love Sick" when Artie and Hugo have a short discussion about eyes acting as a coaxial cable to allow downloading and alteration of DNA.
 * Failure Knight: Myka and Artie.
 * Fake Defector:
 * Fake-Out Make-Out: Myka and Pete. Done to a lesser extent in "Vendetta", when Pete insists on a cheek kiss to complete his incredibly awkward ruse to trick someone following them.
 * Fan Service:
 * Done blatantly in "Age Before Beauty" with Myka and many of the models in the changing room.
 * Joanne Kelly and Allison Scagliotti are particularly alluring. Plus, Sarah Allen, who appears in the first-ever episode of the show.
 * Pete taking his shirt off in "Mild Mannered."
 * Myka in the DARPA GEK Suit with those heels in the same episode.
 * The locker room scene and Gary in "For the Team."
 * Wells dressed as Lara Croft.
 * Pete and Myka waking up together naked in Artie's bed with Artie's toothbrush
 * Done with Myka
 * Averted in "For The Team", at least for those with a female muscle growth Fetish Fuel. Despite being dunked in a vat of artifact-influenced muscle-enhancing drink, Claudia exhibits no visible symptoms other than a rash and a slight rippling of her facial skin. No She Hulk here, sorry...
 * The - ah, enhanced - VR versions of Leena "and her two humongous...wings" and Claudia in "Don't Hate The Player" (the latter even meriting a crash-zoom and a distinctly Russ Meyer-esque "BOING!" sound effect).
 * Fantastic Nuke: A tile from the British House of Commons which absorbed the concentrated explosive force of the entire London Blitz
 * Fantasy Kitchen Sink: Lampshaded when Claudia states that Bloody Mary is just an urban legend, and realizes that "of course it isn't" after getting a look from Artie. Pete sums it up in the season two premiere: "There's no such thing as no such thing."
 * But apparently there are no ghosts, just entities mistaken for them. Merlin and the Knights of the Round Table also didn't exist; only Arthur did, but his sword and the grail are quite real.
 * According to "3... 2... 1," aliens are out as well.
 * Femme Fatale: In "Merge With Caution", Mata Hari's stockings turn a woman into this. She uses them to seduce wealthy businessmen and make them do whatever she says. Unfortunately, the artifact also turns the men into dangerous stalkers.
 * Fish Out of Temporal Water: Agent Wells after being in suspended animation for about a century.
 * Flight: Daedalus' wings attract wind, giving them lift disproportionate to their size. Pete acknowledges the awesomeness of this.
 * (Just don't fly too close to the sun...)
 * Foil: Claudia to Artie.
 * Foreshadowing: Pete's vibes can set this up. As in the S1 finale, when he has a very bad feeling about Artie. Who is then caught in the explosion at the end of the episode.
 * Foe Yay: Artie and MacPherson. It really seems like this in "Mild Mannered" when MacPherson's ghost is haunting Artie and they reconcile with one another.
 * Myka and H.G. Wells, until the Foe no longer applies.
 * Foot Focus: In the pilot episode, we get a close-up of Myka's feet slipping out of their heels, before she beats up a suspicious character, all while barefoot!
 * Forgot About His Powers: The season 2 finale has a nice subversion. H.G. Wells betrays the team, the kind of thing Pete's vibes should have picked up on as they have before. Myka later confronts him about it, and realizes that he did have such vibes, but didn't voice them because Myka trusted H.G. Wells.
 * For Want of a Nail: apparently, if Pete wasn't born, Artie would have been arrested trying to snag the Bloodstone, Myka would have remained a Secret Service Agent, her father would have died, Mac Phearson would have convinced the Regents to let him run the Warehouse, and Claudia would have remained stuck in a mental hospital unable to save her brother
 * Fountain of Youth: Man Ray's camera has the ability to steal the youth of one person and give it to another.
 * Freaky Friday Flip: The artifact in "Merge With Caution" causes this as a side effect.
 * From Nobody to Nightmare:
 * Full-Body Disguise: Harriet Tubman's Thimble.
 * Gadgeteer Genius: Claudia and H.G. Wells.
 * Gambit Roulette: H.G. Wells does this much better, as she had a plan that took nearly a century to execute and still pulled it off.
 * Sykes' plan in Season 3 was worked on for decades; he stayed one step ahead of the Warehouse team and the Regents the entire season, and in the end.
 * Genius Loci: The Warehouse is hinted to be one in the earlier episodes, and confirmed as such in the second season.
 * Genki Girl: Claudia.
 * Genre Savvy: It's a good thing Claudia and Pete had read the Cask Of Amontillado...
 * Pete's knowledge of old movies really comes in handy when an Artifact brings television to life.
 * Goggles Do Something Unusual: In this case, the goggles protect your eyes against the purple sparks produced by dipping something into 'neutralizer'. Volta's goggles complete his lab coat artifact to produce an ever-expanding magnetic field. Goggles are also used in the Escher vault to navigate the otherwise impossible-to-predict paths.
 * Government Conspiracy: Made more plausible by the scale and setting: a massive building in the blindspot of the middle of nowhere (no one suspects South Dakota!) and virtually no bureaucracy.
 * Grail in the Garbage: The show's whole premise, more or less. What's better, the grail actually exists in this universe.
 * Grappling Hook Pistol: H.G. Wells has one, self-built.
 * Grimmification: The show seems to be fond of this. Cinderella actually murdered her sisters by turning them into glass, Alice Liddell was a psychopath trapped in the Looking Glass, and King Arthur never had a round table or knights and used a cheap trick to get the sword out of the stone (the Grail does exist, though). It seems that most fairy tales have some basis in reality, but the truth is often related to an Artifact of Doom and hence much darker.
 * Hannibal Lecture: According to MacPherson, he and Pete are not so different. Turns into Shut UP, Hannibal when Pete points out that trying to recruit someone after putting a nuclear bomb into a friend's mouth isn't the best idea.
 * Happy Fun Ball: As mentioned above, a good 95% of the artifacts look completely innocent. Even down to their listed labels. In one episode, someone reads a few off, and they have powers like "makes doves line up and dance," which makes the character wonder what they're doing in the warehouse. Another character quickly informs him that if they're in the Warehouse, there's a reason for it, usually having to do with the artifact having an evil streak.
 * Some of the seemingly innocuously artifacts include a can of red herrings and the original can of worms (which Leena warns Pete not to open).
 * He Is Not My Boyfriend: Claudia's initial reaction to Todd. Or at least Myka's teasing about him...
 * Heroic Sacrifice: Doubly Subverted with  in the Season 3 finale.
 * Heroic BSOD: Claudia gets one at the end of "Emily Lake" and arguably is still in it as of the end of season 3
 * Hey, It's That Guy!: Hugo One and his creator in the episode 13.1 are portrayed by Constable Odo, (Rene Auberjonois)
 * In Mild Mannered, Loretta is Kaywinnet Lee "Kaylee" Frye, and Sheldon is Dr. Simon Tam. And they are a couple.
 * Hidden in Plain Sight: As Pete points out, this appears to be the Regents' preferred method of operating.
 * Hoist by His Own Petard: The guy who used Man Ray's youth-stealing camera becomes the victim of it.
 * And the person turning women into glass statues in the 60's left behind a beautiful glass corpse.
 * Human Popsicle: An interesting variety. People too dangerous to be left roaming the Earth are cryogenically frozen then encased in bronze. MacPherson is "bronzed" in the S1 finale. Of course, that doesn't last too long and it's subverted by The Mole setting him free. H.G. Wells was also bronzed; again, freed by The Mole.
 * Humans Are the Real Monsters: H.G. Wells developed this opinion of humanity, and sought out the Minoan trident to deal with it. She had herself bronzed with the hope that things would have gotten better, but the future is far more disappointing than she imagined.
 * Hypocritical Humor: Crops up occasionally.
 * Hypocritical Humor: Crops up occasionally.

"For the first time, the Regents chose to find a stealth cover for the Warehouse and for what is kept there. Searching for the most innocuous and repulsive occupation that would cause people to shun the very structure - and finding one unique to American political ingenuity - word was covertly spread that Warehouse 13 was the place where all Income Tax Return Forms were stored from every citizen in the United States. This insured that no one would ever want to cross its threshold, and its safety has been guaranteed ever since."
 * I Can See My House From Here: Said by Claudia while climbing about in the Warehouse. Later made humorously literal by the revelation that there is an exact copy of the bed & breakfast they all live at stored in the Warehouse.
 * NOT an exact copy, don't forget WHY it's in the Warehouse. It's for a simultaneously awesome and terrifying reason.
 * There also exists a vault that stores each agent's b&b room upon their death/departure.
 * Idiosyncratic Wipes: Scenes inside the Warehouse often end with a wipe of a crate slamming shut; scenes out in the field, with a wipe of a Farnsworth shutting off.
 * Idiot Plot: one wonders how much trouble the gang would have avoided if they didn't have the staggeringly stupid tendency of separating all the time, often in the worst possible moments, and ignoring obvious warnings.
 * I'd Tell You But Then He'd Have To Kill You: Artie's reply to someone asking who Mrs. Frederic is, referencing Mrs. Frederic's bodyguard.
 * "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Inverted when Pete is fighting the Spine of Sarecen. He's actually winning the fight... but that's exactly why he's doing what he's doing.
 * Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Discussed in "Love Sick" when Jinks is having trouble aiming the Tesla, complaining that ray guns in the movies look much easier to aim. Pete points out that Stormtroopers can never manage to hit their targets with ray guns.
 * Incompatible Orientation: Claudia initially assumes that Steve Jinks is hitting on her and strokes her ego while telling him why its not a good idea for him to try an office romance, then is completely mortified when he tells her that he's gay.
 * Insistent Terminology/Its Pronounced Tropay: Pete's ex-wife keeps pronouncing the name of the town as "uni-ville." Pete repeatedly corrects her that it's "un-i-ville."
 * Intimidating Revenue Service: Everyone in the town near the Warehouse hates Pete and Myka because they believe the Warehouse is an IRS storage facility.
 * Which is brilliant since the Secret Service used to be another branch of the Treasury Department.
 * Syfy's website sums it up wonderfully:

"Claudia: Fastest-working karma, ever!"
 * Insistent Terminology: Un-i-ville, not U-ni-ville.
 * Emphasizing its Un-importance
 * Instant Awesome, Just Add Dragons: In Don't Hate The Player, Fargo has specifically added dragons to his VR game, and even says when asked why, "Dragons are awesome!"
 * Ironic Echo: that actions have consequences, as a protest to her torture of Sally. When Sally escapes, Mrs. Frederic repeats that back to him just before firing him.
 * I See Dead People: Artie sees visions of MacPherson after he is killed by H.G. Wells, which he suspects is a result of the Phoenix.
 * Is This a Joke?
 * It Is Beyond Saving: H.G. Wells’ opinion of humanity and her reasoning for attempting to start a new Ice Age using the Minoan Trident at the end of Season 2.
 * It's a Wonderful Plot: The 2011 Christmas episode, caused by an artifact belonging to the author of the inspiration of the Trope Namer. Just to hammer it home, the episode ends on the group watching It's a Wonderful Life, eliciting a Big No from Pete
 * Interestingly Pete though giddily excited not to be forced into a shopping trip with is mom did not make any wish relating to this plot as so often happens.
 * Karma Houdini: The clients in "Age Before Beauty" who knowingly . At the end of the episode, they're still   and they've suffered no consequences for their actions.
 * Kid Seeing What Kids Shouldn't See: It's not as severe as other examples and she's an adult at this point, but Claudia's face at the end of "Emily Lake" is still this trope in SPADES.
 * Kill Him Already: Oh damn, yes. Pete has MacPherson cornered in an alley, has his Tesla (strictly a stun gun/deneuralyzer and not at lethal) trained on him, and...tells him to surrender, instead of shooting him and cuffing him. This allows MacPherson to slowly reach for and use an artifact (that com chatter makes clear they know the dangers of and that they know he has) to immobilize Pete and KILL two unlucky cops. Very slightly justified as he may have been hesitating because of the cops presence, but since they DIED for their secrecy, I think they'd rather he had fired.
 * Not to mention the bronzing. They have all those people there, bronzed, in a room that's too big a risk to even put in the manual for Warehouse agents. MacPherson already has a chemical in his blood which will literally vaporize him should he ever enter the Warehouse. Yet they give him a necklace to counteract this effect so they can bring him in and bronze him, when they know that there's been a mole in the warehouse for how long and they have no idea if they found everything she did. Sure enough, he's escaped inside an hour.
 * Kill It with Ice: In "Vendetta," a remnant of the Titanic can cause you to die of hypothermia regardless of the temperature outside.
 * Also used as a security lock-down by Hugo 1 in "13.1" to kill off the agents.
 * Kill Me Now or Forever Stay Your Hand: Myka talks down H. G. Wells by doing this in the season 2 finale.
 * Laser Blade: In "13.1", Claudia and Fargo make a working lightsaber out of a laser cutter and Ben Franklin's ring.
 * Laser-Guided Karma: Claudia makes a remark to this effect when she winds up cuffed to a rail, after having done the same thing to an Artifact-whammied Artie:

"Myka: Oh, good, we've got another three minutes. Pete: Unless someone fast-forwards through the commercials. Myka: Don't even joke about that!
 * Leaning on the Fourth Wall: In "Beyond Our Control", the Artifact of the Week projects Hard Light holograms, and it's gotten its wires crossed with a movie marathon channel. At the end of the episode, the Mad Scientist gets ready to push the Big Red Button for the Town Shattering Kaboom when he's interrupted by a commercial break.
 * goes to commercial break* "

"Artie: ...and I was doing this stuff while MacGyver was still escaping from his crib!"
 * Let Us Never Speak of This Again: Mrs. Frederic, on Pete hugging her in the second Christmas special.
 * Lightning Can Do Anything: Electrical surges can jack the power of most artifacts Up to Eleven, though at least one could be disabled by a sufficiently powerful shock.
 * Like Brother and Sister: Most of Pete and Myka's interaction is like this, and stated outright in the season 2 finale.
 * Liquid Assets: The artifact in "Age Before Beauty" sucks the youth out of its victims, eventually killing them.
 * Living Lie Detector: Jinks' schtick.
 * Trumped, however, by Richard Nixon's shoes - they allow the users to beat any kind of lie detector, including Jinks.
 * Lockdown: Of the Warehouse. Initiated by MacPherson at the end of the S1 finale. Doesn't last very long, and isn't even treated all that serious. Happens again in "13.1", initiated by Hugo One, and is taken much more seriously because it includes a Kill It with Ice protocol.
 * Locked Out of the Loop: Artie locks Myka, Pete and Claudia out of the loop for their own safety (and because it's Warehouse protocol). Mrs. Frederic unlocks it because she trusts them.
 * Love Cannot Overcome: Pete is about to reveal the true nature of his work to Kelly, but having just had a small sample of that dangerous world, she breaks it up with him and leaves.
 * Ludicrous Gibs: The Artifact in "Merge With Caution" causes this. If the two people sharing the same space don't unmerge after a certain period, they blow up in a very gory way.
 * MacGuffin Delivery Service: MacPherson with Edger Allen Poe's pen and notebook.
 * MacGyvering: Artie improvises an electromagnet out of an iron while handcuffed inside a closet.

"Myka: Pete! Get your hands off my breasts! Pete: (wide-eyed) Myka, how'd you know that? Myka: Because you're still you and I'm still me, even though we're in different bodies."
 * Magnetic Plot Device: The whole point of the show is the weird stuff that happens around the Warehouse.
 * Make It Look Like an Accident: When Marcus kills people, he uses a poison that makes it look like a heart defect.
 * Make the Dog Testify: played with in Past Imperfect.
 * Male Gaze: Pete can't stop staring at the NPC!Leena's chest in "Don't Hate The Player" so we're treated to a cleavage shot.
 * Mama Bear: H.G. Wells. When her daughter was murdered, she invented Mental Time Travel to try and change the past. She failed, but put up a hell of a fight by her account. Claudia tells her that losing a daughter must be the worst pain imaginable. Wells tells her otherwise; what she did to the people who killed her daughter is the worst pain imaginable.
 * Man, I Feel Like a Woman: In "Merge With Caution", Pete and Myka are hit by a Freaky Friday Flip, so he takes the opportunity. Genre Savvy Myka immediately calls him on it when they phone each other.

"Artie: How does she do that?"
 * The Masquerade Will Kill Your Dating Life: You are allowed to tell ONE person outside of the Warehouse the truth about your job (referred to as "your One"). If they pass on, you're allowed to choose another One.
 * Mauve Shirt: Valda
 * Meanwhile in the Future: Justified by...
 * Mental Time Travel: H.G. Wells' actual time machine does this; physically traveling through time is impossible, but her machine can allow one to inhabit the body of someone else in the past. However, it only works for 22 hours and 19 minutes, and can't actually change the past (or rather, has already done so by virtue of its use). Also while Time Traveling your body is basically comatose for those 22 hours and 19 minutes justifying above trope.
 * The Men in Black: The show! Though played very lightly compared to other versions, W13 agents are basically this.
 * Minovsky Physics: The purple goo and any derivatives thereof neutralizes or protects against artifacts. That's it. That's all it does.
 * "It doesn't always. Work, that is."
 * The Mole: In the season one finale, it's believed that . Subverted in that.
 * Mundane Utility: Pete playing ping-pong against a doppelganger of himself inside Lewis Carrol's mirror. Subverted after they learn the true purpose of the mirror and deal with it properly.
 * Artie gets in on the action, at least in a minor way. There's a self-guiding vacuum (no, not a modern one) in his office.
 * Claudia loves this. She tries to change a light bulb by using a magnetic artifact to scale the Warehouse's steel girders. Subverted when it is revealed that each time the artifact comes into contact with something metal, the power doubles, threatening to collapse the entire Warehouse. Played straight with a snowglobe that releases quick-freezing snow (she uses it to cool drinks) and Benjamin Franklin's electricity-amplifying ring (which she uses to turn her hand into a flashlight).
 * Musical Assassin: Pretty much any musical instrument, recording, or studio equipment (like the Studio 54 Disco ball) in the Warehouse is most likely the tool of such a person. This was also how the plot worked in Season 1 episode 2.
 * My God, What Have I Done?: Part of H.G. Wells' backstory. During her time at the Warehouse, her daughter was murdered. Seeking some way to bring her back, she began combing the shelves for an Artifact that would do the trick. She ended up getting another agent killed, and so asked to be bronzed. Subverted in the finale, when it's revealed that was all part of the plan.
 * Happens to Myka in the finale. When H.G. Wells embraces her Big Bad role, Myka realizes that Pete has been having vibes to that effect the entire time, but didn't say anything because he trusted Myka's judgment.
 * My Name Is Not Durwood: Fargo Bismarck.
 * Mysterious Backer: In Eureka.
 * Neglectful Precursors: All iterations of the Warehouse seem to suffer this, leading to some having been destroyed or lost.
 * Nice Hat: Artie's straw hat in the first episode. Claudia apparently stole it sometime between seasons two and three.
 * Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
 * Subverted in that.
 * Nietzsche Wannabe: H.G. Wells; due to losing her daughter, she thinks the whole world deserves to die, and rants about how it's gotten worse since she was bronzed.
 * Of course, the real person she's named after predicted among other things: tanks, a world war between Germany and England, and atomic bombs. Not to mention, in later work, became apparently disillusioned with the human race and the fate of mankind as a whole.
 * No Immortal Inertia:
 * Noodle Implements: Most of the questions in the official form for people who might have come into contact with an artifact.
 * Noodle Incident: "Next time, if there's an artifact in a zoo, WE LEAVE IT THERE!"
 * In the first episode of Season 3, Pete tells Jinks about a time he tried on Abraham Lincoln's hat and was overcome with the desire to "free" Mrs. Frederic. And don't think that didn't get him into trouble.
 * Also in that episode, Artie wants to get out of an observatory because the plants are freaking him out and one of them is staring at him. Given what we know about Artie's past, it's likely that this cryptic phrase refers to something that really did happen.
 * When Pete's ex-wife mentions that Pete was kicked out of the boy scouts, he hastily protests that he "did not start that fire."
 * No Ontological Inertia: Par for the course for Artifacts—once they're neutralized, everyone who was affected by them instantly goes back to normal. Doesn't always hold true, especially when there's more than one artifact.
 * Defied in "A Touch of Fever". Myka hopes that neutralizing Clara Barton's gloves will remove their effect on Pete. The narration even mentions that most artifacts work like that. Not this time.
 * No OSHA Compliance: Mentioned word for word about the Warehouse.
 * Well, when you have a whole vault in the Warehouse designed by MC Escher, what do you expect?
 * "How close was the Warehouse to exploding?" "Under a minute."
 * No Party Like a Donner Party: A glass jar used by the Donner party shows up as an artifact. Anyone who puts money into it is stricken with hypothermia and severe hunger (eventually for human flesh), before eventually dying from cold.
 * Not Quite Dead: Marcus thanks to an artifact which
 * No Transhumanism Allowed: Hugo One wanted the rest of his/Hugo's original "soul" incorporated into his programming, and the Warehouse crew thought it would be an extremely bad idea. Justified, as the real Hugo wasn't rational enough to understand the situation, and the transfer to Hugo One would be powered by an artifact. Not to mention the fact that they couldn't very well have an AI running the Warehouse.
 * Odd Couple: Invoked by Artie, who points out that Myka's eye for detail complements Pete's intuitiveness perfectly.
 * Also invoked in a previous Warehouse agent pairing, suggesting that such pairings are more intentional than happenstance.
 * Oddly Small Organization: The Warehouse, which contains arguably the most dangerous items known to mankind, is directly managed by five people, and that's using a rather loose definition. Add on the bureaucracy, and the grand total moves up to about 18. Justified in that the people who run the place deliberately want as little involvement as possible; if it were made into a larger organization, it would be taken apart piece by piece by the government to exploit it.
 * In the past, it's seen that there's a slightly larger crew, maybe 10 or so people, but it's unclear how many of them are just filers and whatnot that were replaced by computers.
 * Offscreen Teleportation: Mrs. Frederic is the absolute freaking master of this trope. She never visibly breaks any laws of physics; she's just very good at suddenly being in the same place you are, at the moment you least expect it. Her exits are usually mundane, but at one point she leaves through an open doorway and somehow vanishes in the five seconds it takes Artie to walk over and look through it.

"Claudia: Did you just Mrs Frederics me?"
 * It seems, as of season 2, that all of the regents can do this. Mark Sheppard certainly can. Called attention to in that Taka, a non-regent agent, is shown walking into the very same room that Mark Sheppard just teleported into.
 * Artie seems to be learning the trick too when he busts Claudia trying to hack the Atlas-66 file.

"Claudia: Did you just Mrs. Frederic me?"
 * Off the Wagon: Several episodes keep drawing attention to the fact that Pete is a recovering alcoholic by stating it in the recap opening, but they subvert it by making the characters simply think he has when the truth is far weirder. Played somewhat straight in "Merge With Caution," where Pete falls off the wagon through no fault of his own when he body-swaps with Myka, who had been drinking at the time.
 * He mentions in one episode that he's tired of encountering Artifacts that he has to explain at his AA meetings. This is after he's exposed to a set of juggling balls that actually make you act drunk.
 * Oh Crap: This look crosses Claudia's face when H.G. Wells talks about what she did to the people who killed her daughter.
 * And the look on Artie's face when
 * Older Than They Look: Mrs. Frederic.
 * The female H. G. Wells via Human Popsicle effect.
 * Omnicidal Maniac: H.G. Wells. She gets better.
 * The Omniscient Council of Vagueness: The Regents. Lampshaded when they ask Artie whether he expected them to be "Hooded cloaked figures standing in half-light around a perpetually burning flame?"
 * "You watch too many movies."
 * 108: How many years the Warehouse's light bulbs last. Truth in Television, as there are a number of existing light bulbs from that time period that still work. See the Centennial Light, which has been running for 109 years thanks to its low wattage, near-continuous use, and dedicated power supply.
 * One of Us: Both Pete and Claudia are die-hard geeks.
 * Pete is also a troper. In the episode "Don't Hate The Player," Pete admonishes himself for not spotting an obvious video game trope.
 * The Ophelia: Claudia has spent time in mental institutions over what happened to her brother and she occasionally falls back to a broken bird status.
 * Unrelated to the actual trope, but it's also Myka's middle name.
 * Out of Order: The Christmas Episodes - a result of the seasons being aired during summer and the episodes behind held over for December airings.
 * Parental Substitute: Artie is this for Claudia.
 * Percussive Maintenance: How the team resolves the issue with the time machine.
 * Claudia names the trope in "Burnout," when her hologram projector doesn't cooperate at first.
 * Person as Verb: Claudia to Artie in Season 3 finale, when he catches her hacking the encrypted Regents file.

"H.G. Wells is a bad guy! I/We know!"
 * People Puppets:
 * Cecil B. DeMille's riding crop has this power, giving the one who bends it control over the body of whoever they want.
 * Collodi's bracelet is an odd version. It essentially is this to the user themselves, allowing the user to puppet their own disabled limbs and functionally regain mobility.
 * Plausible Deniability: Operates under the auspices of the Secret Service, but frequently clashes with any authorities they assist.
 * Plot Tailored to the Party: Majorly Averted. In the season 2 episode "Buried" H.G. Wells, Myka, and Pete are faced with three challenges inside Warehouse 2: Mind, Body, and Soul. Pete immediately solves the mind challenge, H.G. comes up with a clever solution for body, Myka overcomes the soul challenge (and then, Pete figures out the final riddle of how to shut the security system off)
 * Pocket Protector: Averted in the episode Regrets
 * Portal Cut:
 * The Power of Rock: Jimi Hendrix's burned guitar has enough power to shut down the entire eastern seaboard if left unchecked, and is naturally activated by being played.
 * Product Placement: Myka starts off the series stating firmly that she doesn't eat sugar, but is suddenly made into a 'Twizzlers Girl' in the second season. Twizzlers is a sponsor of the show by promotional material in the DVD. Lampshaded at the table scene at the end of season 3, episode 2, when Leena tells Jinks about how Myka used to avoid sugar, only to have Myka claim not to remember that.
 * And then there's the Prius in the third season opener. Claudia's detailed run-down of what an awesome car it is and why you, yes you, should bicycle out to your nearest dealer right now somehow manages to be in character, probably because she's basically geeking out over technology while trying to be super-casual in front of the new guy.
 * Prongs of Poseidon: The Minoan Trident.
 * Punny Name: Artie has a distinct attraction to artifacts and knows more about them than most anyone else.
 * Rapid Aging: "Age Before Beauty."
 * Rasputinian Death: Though no one in the series actually suffers such a death, Artie does debunk the Trope Namer's death as nonsense. In this universe, Rasputin really did die on the first attempt, but his followers used an artifact to project an image of him to others for the additional deaths, which is why people think it took so much to kill him.
 * Reality Retcon: Among everything that happened behind the scenes during history, one glaring example is that H.G. Wells was/is a woman and warehouse agent.
 * Reassigned to Antarctica: What Pete and Myka think has happened in the first episode. Subverted, in that their job now is awesome.
 * Revealing Hug: Claudia is rather put-off by the notion that the people running the Warehouse have some sort of plan for her future, but Artie assures her that she will always have the ability to choose her destiny. However, when she hugs him in gratitude, it's clear Artie knows more about this situation than he's letting on.
 * Redemption Equals Death:
 * Red Herring: There's a can of them (the original one!) in the Warehouse. Pete jokes the case must have been hard to solve.
 * Red Shirt: Myka becomes concerned in an episode that this is how Artie may view her and Pete, even naming the trope.
 * However, she does like wearing red blouses a fair bit, ironically enough...
 * Reed Richards Is Useless: Justified, given that the bulk of the Warehouse's contents aren't understood well enough to use safely or duplicate. The few that are safe are generally kept secret in the interest of giving the team an advantage.
 * Refugee From TV Land: Philo Farnsworth invented a 3D hologram projector that (unintentionally) creates physical matter, literally bringing TV to life. Combine this with a disgruntled postal working stealing it from the unsorted mail bin after she's forced into retirement and using it to play through an action movie marathon...
 * Reinventing the Telephone: Steampunk Teslapunk video phones, tasers, golf carts, computers, hologram projectors (oh wait)...
 * Restored My Faith in Humanity: Myka (and later Pete and the rest of the Warehouse crew) seem to have done this for H.G., which leads to
 * Retired Badass: Rebecca St. Clair, a former Warehouse agent.
 * was a former Regent for at least a decade before rejoining the organization.
 * Revenge: Season 3 Big Bad's motivation
 * Room Full of Crazy: Claudia has one when we first encounter her.
 * And also in the alternate universe where Pete was never born, complete with multiple references to how much she hates Artie
 * Rotoscoping: The video game sequences in "Don't Hate The Player".
 * RPG Episode: "Don't Hate The Player".
 * Reverse Mole:
 * Running Gag

"Claudia: ...to realize my Karma sucks."
 * After two complete seasons, Pete has STILL not read the Warehouse manual.
 * Samus Is a Girl: HG Wells is female. Though given the obvious tip offs, Genre Savvy viewers had heavy hints.
 * Scenery Gorn:
 * Sealed Evil in a Can: Alice Liddell, trapped in Lewis Carrol's mirror.
 * The entire Bronze Sector, which houses people so evil that they could have "become the next Hitler."
 * Also the Sealed Evil In a Can Of Sardines from "Merge With Caution."
 * Second Episode Introduction: Claudia doesn't appear in person until the fourth episode, but the idea is the same.
 * Secret Government Warehouse
 * Self-Destruct Mechanism: Averted the first time, when the entire Warehouse was about to blow up. The second time,
 * Sixth Ranger: Claudia.
 * Shared Universe: With Eureka and Alphas. Doctor Calder appears in an episode of Alphas.
 * Sharing a Body: The artifact in "Merge With Caution" causes an extreme version of this. The two sharing a body actually share the same space with both bodies: the dominant personality manifests their body when speaking.
 * Shoot the Dog: Myka can't bring herself to electrocute Pete to destroy a particularly dangerous artifact, so Rebecca does it for her.
 * Shout-Out: H.G. Wells' Mental Time Travel machine seems to be powered by a device that looks strikingly like a flux capacitor.
 * Ship Sinking: Both of Pete's in the episode "Reset":
 * Pete/Myka via Like Brother and Sister reference in her 'going away' letter. However, Pete's actor seems to believe they will be together when 'the end of the show' happens, so it's possible the writers are playing the long game with it. A season 3 episode involved them becoming drunk because of an artifact and, fearful that they wouldn't remember what they had done the next morning, get into bed naked because they knew they would 'never' sleep together and it would prompt them to find out what they had done the previous night.
 * Pete/Kelly via her getting weirded out at, you know, almost killing Pete.
 * Claudia/Jinks torpedoed right as Claudia was about to bring up what she thought was their UST by Jinks and his Have I Mentioned I Am Gay? moment.
 * Shirtless Scene: Pete. All the damn time.
 * Soft Glass: Pete attempts to escape a artifact house via defenestration, and ends up coming back in via the same method (the house is a recursive space and every exit leads back in).
 * Someone Has to Die: Mark Sheppard sacrifices himself to fulfill this trope in the penultimate episode of season 2.
 * Soul Jar:
 * Special Edition Title: A Christmas/winter themed one for "Secret Santa".
 * Spider Sense: Pete's Vibes.
 * Spin-Off: The producer, Jack Kenny, has pitched a spinoff revolving around HG Wells and Warehouse 12 set in the 1800s. If accepted, it would run alongside Warehouse 13.
 * Spoiler Opening: Thanks to the season 3 opener, it's no surprise.
 * Spontaneous Human Combustion: The unfortunate side effect of the artifact in "For the Team."
 * Spooky Painting: Causes Myka, Pete, and Claudia to be Locked in a Room.
 * Stable Time Loop: See You Already Changed the Past. Rebecca St. Clair and her partner Jack fell in love when they found themselves kissing in an orchard, with no memory of the previous day. Fifty years later, Rebecca uses H.G. Wells' Time Machine to transfer her consciousness into her past self so she can share one last kiss (the First Kiss) with Jack. HG Wells also built the time machine in the first place after realizing that she did so in the future and used it.
 * Standard Female Grab Area: Claudia does this to Kelly when she's taken over by Lizzie Borden's artifact.
 * The Starscream: H.G. Wells in the season 2 premiere. She needs to  A rare case where The Starscream succeeds.
 * In her defense, he was about to reveal the plan to the Warehouse team.
 * Start of Darkness: MacPherson's came when he used the Phoenix to save his lover. By "dying" temporarily, he saw the afterlife, which from his point of view was nothing but darkness. He assumed there was nothing after life, and so all that matters is now. He attempts to expose Artie to this in order to make him act the same, but it backfires since Artie sees light and hope.
 * The death of H.G. Wells' daughter was this for her. From then on she saw people for their worst traits, and it quickly went downhill.
 * Stealth Hi Bye: Claudia is one of the few people who do this walking through a perfectly ordinary door. Artie pulls it on Pete and Myka later. Mrs Frederic and to a lesser extent her bodyguard manage it on a regular basis.
 * Mrs. Frederic manages to do it in extremely creepy ways. In the S3 opener, you can see her in the background of a dark room (before she's apparently in the room), messes with a phone message to say "Turn on the lights" and when Jinks turns on the light, suddenly she's there. Yeesh.
 * Steampunk: A lot of the technology the agents use seem to be this.
 * Even modern-day technology gets this treatment: Artie's personal computer (for instance) is very clearly an ordinary computer decked out steampunk-style, kinda like this.
 * Not to be picky, but most of the tech is post-Industrial Revolution and therefore Dieselpunk or perhaps retro-futuristic. Artifacts may date back farther, but the Warehouse and its workings are much newer than Steampunk.
 * Not necessarily; Artie mentions that the Warehouse is in its 13th iteration and that it 'moves' to whatever world power is most suited for it. He implies that it's been around far longer than a few hundred years. Indeed, the show itself implies that the Warehouse itself may be a sentient artifact that has simply been upgraded by various inhabitants.
 * H.G. Wells mentions that she worked for Warehouse 12 yet shows remarkable aptitude with the current version. So while the current incarnation is definitely new and improved, there is definitely some sort of crossover period that may be less mysterious than it seems to be.
 * The second Warehouse? The Library Of Alexandria.
 * Warehouse 13 itself was designed by Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, and M.C. Escher. The Farnsworths were invented by...well...Philo Farnsworth. In terms of time periods, Edison and Tesla are borderline between Steampunk and Dieselpunk, and Farnsworth is squarely and comfortably in Dieselpunk. However, technologically speaking, Edison and Tesla in real life mark the end of steam technology, and the beginning of electrical technology, which indicates Dieselpunk. So, the technology is definitely more dieselpunk than steampunk.
 * One episode features flashbacks to HG's time at Warehouse 12, where we get to see a steampunk gun and.
 * Straw Feminist: H.G. Wells, slightly justified due to times she lived in.
 * Invisible to Gaydar: Agent Jinks.
 * Stupid Sacrifice: . "One must die" and all, but if he'd just gone past with a belt like the others instead of slowly going by hand, nobody would have, prophecy or not.
 * Super-Powered Robot Meter Maids: Fargo's MARA repair drones inexplicably come equipped with net launchers, flamethrowers, and saw blades.
 * Sweet Polly Oliver: H.G. Wells, of all people. In this case, the man known as H.G. Wells is actually her brother, used as a proxy since she wouldn't be accepted as a scientist in her time.
 * Tailor-Made Prison: The Bronze Sector, a section of Warehouse where the worst people in the world, people whose removal from society had to be absolutely certain, are held. People like Hitler, Mussolini, and Michael Vick, or rather people who would have become like them except the Warehouse got to them first. The best part? It seems as if this is on the low end of potential punishments. They actually have things that are worse and that Warehouse agents are better off not knowing about. Same episode also reveals that the Warehouse management compile lengthy records on how to kill various agents.
 * Taken for Granite:
 * "Where and When" has a variation using Cinderella's knife, which turns people into glass. Apparently those slippers weren't hers, and weren't the only glass things to be found that day.
 * "Love Sick" has people being turned into clay by an artifact-enhanced computer virus, the originating artifact being the one responsible for the myth of the golem. It takes hours for the victims to turn fully.
 * Take Up My Sword: When it seems as if Mrs. Frederic is going to die, and therefore Warehouse 13 would die with her, Claudia is nearly made to take her place to keep Warehouse 13 safe. She doesn't have to go through with it, though it's suggested that sooner or later she will.
 * Talkative Loon: Hugo Miller from "13.1". At least, the part of him that's still attached to his body.
 * Television Geography: The Warehouse is in the middle of nowhere, but many plot important places are somehow within close driving distance and getting across the globe in a day apparently isn't a major issue.
 * Time is of the essence to unite two artifacts in the episode "Nevermore", with one agent in Colorado and the other in Oregon (about 900 miles apart)... however Pete comes rushing in to Colorado with the artifact seemingly a very short time after getting it in Oregon.
 * Tempting Fate: Claudia comments that the backup containment fields for the Artifacts in the Dark Vault should hold up long enough to do what they need to do. Notably, the containment fields fail before she even finishes her sentence.
 * She does finish the sentence, just not the way she had originally intended.
 * She does finish the sentence, just not the way she had originally intended.

"Valda: (deadpan snarking) Thanks for that."
 * Happens again buried when the team needs to infiltrate Warehouse 2. After passing the first entrance test, they come across a long hallway. The Regent, Valda, accompanying them declares that they just might make it after all. Cue saw blades springing from the floor. Pete then has the nerve to say "It could be worse." Cue fire.

"Myka: *makes tiny violin motions while wearing the purple gloves* Pete: What's that? Myka: The world's tiniest purple violin."
 * Ten-Minute Retirement: Myka...oh don't act surprised.
 * Thirteen Is Unlucky: The Warehouse is currently in its 13th incarnation, and regularly suffers calamities. This, however, is probably because of its function, and what led to the destruction of Warehouses 1-12.
 * Destruction? Who said that was why they moved? The warehouse is located in the most powerful country at a given moment in time. Although when Warehouse 13 opened up in 1898, America wasn't a true superpower at the time. America earned that status around World War 1 and wasn't the primary superpower until after World War 2.
 * Well, Warehouse 2 was the Library of Alexandria
 * And Warehouse 13 opened in 1914 and seeing as the Regents have great foresight it makes sense.
 * Warehouse 13 has burned down at least once, though.
 * In one episode Mrs. Frederic uses the phrase "I swear on the ashes of the first 12 Warehouses" for added emphasis. Though this turns out to not be literal.
 * Subverted; in this case, Warehouse 13 is the luckiest one so far. Syfy's website has short histories on all 13 Warehouses. The others did not have the lovely IRS cover that this one does.
 * Warehouse 2 is in Egypt and is discovered in one episode. In fact, it still contains plenty of artifacts. It was sealed and abandoned after Rome invaded Egypt.
 * Through the Eyes of Madness: Pete in "Around the Bend."
 * Throw It In: According to Eddie McClintock's Twitter, the "watching a Browns game" Shout-Out in "Reset" was tossed in by him.
 * This Is My Human: After psychically linking with a dog, Artie claims their bond is too strong and that it owns him now. He also mentions that cats are prisoners.
 * Torture Always Works: Jinks tries to claim this trope doesn't work in real life, which is ridiculous because his mere presence ensures the perp can't successfully mislead the interrogator.
 * Jinks's presence ensures the perp can't lie; it doesn't stop her from simply saying nothing at all. Or from saying something they believe to be true (which doesn't ping to him as lying).
 * Trademark Favorite Food: Myka is a Twizzlers girl.
 * Pete freaking loves pancakes. So much so that he forced a pancake house to discontinue that peg-in-a-hole game contest they had every week because he mastered it for free pancakes.
 * He's also rather fond of cookies, to the point that in the pilot when Artie mentions he made some, Pete immediately opts to go in the Warehouse when he was just moments before very wary of it.
 * Trapped in TV Land: Inverted. One episode features a movie projector that causes whatever is played on it to appear in our world.
 * Trojan Horse:
 * Also, what is presumed to be the original Trojan Horse can be seen in some of the Warehouse wide shots.
 * True Companions: Artie, Myka, Pete, Claudia, and Leena
 * Try Not to Die: Mrs. Frederic to Artie upon giving him permission to go after MacPherson.
 * Two Lines, No Waiting: Every episode in the third season and sometimes in the earlier ones.
 * Undercover Model: Myka in "Age Before Beauty."
 * Under the Mistletoe: The Warehouse has the "original mistletoe", which causes anyone who wanders beneath it to kiss the nearest person. Myka is kept from making this mistake while Pete's under it. Artie, however, is not so lucky while Claudia's brother is trying to take it down...
 * Unfortunate Name: Pete lampshades bringing in a new agent by the name of Jinks.
 * UST: Lots, real and imagined.
 * Victoria's Secret Compartment: In "Queen for a Day", Claudia pulls a mini-Tesla, a glove and an evidence bag out of the dress she is borrowing to fit in with a civil war re-enactment. She also claims to have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in there.
 * Video Phone: Includes a very Steampunk version.
 * Voices Are Mental: Beautifully averted.
 * Weapon of Mass Destruction: The Minoan Trident (also known as Poseidon's Trident), which when stabbed into the ground three times opens the fault lines below. Among other things, it's capable of triggering volcanoes, even supervolcanoes. Doesn't help that it's, y'know, a trident.
 * In fact, referred to as "The first Weapon of Mass Destruction."
 * We Named the Monkey "Jack": Myka names her ferret after Pete because "they're both cute and annoying".
 * Wham! Line: Myka goes to introduce Pete to a Regent she just saved. His reaction?
 * "What Do They Fear?" Episode: In "Don't Hate the Player", the program uses the characters fears, from the mundane like hair loss to the reasonable like drowning (both of which are shared by Pete and Fargo). After learning of it, Pete makes the mistake of thinking about what would make it scarier (communications breakdown). Claudia's worst fear is revealed to be that she's still in the asylum, being given electroshock therapy, and the warehouse was all a delusion.
 * What Do You Mean It Wasn't Made on Drugs?: Played with using Timothy Leary's reading glasses, which cause vivid, LSD-like hallucinations when worn. In "For the Team", Pete uses them to amuse himself when forced into a temporary desk job at the Warehouse.
 * When Things Spin Science Happens: The Time Machine.
 * Whole-Plot Reference: "The Greatest Gift" to the titular story, the basis of "It's a Wonderful Life"
 * Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Double Subverted. When H.G. Wells tries to start another ice age Artie pulls out a gun and shoots her...but she's got an artifact that transfers the wound to Artie.
 * Played straight earlier when H.G. threatens to shoot her lawyer if he doesn't stand in a miniature, portable tar pit... which would kill him eventually but also leave enough time for Pete and Myka to save him. It's incredibly Bond-esque. Justified as she didn't want him to die, and needed to delay Pete and Myka.
 * Justified with.
 * Also justified by
 * Will Not Tell a Lie: Jinks seems to have this problem, probably as a result of his ability. He automatically defaults to the truth when asked a question, and at best seems to be able to just refuse to speak of it. When he tries to lie, he sucks at it.
 * Wimp Fight: Done with guns/teslas. Claudia and Todd suspect each other of being a warehouse infiltrator and a mob agent respectively. When they confront each other about these suspicions, they spend a good five seconds fumbling with their pockets in order to draw a weapon on the other.
 * Witness Protection: Claudia's occasional boyfriend Todd.
 * It's a Wonderful Plot: There's an Artifact for that.
 * Worlds Smallest Violin: This exchange in the episode titled "Merge With Caution" after the Warehouse agents just jumped out through a window and Pete is complaining about his knees:
 * Worlds Smallest Violin: This exchange in the episode titled "Merge With Caution" after the Warehouse agents just jumped out through a window and Pete is complaining about his knees:


 * Xanatos Gambit: Though it's more obviously a Batman Gambit, MacPherson's plan to get at the Warehouse's Artifacts has Xanatos elements as well. The way he engineered his own capture was pure Batman, but how he dealt with individual artifacts, (i.e., he benefited whether or not he managed to acquire them) was more Xanatos.
 * And not only that, but he manages to disguise his real plan with successful Gambits, in increasingly awesome acts.
 * In Season 3
 * Yandere: Lizzie Borden's compact causes its victim (Kelly) to become this.
 * You Already Changed the Past: The stipulation to H.G. Wells' time machine; time can't be changed because by virtue of using the machine you've already changed it. People who died in the past can't be saved because you already failed to do it.
 * You Got Murder: Bobby's preferred method of revenge, thanks to Edger Allen Poe's pen. "Words have power..."
 * The Lost Folio in the first episode of season 3 has this power. The first person to touch a page from it will die in the same way and pose as a Shakespearean death and then say the character's last words unless they say the last words before it takes place.
 * You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: MacPherson loves this trope. Then becomes the victim of it in the second season after H.G. Wells is through with him. Though a good portion of it is also that he threatens to reveal the plan.
 * In the first episode of the third season,
 * In "The 40th Floor",
 * Really,  tends to do this to all his minions sooner or later.   included; but   are more of a case of You Have Failed Me.
 * Your Worst Nightmare: Beatrix Potter's tea set brings out nightmares in those who drink from it. When combined with Fargo's new mental interface video game system, the results are lethal.
 * You Wouldn't Shoot Me: Myka does this to H.G. Wells, knowing that in the end she wasn't so disillusioned with humanity that she could kill an innocent in cold blood, much less someone she respected as much as Myka.
 * Zeerust: The Farnsworth has many of the abilities of... an iPhone 4 with better coverage.
 * It also has its own dedicated frequencies that can't be bugged, traced, etc. by normal means and thus is more secure to use than a cellphone, retro tech or not.