Heroes (TV series)/Tropes R-U: Difference between revisions

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* [[Real Life Writes the Plot]]: Or... doesn't. Due to the writers' strike.

* [[Really Gets Around]]: Sylar.

** Also Adam Monroe caps off the final episode of Season 2 with a magnificent diatribe against humanity's petty nature, successfully arguing in the process that Hiro Nakamura, the man who has come to stop him, effectively turned him into the man he is today.

* [[Rebellious Princess]]: Claire Bennet.

** Thus far, it seems Volume 5's main plot involves Samuel Sullivan screwing with the Heroes in order to find which one is a suitable [[Replacement Goldfish]] for his dead brother Joseph. He seems to have finally settled on ''Sylar''. [[Evil Is Not a Toy|Yeah, that's going to end well...]]

* [[Ret-Gone]]: Daniella Parkman and Noah Gray.

** Sylar's reason for being a a serial killer: Complexes thanks to his (adoptive) mother, being a victim to his own power, being manipulated by the Company, having it [[In the Blood]], having lost himself because of his many powers (Clair's theory)...

* [[The Reveal]]: Warning, SPOILERS ahead. Swipe at your own risk.

** Volume 1:

* [[Revealing Hug]]: HRG (Noah Bennet) has done it to members of his family more than once, and it happens with the Petrellis fairly often too. Even Sylar has done it at least once.

* [[Rich Idiot With No Day Job]]: Hiro now owns Yamagato. The Petrellis have money. Otherwise it's pretty much a mystery how most Heroes off chasing their destiny [[Friends Rent Control|have money for groceries.]]

* [[Right-Hand Hottie]]: The Haitian, to Noah Bennet. Played by former Hugo Boss model Jimmy Jean-Louis, no less.

* [[Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory]]

* [[Romantic Two-Girl Friendship]]: What Claire and Gretchen seem headed for.

** They've officially become [[Schoolgirl Lesbians]].

* [[Room Full of Crazy]]: Sylar's closet. Also Future!Hiro and Future!Peter's <s>string collection</s> timelines. And Mohinder's room full of cocoons.

* [[Rule of Scary]]: First Volume Sylar. Later on... not quite as much.

* [[Running Gag]]: {{spoiler|Killing Nathan}} in each [[Season Finale]]

** Hugs always seem to turn disastrous for Peter. Peter finally turns the tables in one Volume 4 episode where he hugs Nathan, secretly absorbing the latter's flying ability, to make a quick and badass escape when Nathan tries to capture him.

** Hiro knows Nathan's name and how he feels about revealing his powers, but still insists on punching his fists in the air and shouting [[In-Series Nickname|"FLYING-MAN!!!"]] every time he sees him.

** Doyle does this to Claire as well when he holds her, Sandra, and Meredith hostage and makes them play [[Russian Roulette]]. Luckily, Claire manages to knock him out.

* [[Sarcastic Confession]]: In the series premiere, Sandra Bennet asks her daughter what she did that day. Claire replies, with complete truthfulness, [[Healing Factor|"I walked through fire and didn't get burned."]] Sandra assumes she is being metaphorical and praises her for being "profound".

* [[Second Episode Introduction]]: Matt doesn't appear until the second episode.

* [[Seen It All]]: Claude.

* [[Self-Fulfilling Prophecy]]: Pretty much everything Peter does in Season 1 leads him ''closer to'', rather than further away from, becoming a nuclear bomb and blowing up New York.

* [[Set Right What Once Went Wrong]]: Or ''will'' go wrong, as it were.

** Also, Peter and Sylar. Both capable of [[Mega Manning]], but one kills to do it and the other tries to save people. And in Volume Three, they're claimed to be brothers. The Powers That Be also briefly mixed up who's the "shadow", with Sylar attempting to go straight and Peter gaining his [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity|Great Power And Great Insanity]]. And then abandoned that plotline again.

** Danko is very clearly HRG's [[Evil Counterpart|dark counterpart]], a stark illustration of what Bennett would become without Claire and his family. While HRG may occasionally toe the Moral Event Horizon line, Danko gleefully leaps over it

* [[Shapeshifting Seducer]]

* [[Shapeshifting Squick]]: Why are we so surprised that {{spoiler|Sylar}} would immediately use his newly acquired [[Master of Disguise|"Turn Into Anyone You've Met"]] powers to ''deeply'' [[Mind Screw|freak people out]]?

* [[Shared Universe]]: With ''[[Las Vegas]]'' (because of the Montecito) and therefore with ''[[Crossing Jordan]]'' as well (due to those two shows having a [[Crossover]]). Although see [[Shout-Out]] below...

* [[Shirtless Scene]]: The entire main cast and often (although [[Hayden Panettiere|not often enough]] [[Kristen Bell|in some cases]]). In fact, Peter and Sylar have at least one per season.

{{quote|'''Isaac Mendez''': How am I supposed to pretend this didn't happen?

*** When he meets Charlie the waitress with an [[Eidetic Memory]], he discusses the same storyline, and she corrects the issue number for him.

** The license plate on the limousine belonging to Kaito Nakamura is '''NCC-1701''', the call sign for the original Enterprise starship from ''[[Star Trek]]''. It's probably worth mentioning that Kaito Nakamura is played by [[George Takei]], the actor who played Hikaru Sulu from the original Star Trek.

** And when Claude first appears, he says "Fantastic!", which was Christopher Eccleston's [[Doctor Who|Ninth Doctor's]] [[Catch Phrase]]. It should also be noted that ''[[Doctor Who]]'' is Britain's equivalent of ''[[Star Trek]]''.

*** And Kirby is also the name of a video game character that devours his enemies and copies their abilities. Sound familiar?

** The name Takezo Kensei is a [[Shout-Out]] to historical Japanese swordsman [[Miyamoto Musashi]], aka Shinmen Takezo (or Takezo Shinmen in the western order).

** Simone may be named after comics writer Gail Simone.

*** Not to mention his constant exclamations of "[[Street Fighter|YATTA!!!]]"

** <s>Magneto</s> The German.

*** Not to mention that the big plan in Volume One is to {{spoiler|destroy New York to unite the world}}...

** Hiro, {{spoiler|after getting mindwiped}}, is in shock at then-recent [[Marvel Comics]] plots: "[[Captain America (comics)]] is dead!? [[Spider-Man]] [[Civil War (Comic Book)|revealed his secret identity]]!? And [[The Hulk]] is [[Red Hulk|RED]]!?"

** Apparently, Ando is now capable of using the [[Dragonball Z|Kamehameha]].

** [[Mind Over Matter|Telekinetic]] [[Big Bad]] [[Luke, I Am Your Father|Sylar is searching for his father]] with a semi-apprentice figure with daddy issues... called ''[[Star Wars|Luke]]''.

** Everyone loves Waffles... just like on that [[Dead Like Me|other show Brian Fuller worked on.]]

*** There once was this... ''frog'' who lived with her mother and father and brother and Mr. Muggles...

** The [[Psycho]] [[Incredibly Lame Pun|way]] Sylar deals with his mommy issues.

** ''[[Portal (series)|"...cake?"]]''

** [[Pearl Jam|A troubled teen named Jeremy and "we could have saved him."]]

** [[Death Note|There's a kid with the power to kill people... and then there's Parkman's apple-eating invisible friend...]]

** [[Chrono Trigger|"She's the Marle to my Chrono!"]]

** Mohinder watches [[Lost|a grainy film with lots of cuts in it that gives cryptic clues about a secret scientific society where everyone involved was killed]]. It might as well just be called the Orientation film for Coyote Sands, really.

** Hiro's sister calls his and Ando's Dial-a-Hero service [[wikipedia:Heroes For Hire|Heroes For Hire]]

** [[Rain Man|Hiro and Ando in Vegas, descending an escalator in expensive suits they won by using Hiro's superpowers to gamble.]]

** It's been noted that Gabriel Gray looks eerily like [[Superman|Clark Kent]] and his watch shop has a crystal shaped like the Fortress of Solitude.

** When he sees Isaac's painting of him fighting a dinosaur, Hiro's first response is, [[A Sound of Thunder|"What if I step on a bug? I could change history..."]]

** Can it be a coincidence when the woman who played [[Law & Order|Serena Southerlyn]] is taking pains to deny that she is "shoving my liberal agenda down your throat"?

{{quote|'''Sylar:''' From cheerleader to stone-cold killer! Who's the monster now?

''[Ka-chuck. BANG! Busy signal.]''

* [[Sigil Spam]]: The logo of The Company is either [[Sigil Spam]] or a [[Running Gag]].

** Other good examples are the distinct sounds made by different abilities. Apparently, the Haitian's ability sound was given the name "Haitian Grab" by the production team.

* [[Sitting on the Roof]]: Peter in the early episodes. Also the roof of the Deveaux building is a popular meeting place.

* [[South of the Border]]: The Maya y Alejandro subplot in Volume 2, Nathan and Claire's [[Run for the Border|getaway flight]].

* [[Spike Shooter]]: Perrin Crocker from the comic books has this ability.

** Sylar, who has stalked Claire since the beginning of the series, has started to show a sexual attraction towards Claire, beginning with the Volume 4 finale, when he suggested, in the creepiest speech in the show's history, that they get married and live together for, literally, the rest of eternity.

** He got better and maintains his prior friendship with Claire via Facebook.

** West is a pretty vanilla example of this trope. Samuel takes it [[Up to Eleven]].

* [[Staying Alive]]: Sylar. So much so that they don't even bother explaining how he survived seemingly being perma-killed by Claire then left to burn in the Volume Three final showdown (after several episodes they finally throw in some jazz about "melting glass"). He's Sylar, for crying out loud. Of course he survived.

** And as of the Volume 4 finale it seems not even attacking his weak point [[For Massive Damage]] works anymore, eliciting a well-deserved [[Oh Crap]] reaction from Danko.

* [[Stealth Hi Bye]]: Sylar.

* [[Stepford Smiler]]: Angela.

* [[Steven Ulysses Perhero]]: Hiro, again.

* [[Stop Trick]]: Some of Hiro's teleports are achieved this way.

** In Volume Four, Matt and Peter storm Building 26, armed only with the power to control minds.

* [[Story Arc]]

* [[The Straight Man]]: Nathan in any scene he shares with Peter or Hiro.

* [[String Theory]]: Both Mohinder's map of specials and Future Hiro's map of time.

* [[Stupid Sacrifice]]: {{spoiler|Nathan}} in the Season 1 finale. We all remember that Peter ''[[Healing Factor|can't die]]'', right?

* [[Subways Suck]]: Subverted -- [[Future Badass]] Hiro stops a subway train with his time manipulation powers.

* [[Super Family Team]]: The Petrelli's... sometimes.

* [[Super Human Trafficking]]: The Company.

* [[Superhuman Transfusion]]: The effects of Claire and Adam's blood when donated.

** Subverted With Niki, Tracy, and Barbara who are [[Cloning Blues|identical triplets]] (just go with it) with powers but got them artificially.

* [[Superpower Meltdown]]: Ted, Peter, {{spoiler|Gabriel/Sylar (in an alternative future)}}.

*** Meredith's death isn't confirmed. Until stated otherwise, she's [[Put on a Bus|MIA]].

* [[Super Weight]]:

* [[The Taxi]]: Mohinder's day job at the beginning of the series.

* [[Taxidermy Is Creepy]]: Sylar's biological father, Samson, turned to taxidermy to keep his hands busy after he stopped killing people.

* [[Taxidermy Terror]]: Sylar steals a rabbit from his father's trailer and leaves it in plain sight at Danko's apartment. Danko is understandably weirded out.

* [[Team Spirit]]: A recurring theme in Season 1 is that the characters get a lot more accomplished when they work together. Played fairly subtly most of the time, but made very obvious in the finale, where only by the combined efforts of Peter, Matt, Niki, Hiro, Claire, and {{spoiler|Nathan}} is Sylar defeated and New York saved.

** It's also worth noting that [[Divided We Fall|any time the characters]] ''[[Divided We Fall|don't]]'' [[Divided We Fall|work together]], the results tend to be... [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|not pretty]].

* [[Terrible Ticking]]: The ticking clock sound effect that plays whenever Sylar's up to his old tricks evokes this trope. Even though it's not literally a ticking he can hear, it symbolizes that he can see how everything works in a way no one else can, which drives him batty.

* [[Christmas Special|Thanksgiving Special]]

* [[That Man Is Dead]]: Sylar pretty much refuses to answer to "Gabriel" most of the time, but goes back to it when he's repressing his "hunger".

** Subverted and made all the more intriguing by the fact that when he is Gabriel repressing the hunger, he takes the ''opposite'' stance, refusing to answer to Sylar. His little identity crisis is edging dangerously close to split personality disorder (now THAT would be awesome).

**** {{spoiler|[[Knights of the Old Republic|"I'm not Darth Sylar anymore. I'm X now."]]}}

* [[Theme Music Power-Up]]: Sylar, Peter, and Spider-Mo

* [[There Are No Therapists]]: ...and that one time there was a therapist, she only survived for half an episode.

* [[Third Line, Some Waiting]]

* [[This Is Something He's Got to Do Himself]]: Kirby Plaza, Peter ([[Lady of War|to Niki]]): [[Honor Before Reason|Thanks, I've got this. Go back to your family.]]

* [[Time Travel]]: Hiro Nakamura multiple times. Peter, too, for some [[Story-Boarding the Apocalypse|apocalypse storyboards]].

* [[Title Drop]]: Ted Sprague in Volume 1: "If we can help ourselves, we could save others. We could be... heroes."

** If you count "hero", then there are ''lots''. Most of them ironic. A rare non-ironic example is said after Peter saves Claire from Sylar:

** Of all people, Sylar does this in the series finale when Claire is about to reveal her ability to the world:

{{quote|'''Peter:''' "What the hell does she think she's doing? She's going to change everything."

* [[The Tokyo Fireball]]: [[Big Applesauce|In New York in one timeline.]] Some prophetic paintings suggested one was up and coming for Washington D.C.

** Then there's Peter, who in the very first episode decides to test his theory of [[Flight]] by [[What Could Possibly Go Wrong?|jumping off the roof of an apartment building]]. Peter, I think I've spotted a ''tiny'' flaw in your experiment design. Can you see it?

** Nathan too from time to time.

** Matt seems to have taken at least half a level in Volume 4.

** Peter does this, twice. First, by actually getting a grasp on his powers after his training with Claude. Later, when his DEPOWERING followed by his new NERFED ability, he becomes one of the most strategically intelligent characters of the show.

* [[Total Eclipse of the Plot]]

* [[Trademark Favorite Food]]: Hiro loves waffles. Everybody else seems to love blueberry pancakes. Sylar prefers pie.

** Not to mention Meredith's training Claire to teach her regeneration isn't everything...

* [[Trauma Conga Line]]: Peter, ESPECIALLY in Volume 3.

* [[Trickster Mentor]]: Again, Claude, whose training methods involve gleefully whacking his pupil repeatedly with a pole and throwing him off a building. Given the circumstances, it's often hard to tell whether Claude sincerely cares about his pupil or hates his guts.

* [[Turtle Power]]!: [[Misplaced Wildlife|He's actually a tortoise]], but Matt would, in all likelihood, respond, "[[Book Dumb|Wait, there's a difference?]]"

* [[Trying to Catch Me Fighting Dirty]]: EVERYONE!!!

* [[Two Lines, No Waiting]]

* [[Tyke Bomb]]: Elle Bishop.

* [[The Un-Reveal]]: HRG's first name. Of course, eventually we find out that it's {{spoiler|Noah}}.

{{quote|'''Sandra Bennet''': It is so funny how all of y'all call him Mr. Bennet over there. I've always just known him as – ''(Sees Mr. Muggles chewing on Sylar's shoelaces.)'' Stop that, you!}}

** Happens a few times with [[The Ghost|Linderman]] in Season 1. One of the characters is all set to meet with him - only to be confronted with a middle-man instead. Nathan eventually comes face to face with him in "Parasite".

* [[Underwater Kiss]]: Claire and Alex in a pool.

** Future!Peter kissed him on the forehead just before he revives, so it is always possible he had gained Hiro's mother's power at some point in the future, through judicious time travel.

** Tracy Strauss had this after being frozen-shot by Danko in Volume 4: come Volume 5, she's a water-toting ice queen with a score to settle with Building 26's remaining occupants.

* [[The Unfavorite]]: A staple of Petrelli family dynamics. Also Mohinder was the unfavorite to his dead little sister.

* [[Unusually Uninteresting Sight]]: As one editor joked during one episode (and this is but the most spectacular example of many), "Wouldn't you know it? That's the second time in as many years the corpse of a cute blonde girl suddenly vanished off one of our operating tables!"

** A truck driver who picks up a hitchhiking Hiro and Ando learns that the baby the two of them are carrying has the power to shut down machinery (i.e. the trucker's truck) when upset (which is pretty much all the time). His only reaction is to politely ask them to remove their "magic baby" from his truck so he can continue on his journey. It's especially notable that this polite nonreaction occurs in the middle of a plot arc about how normals would be so threatened by the existence of supers that they would commit mass genocide against them if they ever learned about them. There's either something very profound there, or it's just a funny piece of dissonance in a comic relief scene.

 

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[[Category:Split Trope Lists]]