John Ridley: Difference between revisions

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* [[Ascended Extra]]: Eddi Aoki, a colleague of Soledad's, originally notable for her [[Tragic Keepsake]] of a ''[[Knife Nut|hunting knife]]'' she plans to use to cut out a mutant's heart. In the sequel she takes on more of a prominent role, and eventually {{spoiler|[[Take Up My Sword|becomes the main character after Soledad's death]]}}.

* [[Black and Gray Morality]]: ''Most'' of the "freak" targets are more willing to get their hands dirty than the average superhero, although typically with reason or after being attacked. The protagonist is an unabashedly [[Fantastic Racism|Fantastic Racist]] who kills an unarmed woman for having the power to stop other people from being hurt. This may go as far as [[Villain Protagonist]].

** {{spoiler|Soledad to Eddi in the second half of ''What Fire Cannot Burn'' after the latter reads her hate-filled and self-righteous journals}}.

* [[Cape Busters]]: The MTacs.

* [[Covers Always Lie]]: a mild case, but one that appears on seemingly every edition of both books. Soledad repeatedly describes herself as a BAMF ([[Badass]] Mother-Fucker), and the covers show her as having those letters tattooed on her shoulder. In the story, her tattoo instead reads "[[Stupid Sacrifice|We don't need another hero]]."

* [[Deadly Euphemism]]: When MTac "serves a warrant", there's a good deal more bullets, poisons, and sedatives and much fewer actual arrests involved than you'd expect.

* [[Evil Is Stylish]]: The [[Differently-Powered Individual|metanormals]] really, really would be more effective if they weren't obsessed with style, irony, or practically being comic book characters. Justified with the metanormals with more revenge-driven motives, but when a shapeshifter trying to run turns into a big, lumbering brick wall, he [[Too Dumb to Live|almost deserves]] the inevitable rain of shotgun shells.

* [[Fridge Brilliance]]: The comparisons between Soledad's nickname and superhero/supervillain nicknames is spelled out throughout the first book, but what MTac's synthetic clothing and acceptance of slight customizations in armor look like... For the ultimate in [[He Who Fights Monsters]], {{spoiler|Bludlust's power is declared once and almost as an afterthought. A superhuman "freak" brain, able to create weapons beyond the ability of normal men. Soledad's built a weapon specifically for taking down metanormals that's well beyond the technology of normal men, with even the 'bland' bullets being on the level of a...}}

* [[He Who Fights Monsters]]: where to begin?

* [[Love It or Hate It]]: Soledad's personality is rather [[Jerkass|an acquired taste]].

* [[Moral Event Horizon]]: {{spoiler|Soledad sinks below one after an [[Et Tu, Brute?]], complete with [[Heroic BSOD]] and [[Freak-Out]].}}

* [[Not Quite Dead]]: over and over, along with [[Faking the Dead]]. At least it subverts [[Instant Death Bullets]] ...

* [[One Person, One Power]]: for the most part--see [[I Believe I Can Fly]]. Also, the super-hunting serial killer in the second book seemingly had multiple powers (he turned out to just have {{spoiler|a suit of [[Powered Armor]]}}.)

** Or both.

* [[Redshirt Army]]: The MTac teams are stated to have a survival rate of 30% to 70% for certain types of encounters, depending on who they are and what they're facing down.

* [[Stock Super Powers]]

** [[Dishing Out Dirt]]: Strictly speaking, this is the ability to communicate with the planet and talk it into shifting itself. Users of this ability are [[Always Lawful Good]], and tend to [[Actual Pacifist|hate fighting]]. [[Kick the Dog|Not that this stops MTac from killing them]] ...

** [[Eye Beams]]: invisible eye beams, no less.

** [[Healing Factor]]

** [[I Believe I Can Fly]]: Although it's stated that each mutant has only one power, flight seems to be an exception. Generally it's [[Not Quite Flight]], but there's been one [[Winged Humanoid]] (who also used [[Winds of Destiny Change]].)

** [[Size Shifting]]: actually two abilities; shrinking and growing. The latter is self-explanatory. The former is only used once (to pass through an enemy's skin, then explode outwards.)

** [[Super Speed]]

** [[Telepathy]]: this is what you get if you win the [[Superpower Lottery]], since you can also use [[People Puppets]]. Virtually impossible to beat in a fair fight.

** [[Voluntary Shapeshifting]]: virtually unlimited changes to shape and appearance, sometimes including a [[Shapeshifter Weapon]], but no mass-changing abilities. Goes into a [[Shapeshifter Swan Song]] when electrocuted, but dying by any other means makes them look human again.

* [[Thou Shalt Not Kill]]: Not the [[Combat Pragmatist|main character]], obviously, [[No-Nonsense Nemesis|who will just shoot her opponents]]. The remaining powered heroes stick to this rule and will try to stop or rat out anyone that violates it, though.

* [[Token Minority]]: Most superheroes are white males, with a few exceptions like Nubian Princess. Lampshaded, since Soledad is black.

* [[What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic]]: several Christian references that have yet to be explained.

* [[What Measure Is a Non Super]]: lampshaded, and half the reason normal people are fighting back.

 

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[[Category:Authors]]

[[Category:John Ridley]]