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{{work}}
[https://spyhunter29.deviantart.com/gallery/?catpath=%2Fliterature&edit=0&q=sapphire '''''Sapphire'''''] is a series of [[Web Serial Novel|Web Serial Novels]] written by SpyHunter89 on his [[Deviant ART]] page.
''Sapphire'' is essentially [[Spy Fiction]]; the stories are set during the [[Cold War]]; more specifically, [[The Seventies|the late 1970s]] and [[The Eighties|80s]]. But instead of regular Russians, the antagonists (and some of the minor protagonists) have [[Psychic Powers]].
{{tropelist}}▼
▲{{tropelist}}
* [[Action Girl]]: Michiru.
* [[Affably Evil]]: Boris would prefer to show someone a magic trick [[Why Don't Ya Just Shoot Him|before killing him or her]].
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** Ivanka was given [[Hair of Gold]] in a re-design.
* [[Animesque]]: The character artwork is done this way by SpyHunter, an American.
* [[Arabian Nights Days]]: The Altair base evokes this trope. However, although it is based in Iran (as was the real [[
* [[Author Appeal]]: How else do you explain the contortion scenes in Episode III?
** Or the Psychics. Or the spies. Or almost everything about it. [[Doing It for
* [[Bishounen]]: Boris Rubanenko, Daisuke Midori, and Nikolai Kitano, to name a few.
** Alec Langley could fit into this, but it's a bit of a stretch because [[Evil Is Sexy]].
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* [[Brainwashed and Crazy]]: Boris takes over Khina's mind from afar to have her assassinate Elodie. {{spoiler|She fails.}}
* [[Brother-Sister Team]]: Subverted - Ivanka is working against her brother Boris.
* [[Calling Your Attacks]]: Psychics do this sometimes, often in their native language. For example, the call for Boris's Blood Rose attack is "''Krov' roza''", [[Bilingual Bonus|which in fact is Russian for]] [[Exactly What It Says
** And, of course, Michiru and Daisuke [[Gratuitous Japanese|call out their Ninjutsu attacks in Japanese,]] ''[[Naruto]]''-style.
* [[Camp Gay]]: Nikolai and Claude, although they're only bisexual.
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* [[Dirty Communists]]: Mostly averted. All the Russians/North Koreans/miscellaneous Communists in the story are either good and/or being played by the bad guys (a [[Renegade Russian]] third power).
* [[Disney Death]]: {{spoiler|[[Double Subversion]]. Boris gets pinned down by a truck and riddled with a full clip of AK bullets. Yet being a Psychic, he survived the whole thing.}}
* [[
* [[The Eighties]]: Episodes II and III take place mainly in 1982 and 1989, respectively.
* [[Everyone Looks Sexier If French]]: Elodie.
* [[Everything Sounds Sexier in French]]: [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]].
{{quote|
'''Elodie:''' Well, I know they say French is the language of love...
'''Alec:''' ...Then I guess they were right. }}
* [[False
* [[Fan Service]]: Many, many examples, including the following subcategories:
** [[Bare Your Midriff]]: The Altair harem outfits.
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*** {{spoiler|Although, Alec and Michiru eventually try to make love, but are rudely interrupted by Daisuke.}}
* [[Goggles Do Something Unusual]]: Michiru and Daisuke use Psychic-scanning [[Aura Vision]] binoculars.
*
* [[Gratuitous Foreign Language]]: Not only are Russian, [[Gratuitous Japanese|Japanese]] and [[Gratuitous French|French]] [[Poirot Speak|stock phrases used]], but the Psychics [[Calling Your Attacks|call their attacks]] in their native language.
* [[Handsome Lech]]: Gabriel Garnett and Claude Duchamp. Or perhaps Claude falls more into [[Chivalrous Pervert]] territory.
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* [[Highly-Visible Ninja]]: [[Averted]] in Episode II; the author even makes a point to mention that a grayish ninja suit blends into darkness better than a black one. Aika Akagi, however, plays this trope straight with a shiny red [[Spy Catsuit]] and [[You Gotta Have Blue Hair|green hair]].
* [[Hollywood Atlas]]: A number of subtropes are averted, including:
** [[Big Applesauce]]: The Delta Defense Alliance HQ is based in [[
** [[Gay Paree]]: Elodie lives in Marseille, on the southern Mediterranean coast of France, and has only been to Paris for a circus festival.
** [[Glorious Mother Russia]]: Boris and Nikolai call each other "comrade" ("Comrade Alec" is becoming something of a [[Catch Phrase]] for the former) and have ties to the Red Army / KGB, but that's about it.
** [[Olive Garden]]: Fiona Marino (who is not scheduled to appear in the story until Episode V) lives in an uncommonly used part of Italy: the Isle of Capri. And unlike what this trope would have you believe, [[Heroes Want Redheads|she is a redhead]] (but then again, [[Thunderball
** [[Oktoberfest]]: West Germany, as depicted in Episode I, looks and feels remarkably similar to any old Western-world place. As is the disco scene (this is [[The Seventies]], after all). Of course, Ivanka and Boris defected here from the Soviet Union.
** [[Qurac]]: The [[
*** Also, the Altair base, although it is technically under the control of the Soviet Union / Omega Order.
*** Bonus points since the actual [[
** [[Tokyo Is the Center of
*** Also, Nikolai was born and raised in rural Hokkaido before defecting to Russia.
* [[Hot Scientist]]: Wendy Blume.
* [[Hot Shounen Mom]]: Elodie. Ivanka also counts, {{spoiler|in the short span of time in which she was seen in Episode III.}}
* [[Identical Grandson|Identical Son]]: Alec and Jake were so similar at first, but this was changed when Jake was given a little beard.
* [[Intercontinuity Crossover]]: SpyHunter's crossover fanfics with [[Totally Spies!]]. Contains copious amounts of [[Take That]].
* [[It Is Pronounced "Tro
** For those unfamiliar with Persian / Arabic, "Kh" is a glottal sound, like the "Ch" in German or Hebrew, or the "J" in Spanish. It is not (commonly) found in English... [[Lampshade Hanging|Or French... Or Japanese.]]
* [[Katanas Are Just Better]]: Especially when it's the detonator for a bunch of exploding throwing stars.
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* [[No Celebrities Were Harmed]]: Artemis Gilliam is an [[Expy]] of [[American Idol|Simon Cowell]]. He even judges a karaoke contest at one point.
* [[No One Could Survive That]]: {{spoiler|Boris being pinned down by a truck and riddled with a full clip of AK bullets. Yet being a Psychic, he survived the whole thing.}}
* [[Not Distracted
** Or Khina during their first encounter(s).
* [[Paid Harem]]: The Altair base. And on a small scale, Gabriel Garnett.
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* [[Psychic Powers]]: Many of the villains - and some of the allies - are Psychics, and demonstrate all manner of powers.
** Even [[Ninja|ninjas]] are Psychics, in a sense. Alec makes the connection that "''ninjutsu'' is probably some variation on the whole psychic philosophy".
* [[Rape
* [[Recycled in Space]]: It's [[James Bond]]... with [[Psychic Powers|Psychics]].
** The plot for Episode II also draws many comparisons to [[
* [[Redhead in Green]]: [[Inverted]] by Aika Akagi, who has [[You Gotta Have Blue Hair|green hair]] and a red [[Spy Catsuit]].
* [[Renegade Russian]]: Boris Rubanenko. Officially, he pledges alleigance to the Soviet Union. {{spoiler|However, in Episode I he plans to nuke the West AND East indiscriminately, so that both sides will be weak enough for a Psychic takeover.}}
** {{spoiler|Not to mention trying to start ''another'' war between North Korea and Japan in Episode II,}} plus whatever he has up his sleeve for Episode III...
* [[Ring of Fire]]: Daisuke creates a green ring of fire during his duel with Michiru. {{spoiler|She defeats him by ''[[Screw the Rules I Have Plot|teleporting out of the ring]]'', [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|then leaps back into it and skewers him]].}}
* [[Schedule Slip]]: One of the longest gaps was between Chapters 11 and 12 of Episode II. [[
{{quote|
** Chapters 8-9 of Episode III are set to break that record...
* [[Senseless Sacrifice]]: Almost happened. Even after {{spoiler|Boris}} killed {{spoiler|Ivanka}} after promising Alec would be spared, {{spoiler|he proceeds to kill Alec as well. He is saved, however, when his friend Andrew pulls a little [[Deus Ex Machina]].}}
** {{spoiler|Turns out it ''was'' senseless after all. You can imagine Alec's surprise when he saw Boris alive two years later.}}
* [[Spell My Name
▲* [[Spell My Name With an "S"]]: Elodie Duchamp's first name was originally written without the accent mark. However, after the author did some research and learned that there is a French name with the accent mark but not without, it has been [[Retcon|retconned]] as such. The only reason it's not written like that on [[This Very Wiki]] is because the accented 'E' gets corrupted to 'É'.
* [[Spy Fiction]]: Martini, more so in Episode III than the first two. [[Psychic Powers|With eye of newt.]]
* [[Suck My Rose]]: Boris's 'Blood Rose' attack. Which involves killing the victim ''by teleporting it into his/her heart''.
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* [[The Seventies]]: Episode I takes place mainly in 1978.
* [[The Unpronounceable]]: Alec has trouble pronouncing Khina's name in the Episode I bonus chapter, since the glottal 'kh' sound does not occur in (American) English.
* [[Unholy Matrimony]]: Boris married Khina during the events of Episode II.
* [[Unwanted Harem]]: It's not ''his'' harem, but Alec refuses to fall for the advances of Khina and the other girls.
* [[Why Don't Ya Just Shoot Him]]: Averted by Alec. After their first few encounters, his way of greeting Boris involves shooting him in the head. {{spoiler|It never works. It even gets lampshaded: "You should have learned by now, that will never work on me... Comrade Alec." "Always worth a try."}}
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[[Category:Web Serial Novel]]
[[Category:Troper Works]]
[[Category:Sapphire]]▼
[[Category:Literature]]
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