8,347
edits
Schlock Mercenary: Difference between revisions
from ./Recap/Book 18: Mandatory Failure
(from ./Recap/Book 17: A Little Immortality) |
(from ./Recap/Book 18: Mandatory Failure) |
||
Line 210:
* [[Continuity Nod]]: Captain Tagon has not forgotten [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2015-04-05 how Jumpstar Prime was named] in Book 16, and [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2017-02-05 confiscates Schlock's plasgun] before answering the sergeant's question as to what Tagon is naming his new ''Dragon''-class cruiser:
{{quote|'''Kaff Tagon''': I haven't decided yet. But I'm not going to let you burn "I haven't decided yet" into the hull.}}
** Much of the action of book 18 centers on the Uuplech system. One easily could think that Uuplech only entered the comic with book 18, but it's been mentioned before — once, in [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2005-03-16 a footnote], over thirteen years earlier. In addition to Uuplech and the Uuplechans in general, the first Uuplechan named in book 18 (in the first line of dialog in book 18) is named [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2017-09-19 Cubbins], the same as the only Uuplechan named in the aforesaid footnote.
** The other Toughs are [https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2017-09-23 not] [https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2017-10-08 letting] Corporal Peri Gugro forget [https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2017-05-08 that time] she unwisely [[Full-Frontal Assault|ran into combat naked]] in [[Schlock Mercenary/Recap/Book 17: A Little Immortality|the previous book]].
* [[Curb Stomp Battle]]: Four [[Le Parkour|Parkata]] [[Wire Fu|Urbatsu]] practicing punks versus one merc captain itching for revenge after the [[Eye Scream|Fork Incident]]. [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2010-06-03 It was not a fair fight.]
** That the Toughs aren't allowed to kill the Uuplechan Patriot Armada members doesn't stop them from inflicting a humiliating defeat on the very outmatched UPA "battlegroup" sent to stop them from reaching the refinery. [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2017-11-08 First], the Toughs invisibly disable the UPA's missiles. [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2017-11-09 Second], they scare off the UPA flagship's escorts simply by showing off ''Breath Weapon'''s superior speed, proving that ''Breath Weapon'' — which is larger than all the UPA ships combined — is a warship and not the freighter that the UPA had thought it was. [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2017-11-13 Finally], the Toughs board the UPA flagship, ''Soulward Honor'', and easily capture it, while only firing goober rounds. The UPA are so outclassed that Captain Foxworthy, Commander Foxworthy, and Ennesby agree that, with the Toughs' latest [[Powered Armor]], Commander Foxworthy could have captured ''Soulward Honor'' single-handedly.
* [[Dangerously Genre Savvy]]:
** Kathryn [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2011-03-20 knows how to deal with Schlock's regenerating abilities].
Line 257 ⟶ 260:
** [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2013-06-08 "Autopilot."]
** The industry learns. There are [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2014-12-29 purpose made tape-cuffs].
* [[Dynamic Entry]]:
** Tagon executes a [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2012-06-10 31st century version].
** Agent Mako [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2014-08-31 plans] a somewhat more classical variant.
** Commander Foxworthy set the new "tune-on-entry" teraport cage to spit out the people using it at twelve meters per second, [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2017-10-22 specifically in support of "hot" entries]. This more commonly results in unsuspecting teraport-cage users being spat out in [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2017-10-21 humorously] [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2017-11-21 undignified] ways.
* [[Dyson Sphere]]: Buuthandi are thin "balloons" with habitats hanging on them. The All-Star is a Dyson sphere built as a massive computer — a "Matrioshka brain", as [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2017-03-30 pointed out] by Liz. Where the buuthandi eschew the unrealistically impractical quality of being rigid spheres and instead are giant balloons around stars, the All-Star takes the trope in the opposite direction: it isn't "merely" a rigid, hollow sphere, it's a [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2017-05-28 ''solid ball''] that looks to have over three times the diameter of the star it encloses. (This means that its volume, not including the star, is over twenty-six times that of the star.) Rather than collecting solar radiation for power, the All-Star seems to power itself [https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2017-06-11 off the fire of the stellar surface].
* [[Ear Worm]]: The Macarena has been banned dozens of times since its creation because it's proven to be catchy enough to ''literally'' be infectious. [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2009-10-14 Even when you change the words.]
{{quote|'''Kevyn''': Explosive mayhem would actually be safer than some of those showtunes you used, but that's beside the point.}}
** [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2009-11-16 Not even LOTA is immune].
* [[Earpiece Conversation]]:
** Ventura as the coxswain [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2013-04-02 was coached] by a ship AI with lots of practical experience. And also happens to be under her command. As someone who knows what "feedback loop" is all too well, she finds this quite worrisome.
** Corporal Gugro is [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2017-10-14 issued] a bone-phone (an ear implant) linked to Ennesby, who is to coach her through pretending to be in command of Tagon's Toughs to satisfy the requirements of the Uuplechan law that would otherwise prevent the Toughs from deploying to rescue the victims of the refinery explosion. Gugro, a fobott'r, [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2017-11-05 quickly discards] Ennesby's diplomatic script the first time they speak with an Uuplechan — the extremely undiplomatic militia leader Shiplord Srabben, who's wearing a ''tlumnph'' (a sort of diary of great cultural importance to fobott'r) as a trophy, and is proud of having killed fobott'r to get it.
{{quote|'''Benthel Srabben''': Last chance, [[Fantastic Slurs|grasshat]]. Turn away or die in flames.
'''Peri Gugro''': Bring your flames to me, little [[Fantastic Slurs|kitten]]. I will board your ship, flay that coat from your mange-boiled back, and then, with just one hand, I will personally rip off your only pair of arms.
'''Ennesby''': Connection closed. I don't think the script can be saved.}}
* [[Easy Sex Change]]: One of the many possible modifications offered by GavCorps Diversity Engineering division.
* [[Electronic Eyes]]: The set of Captain Landon's body parts replaced by Tenzy has expanded to include [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2017-03-05 part of his face], including his left eye and ear, since he [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2016-11-08 lost those] while fighting Wing Marshal Takka Besti's forces in Book 16.
Line 296 ⟶ 309:
** Also, [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2008-04-18 elephant jokes].
** There are broader criteria, such as Andy's "[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2008-03-22 They're all Terrans. They all look alike]".
* [[Fantastic Slurs]]:
** The Uuplechan Patriot Armada calls fobott'r "grasshats" [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2017-11-05] and "fobos" [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2017-11-08].
** The Toughs, in turn, call the UPA "kittens". [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2017-11-05]
* [[Fartillery]]: [[Invoked Trope|Invoked]] in one strip:
{{quote|'''Kevyn''': During this time you [Pi] are not to discharge anything more energetic than a ''sneeze''.
Line 319 ⟶ 335:
** "Sis, that's long enough that the thing could have flown here from ''Andromeda''." {{spoiler|Guess where the wormgate being disucssed goes to?}}
** {{spoiler|Sunshine}} [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2012-04-26 is just another weapon].
** Corporal Gugro exclaims [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2017-10-28 "just pull my arms off already"] twenty minutes before she [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2017-11-05 threatens] to rip off Shiplord Srabben's arms.
* [[For Inconvenience Press One]]
* [[Fourth Wall]]: Gets progressively thicker as the series progresses. In the first volume, characters actively try to decide who's going to die on the basis of when they were introduced, who gets punchlines, and whether they're named. By later volumes, the wall gets nudged much more rarely, and fleetingly.
Line 367 ⟶ 384:
* [[Hellevator]]: Both an escalator to hell and a space elevator on Luna, ''[[Lampshade Hanging|called]]'' the "Helevator".
* [[Helmets Are Hardly Heroic]]: [[In-Universe]], Captain Tagon [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2016-12-31 complains] about how the statue erected in his(/his previous self's) memory depicts him, [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2016-09-10 inaccurately], as not having had his helmet on during his [[Heroic Sacrifice]] in Book 16.
* [[Helping Would Be Killstealing]]: Petey seems to take this stance toward localized disasters such as the Uuplechan refinery explosion, preferring to let mere former-mortals like Dr Gugro and the Toughs handle the little problems while he minds the galactic-scale problems. Chinook [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2017-10-18 questions] this policy, but goes along with it — at first.
{{quote|'''Chinook''': Petey, these interventions... are we doing this right?
'''Petey''': We're saving lives, Chinook. Every day, every ''hour''.
'''Chinook''': We could do it so much more effectively if we just ''did'' it. You know, ''ourselves''.}}
* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: A couple, despite all the [[Comedic Sociopathy]]. Most notably {{spoiler|Brad}}, who stayed on his crippled shuttle to jury-rig a self-destruct out of ordinance so it wouldn't crash in a city and kill hundreds to thousands of people. In a surprising twist, he actually died. He got a really big statue, though.
** His last thoughts also "highlight his noble character." This particular sacrifice got all the hero mileage possible.
Line 391 ⟶ 412:
* [[Hyperspeed Escape]]: Quite common, unless measures are taken to prevent escape via Teraport.
* [[Hypocritical Humor]]: [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2002-07-28 Athens doesn't want to go first.]
* [[I Will Tear Your Arms Off]]: When Uuplechan Patriot Armada Shiplord Srabben thoroughly antagonizes "Marshal" Peri Gugro, especially by gloating about having killed fobott'r and taken their treasured ''tlumnphs'' as trophies, Gugro ignores Ennesby's [[Earpiece Conversation|coaching]] and threatens to board Srabben's ship and personally rip off his arms with one hand. Once Gugro captures Srabben and takes the ''tlumnph'' he was wearing, she [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2017-11-28 finds] that it belonged to a kindly fobott'r leader, Sira Tetlumbrathi, who wouldn't have approved of arm-tearing. Srabben, despite being utterly defeated, keeps taunting Gugro, but she can't bring herself to disgrace Tetlumbrathi's memory by fulfilling her threat — so she has Commander Foxworthy rip Srabben's arms off for her.
* [[If You Kill Him You Will Be Just Like Him]]: Parodied.
{{quote|'''Nick:''' Lemme hit 'im too, sir. I promise not to kill 'im too quick.
Line 434 ⟶ 456:
'''Ennesby:''' I guess that explains their rich military history, then. }}
** And inverted by the Kssthrata, the velociraptor-like species which evolved in the same system as the Ob'enn. Instead of continuing their counter-genocidal war with the Ob'enn, they just ''moved''.
* [[Last Starfighter]]: After ''Maxim 39'' is destroyed and Petey teraports ''Breath Weapon'' to Eina-Afa to conscript Iafa to fight Chinook, Captain Tagon is left to manage the rescue mission in Outer Uuple with a ''Dragon''-class cruiser and the small number of troops that fit in it. But hey, that's what he had back in 3095.
* [[Layman's Terms]]: Kevyn's learned them. It was that or die because soldiers aren't physicists, and if you can't get them to understand you, you, along with trillions of others, will die because [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2002-06-15 most people don't know the difference between "nonillion" and "bazillion".]
{{quote|'''Kevyn:''' Captain, I need to be patched out. [[Don't Ask, Just Run|We've found something important.]]
Line 452 ⟶ 475:
'''Putzho''': [[Lampshade Hanging|Or maybe I find it too self-referential.]] }}
* [[Let's Get Dangerous]]: Theo (he tend to whip out that rapier), Murtaugh made such a speech that even Haban II and Breya gave her concerned looks. Later, the delegate from flechette bugs [[Hive Mind]] decides to flex the wings and scout ahead... immediately followed by [[Scream Discretion Shot]] from an enemy patrol.
* [[Let Me Get This Straight...]]: [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2017-10-01 "Just so we're seeing eye-to-eye, I'm going to read all of that back to you. One of the grunts is about to drag my company into a disaster area so we can meddle under the pretense of helping their family."]
* [[Let Us Never Speak of This Again]]: [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2011-05-21 Ennesby to Schlock], after a particularly [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2011-05-20 unpleasant moment].
* [[Little Hero, Big War]]: Ostensibly the Toughs' position, being a small mercenary company in a big, big galaxy with lots of conflict. However, they do play a role in many important events and are responsible for some major shifts in the galactic balance of power, including the introduction of the teraport, the formation of the Fleetmind, and the creation of LOTA.
Line 513 ⟶ 537:
* [[Nigh Invulnerable]]: a number of characters, starting with Schlock and going up to god-like proportions.
* [[Night Swim Equals Death]]: The plot of the Mahuitalotu arc [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2005-10-02 kicks off this way].
* [[Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant]]: Corporal Neeka continues to be cheerful [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2018-01-08] [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2018-03-01] despite all the death in Outer Uuple, which, combined with Neeka's strange usage of [[Common Tongue|Galstandard West]], unsettles Dr. Gugro.
{{quote|'''Neeka''': The deadness they are enjoying is classified only as ''Laz-1''. They are not very dead.
'''Dr. Viki Gugro''': Your terminology is weird.
'''Neeka''': I should say "mostly dead"?
'''Dr. Viki Gugro''': You shouldn't say "enjoying."}}
* [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot]]: In one strip, the Pi talks about watching ''Jack-san Robo III'', which features a ninja pirate cowboy with a monkey.
* [[Nobody Poops]]: Perhaps a bit ''[[Toilet Humor|too]]'' averted at times.
Line 556 ⟶ 585:
'''Ennesby:''' Ever since you let me name the ship, sir. }}
* [[Painting the Fourth Wall]]: Characters routinely lean on or brace themselves against panel borders.
* [[The Paralyzer]]: Stunners. As often happens with non-lethal weapons, if someone uses them at all it tend to end up in "zap everyone, sort later" tactics. They are also comletely useless if the target has helmet closed.
* [[Pass the Popcorn]]: [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2017-11-12 Putzho joins Petey and Chinook] in a park in Eina-Afa, from which they're watching the Toughs fight the Uuplechan Patriot Armada, and Chinook has what looks like [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2017-12-03 popcorn] delivered at Putzho's request.
* [[Peeling Potatoes]]: parodied [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2000-09-02 here].
* [[Perpetual Poverty]]:
Line 596 ⟶ 626:
{{quote|'''Schlock''': [[Lampshade Hanging|Oooh, nice reveal.]]}}
* [[Ridiculously Human Robot]]: Human in basic emotions, very not human in every other part of their outlook.
* [[Right Behind Me]]:
** [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2003-05-07 Captain Tagon]. "I think he bruised his brain when he put his foot in his mouth."
** [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2005-10-24 Leutenant Shodan] ''knows'' the cop is behind him.
** Captain Gasca [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2012-03-19 telling the admiral] how their current intelligence chief is too cautious. And that's when she reminds him that if her predecessor was cautious enough, he won't be discharged due to presumed death in the first place.
** Captain Tagon [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2017-01-18 expects] Ennesby to pop in with a retort.
** Corporal Neeka [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2017-09-29 flies up] from underneath a footbridge on which Corporal Peri Gugro is [[Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like|complaining]] about Neeka's [[Bloody Hilarious|surgical technique]]:
{{quote|'''Dr. Viki Gugro''': Doesn't your company have battlefield medics?
'''Peri Gugro''': Our doctor is alright, but our medic is more like a mobile cutlery station.
'''Neeka''': ...Who saved your life.}}
* [[Right Man in the Wrong Place]]: [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2005-12-18 This Qlaviql ore freighter captain.]
* [[Rubber Forehead Aliens]]: Averted. The alien population is extremely diverse and well worth studying if you'd like to break out of that anthrocentric mold.
Line 637 ⟶ 676:
>> Loading...</code> }}
* [[Shut UP, Hannibal]]: LOTA gets to deliver a magnificent one to a [[Paparazzi|"reporter"]] who actually '''is''' named Hannibal, as quoted above under Democracy is Bad.
* [[Shutting Up Now]]:
** While Captain and Commander Foxworthy [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2017-10-22 argue] about the settings on their new "tune-on-entry" teraport cage after it [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2017-10-21 sent] Lieutenant Flinders flying into Captain Tagon, Corporal Ventura gleefully comments on how the collision looked like a [[Meet Cute]]<ref>specifically, in our terms, a [[Crash Into Hello]]</ref> — until it becomes clear that the argument is more marital than technological, at which point Ventura has [[I Need to Go Iron My Dog|"some robots to work on"]].
** While watching Commander Foxworthy prepare to board the UPA flagship ''Soulward Honor'', Ventura [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2017-11-13 chats] with Aardman, until Chief Thurl steps in with a deadpan remark, which Ventura notes «means "get back to work"».
* [[Slasher Smile]]: Most of the Toughs' officers can do this, notably Tagon ([http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2006-02-26 example here]). He likes violence and he likes getting paid. If he is smiling, ''pray you are his employer.''
** [[Mad Bomber|Pi]] can do some [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2009-11-01 frightening] expression, too.
Line 642 ⟶ 684:
* [[Sliding Scale of Silliness Versus Seriousness]]: Despite the cynicism of the strip, it rarely takes itself seriously.
* [[Smart People Play Chess]]: AIs play chess for fun. You can tell when one of them is seriously outclassed because his opponent will be able to predict the entire game before the first move is played.
* [[Society of Immortals]]:
** The Bradicor, but only the semi-retired semi-senile branch survived.
** Once RED-REO (backup to skin and bones), the [[Immortality Inducer]] released to the public in Book 15, has been adopted widely across galactic civilization. One of the main plotlines concerns Tagon's Toughs deploying to a disaster area to provide expert assistance in activating the resurrection feature of the victims' RED-REO nannies.
{{quote|'''A footnote on [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2017-09-19 the first page]''': In the waning days of 3099 the Neoafan Freehold published an amazing suite of life-extension technologies which, taken collectively, promised to extend lives almost indefinitely. [...] The intervening sixteen months have seen numerous non-trivial crises as the widely interspeciated population of the the galaxy increased just a couple of percentage points faster than it used to. Most of these crises were mentioned in Schlock Mercenary only in passing, [[Lampshade Hanging|because "lets build more houses" is less interesting than "oh no we're being attacked by space bugs."]]}}
* [[Somebody Else's Problem]]:
** The characters are mercenaries, after all. Priority number one is to stay alive long enough to get paid. Priority two is to ''get'' paid.
Line 677 ⟶ 723:
** Their terminology for it is "Taunting [[Finagle's Law|Murphy]]".
** Again: [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2011-04-17 Don't] [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2011-05-14 taunt Murphy.]
** [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] as usual [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2017-10-02 while] Corporal Ventura plays with her latest, largest pet robot:
{{quote|'''Tarpaulin''': Mistress Ventura, please be careful. That soshiko outmasses you by two orders of magnitude.
'''Para Ventura''': Do I look worried?
'''Tarpaulin''': [[Noodle Incident|No, but you've only grown back five centimeters of hair since you last asked me that question.]] }}
* [[Theme Initials]]: all of the PD Fleet ships have names with the initials 'P.D.' [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2004-08-28]
* [[The X of Y]]: All the Ob'enn ship names [[Theme Naming|follow a strict pattern]]: The [''Object''] of [''Pretentious Adjective''] [''Pretentious Principle'']. If it is a defensive ship, the object will be a piece of armor or article of clothing; if offensive, a pointy handweapon of some sort. Lampshaded when Tagon discovers his recently-acquired [[Nanomachines|fabber]] is of Ob'enn manufacture:
Line 712 ⟶ 762:
** [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2005-05-29 See this one.]
** [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2004-02-10 Plan C! Plan C!]
* [[Time Skip]]: Book 18 starts [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2017-09-23 five months] after the end of Book 17.
* [[Time Travel]]: Only once, under exceptional, non-repeatable circumstances.
** The ''Command and Conquer'' chapter returns to the [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2010-07-18 time travel concept], giving hope that time travel can be performed using 140 character messages.
Line 747 ⟶ 798:
'''Ennesby''': I don't know. I'm reindexing "frying pan" for a higher baseline, though.}}
* [[Uplifted Animal]]: Humans have uplifted elephants (several versions), gorillas, chimpanzees, polar bears, some reptile or equine (has elongated snout, sort of crest over the neck and olive to brown skin, but details were not clearly visible) and possibly others.
* [[Victory Is Boring]]: The ob'enn of the superfortress ''Razor of Unmitigated Severance'' say that they're open to trying diplomacy rather than war because they [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2017-11-19 "have grown weary of winning"].
* [[Virtual Celebrity]]: The New Sync Boys.
* [[Visual Pun]]: [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2007-08-27 Check out] the "[[Where's Waldo|waldo]]".
Line 767 ⟶ 819:
* [[What Measure Is a Non-Cute?]]: [[Subverted]] to death with the Ob'enn, and summarized [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2004-09-13 here].
* [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?]]: Usually [[Subverted]], in that it's not being non-human that makes killing someone acceptable. It's getting in the way of the Toughs completing a contract.
* [[What the Hell, Hero?]]: After Corporal Gugro, pretending to be in command of the Toughs, responds in kind to Shiplord Srabben's insults and threats, finishing by promising to board Srabben's ship, flay him, and rip off his arms, Captain Tagon [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2017-11-06 chews her out] for not following the intended diplomatic script — then [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2017-11-07 changes the plan] to accommodate Gugro's threats anyway.
{{quote|'''Kaff Tagon''': Well, it was a really good threat. It'd be a shame not to deliver.}}
* [[The Wiki Rule]]: [http://schlockmercenary.wikispaces.com/Welcome The Ovalkwiki.]
* [[World Shapes]]: the Bu'uthandis are a variant of a Type I [[Dyson Sphere]] (see also [[Hollow World]]), while the Zoojacks are literally shaped like toy jacks, and the Tinth look like giant subway sandwiches
| |||