Humanx Commonwealth: Difference between revisions

* [[Zero-Percent Approval Rating]]: The Meliorare Society gets this after their scheme to produce genetic supermen is exposed. ''Everyone'' hates them.

* [[Absolute Xenophobe]]: the Pitar, who seemed friendly enough but turned out to be ''batshit crazy''.

* [[Action Bomb]]: As Flinx gains more control over his powers, he sometimes tries to use his [[Superpower Meltdown]] offensively, with [[Power Incontinence|varying degrees of success]], and occasionally [[Forgot About His Powers|forgetting about it completely]] when it's inconvenient to the plot.

* [[Alien Non-Interference Clause]]: The Commonwealth has one of these a-la [[Star Trek]], providing rules of conduct when dealing with races that haven't developed spaceflight on their own. Like all such rules, it exists mainly to be bent or broken by the protagonists. Sometimes coupled with placing a planet or species [[Unperson|Under Edict]] so nobody stumbles upon them accidentally. In one particular case (the Ulru-Ujurrians), this was used not to protect the [[Innocent Aliens]] from Commonwealth society, but vice versa.

* [[Bee People]]: Inverted in the thranx, which used to have an ant-like social structure, but re-evolved the capacity for all females to breed in the course of becoming sentient.

* [[Beethoven Was an Alien Spy]]: On an epic scale -- the [[wikipedia:Great Attractor|Great Attractor]] was apparently constructed by the Xunca as a superweapon.

* [[Big Damn Heroes]]: Start counting the number of times one or more characters get rescued in this manner. You'll be at it a while.

* [[Big Guy]]: Skua September and Malcolm Hammurabi are both regarded as giants, and are happy to play the role. Bran Tse-Mallory is no shorty, either, but he pales by comparison with the other two.

* [[Deus Ex Machina]]: Pick a novel. It ends with one of these. One could call it [[Alan Dean Foster]]'s trademark.

* [[Dying Like Animals]]: The Order of Null, in [[Les Collaborateurs]] fashion, except that when you consider what they are rooting ''for'', they become a sort of Junior [[Omnicidal Maniac]] Society.

* [[Eldritch Abomination]]: The [[Ultimate Evil|Great Evil]], of course. The Vom (from ''Bloodhype'') also partakes of some aspects of this trope. Certainly it has the nigh infinite power curve, [[Mind Rape]], inscrutability, and tendency to destroy all life wherever it's encountered parts down.

* [[Emotion Bomb]]: Flinx's offensive use of his empathic abilities.

* [[Interspecies Romance]]: Averted, as the series takes biological compatibility quite seriously. However, the concept is given quite a working over by Kitten Kai-Sung, who has apparently studied the art of interspecies sexual stimulation and deliberately uses this knowledge to [[Squick]] out her companions.

* [[Interstellar Weapon]]: The Tar-Aiym weapons platform and the Xunca superweapon, in ''Flinx Transcendent'', which can fire (if such a term is even applicable) across inter''galactic'' distances.

* [[Just Like Robin Hood]]: First line of ''The Tar-Aiym Krang'' -- "The Flinx was an ethical thief, in that he only stole from the rich."

* [[Kick the Dog]]: Too many villainous moments to list (Conda Challis, anyone?), but Flinx gets his own [[Designated Hero]] moment in ''Reunion'' when he uses his projective empathy to infiltrate the Terran Shell.

* [[Precursors]]: The Xunca. Also the Tar-Aiym and Hur'rikku to a lesser extent. In fact, the planets of the Commonwealth universe are absolutely littered with the ruins of ancient civilizations.

* [[Psychic Powers]]: Flinx's empathic powers are the focus of his storyline, but there are lots of naturally telepathic and empathic beings throughout the galaxy, such as the Tar-Aiym, the Ulru-Ujurrians, the natives of Longtunnel, the entire planet of Midworld, and more.

* [[Reality Warper]]: A side-effect of the Vom and Guardian's mental battle is a bunch of weird things happening in physical reality. Some rocks turn to precious gems, a nearby gas giant's orbit is altered, a crustacean has a massive intelligence boost (and is promptly eaten by a fish), and so on.

* [[Really Gets Around]]: Kitten Kai-Sung, in ''Bloodhype'', or at least that's the impression she likes to give.

* [[Screw the Rules, I Have Money]]: A rare example of the protagonist using this trope; after ''Orphan Star'', Flinx is so rich (the Ujurrians rigged his account with [[Arbitrarily-Large Bank Account|effectively infinite wealth]]) that he can buy his way out of many situations. Of course, in later novels he's wanted by nearly every Commonwealth authority, so the value of his "inheritance" is a bit dubious.

** Blatantly invoked by Jack-Jax Coerlis, the {{spoiler|first}} villain of ''Mid-Flinx'', {{spoiler|1=at least until the ''real'' threat (the AAnn) show up}}.

* [[Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness]]: Truzenzuzex is occasionally afflicted with this malady. The rather more laconic Bran Tse-Mallory loves to rib him about it.

* [[Shoulder-Sized Dragon]]: Pip all but breathes fire.