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The Windup Girl: Difference between revisions
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Throughout the turmoil, Thailand has managed to stay relatively stable by firmly controlling its borders and maintaining a seed bank safe from the megacorps' 'calorie men'. However a power struggle within the Thai government threatens to change all that.
{{tropelist}}
▲* [[Anti Hero]]: [[Punctuated for Emphasis|Every. Single. Point-of. View. Character.]]
* [[Applied Phlebotinum]]: Kink-spring technology.
* [[Apocalypse How]]: Class 1, although it is far from clear that humanity will get back on its feet.
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* [[Grey and Gray Morality]]: None of the characters can really be called heroes. The 'good guys' act with questionable methods, and their motives are often just as self-serving as the 'bad guys'. Emiko is the most sympathetic of the bunch, probably as she gets very little chance to act on her own accord {{spoiler|at least until she snaps.}}
** Just to drive the point home: despite the fact that the reader is told that Gi Bu Sen/ {{spoiler|Gibbons}} is a [[Complete Monster]], and he gets very few scenes, he is arguably the most heroic character after [[Cowboy Cop|Jaidee]]. Of course, there's still his [[A God Am I]] complex.
* [[Have You Told Anyone Else?]]: {{spoiler|Averted. When thirteen-year old Mai discovers two sick workers, Hock Seng considers killing all three to prevent the white shirts burning down the factory to stop a pandemic. He packs them off to the hospital instead.}}
* [[He Who Fights Monsters]]: Kanya {{spoiler|becomes [[The Mole]] after her village was burnt by the white shirts; she ends up doing the same thing to contain the pandemic.}}
* [[How the Mighty Have Fallen]]: Emiko, the title character, was a pampered [[Sex Slave]] / [[Office Lady]] for a Japanese businessman who abandoned her in Thailand because he'd rather update to a new model than spend the money to ship her home. She now spends every night being raped and humiliated for the amusement of brothel patrons, in a climate that's too hot for her genetically-engineered body. Hock Seng was once a wealthy ship merchant in Malaysia before a fundamentalist uprising led to the destruction of his business empire and the death of every member of his clan.
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* [[The Mole]]: {{spoiler|Akkarat's people recruited Kanya to infiltrate the Environment Ministry after her village was torched by General Pracha. Kanya realises too late that Akkarat is no less corrupt and ruthless.}}
* [[Morality Pet]]: Emiko for Anderson, Mai for Hock Seng, and Kip for Gi Bu Sen.
* [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]]: Too many to list, but {{spoiler|Kanya's massacre}} stands out.
* [[Odd Couple]]: Ever-cheerful [[Cowboy Cop]] Captain Jaidee Rojjanasukchai and his [[Number Two]], [[Emotionless Girl]] Lieutenant Kanya Chirathivat.
* [[Post Peak Oil]]: Wind-ups are needed for portable energy now after petroleum supplies were exhausted.
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* [[Properly Paranoid]]: The 'yellow cards' (Chinese survivors of fundamentalist genocide in Malaysia) live in a constant state of low-grade fear, waiting for the time when their Thai neighbours will find it similarly expedient to massacre them.
* [[Rescue Romance]]: After Anderson saves Emiko from an attacker.
* [[Screw the Rules, I Have Money]]: The Dung Lord and Trade Minister Akkarat own limousines powerd by coal-diesel engines, an unbelievable extravagance.
* [[Sex Bot]]: Emiko, although not exactly a robot.
* [[Schizo Tech]]: Factory production lines driven by genetically-engineered animals, treadle-powered computers, elevators using human counterweights, [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|coal-diesel tanks fighting alongside war-megodonts]].
* [[Super
* [[Truth in Television]]: Ask Monsanto what a "terminator" seed is. Agribusinesses have already adopted some of the practices mentioned.
* [[The Un
* [[The Verse]]: The Windup Girl is set in the same world as the short works of "The Calorie Man" and "The Yellow Card Man" with references to both in the text.
* [[Villain Protagonist]]: Any of them could be, depending on which of profiteering, piracy, or violent Nationalism you consider most evil.
* [[Villain Ball]]: The calorie companies dominate the world market due to their genehacked crops and animals, but also end up wiping out most of the natural environment and creating viral mutations that could end up killing everyone on Earth. {{spoiler|Akkarat dumps Jaidee's mutilated corpse outside the Environment Ministry, which causes the white shirts to rise against him. Anderson introduces the Somdet Chaopraya to Emiko, causing his death. Anderson orders Hock Seng to get the factory running no matter what -- Hock Seng is forced to use the old infected vats, which end up incubating the disease that kills Anderson.}}
* [[What Measure Is a Non
* [[With My Hands Tied]]: Akkarat tries to shove a bound Jaidee off the roof of the Environment Ministry. As Jaidee's a former kickboxing champion this turns out to be a bad idea. {{spoiler|Unfortunately Jaidee is gunned down by Akkarat's bodyguards before he can send Akkarat over the edge instead.}}
* [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness]]: Averted by Emiko's former employer who should have had his wind-up destroyed, but set her free instead. Given what Emiko endures since this is a questionable act of mercy.
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