Tom Swift/YMMV
- Ethnic Scrappy: Eradicate Sampson - the, er, "eccentric colored man".
- Memetic Mutation: The "Tom Swifties," mentioned above, which are now the most memorable thing from the series. Even if they didn't actually appear like that in the originals.
- Values Dissonance: The race relations in the 1950s books are fairly cringe-worthy now. Thomas Pynchon called this out in his 1964 short story "The Secret Integration".
- Also, reading the original pre-WW 2 stories after the 1950s Tom Swift Jr. ones, I was somewhat surprised to see the raygun-powered Improbable Aiming Skills and A-Team Firing of the later stories averted as both sides regularly racked up an impressive body count with rather nonchalantly employed machine guns and artillery.
The Mystery Science Theater 3000 presentation of Tom Swift's War Tank:
- Canon Sue: Tom Swift.
- Crowning Moment of Funny:
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The lad observed that the stranger was clean shaven, except for a small moustache which curled up at the ends slightly. |
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- Dude, Not Funny: Having been written in the midst of World War I, the book is bursting at the seams with Patriotic Fervor and rampant jingoism. Joel is particularly offended by Swift describing years of brutal trench warfare as "great times".
- Ensemble Darkhorse: Eradicate may be a walking, talking ethnic slur, but he is the only one to successfully deceive and capture a German spy unaided - with nothing but a shed, a donkey and promises of sauerkraut. Tom and Crow are inspired to create their own German spy trap, which somehow works despite being on a satellite.
- What an Idiot!: Ned.