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''Uglies'' is the collective name given to a series of books by [[Scott Westerfeld]]: ''Uglies'', ''Pretties'', ''Specials'', and a [[Spin-Off|companion book]], ''Extras.'' They are set in the future, three hundred years after a petroleum-destroying bacteria and genetically modified orchids went out of control, leaving the humans of the world to rethink their destructive ways.
Indeed, at first glance, this future seems to be a better place: clothes can be recycled on the spot, the environment is in better shape, and no one goes hungry. The people of the world live under a caste system: once they turn sixteen, teenagers are given operations to become 'Pretties,' beautiful, popular youths who can do what they want all day and night in New Pretty Town.
Nothing is wrong with the world--or so it seems.
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* [[Aesop Amnesia]]: At the beginning of every book Tally has to re-learn why the status quo is bad. But it's justified because it's not stupidity, {{spoiler|(not intentional stupidity at least) In the beginning of ''Pretties'' the Pretty operation has made her vapid and oblivious, while in ''Specials'' she starts out brainwashed to serve the city.}}
* [[After the End]]: Petroleum-eating bacteria and an overgrowth of genetically modified white orchids cause destruction for the Rusties, who are now regarded as greedy and insane.
* [[All There in the Manual]]: All the interesting worldbuilding that Westerfeld couldn't put in the books, plus explanations for many of his ideas, are in companion book ''Bogus To Bubbly''. It also addresses, if leaving ambiguous, some [[Fanon]], like that the Rusty Ruins are Seattle, and could easily serve as a sourcebook for a [[Role
* [[And Man Grew Proud]]
* [[And That's Terrible]]:
{{quote|"If you've just created a cool new building with smart matter supports, you don't want someone coming along and turning that matter into, say, liquid. Because that would be bad."}}
* [[Assimilation Plot]]: Inverted with the people who started the utopia: they solved racial and image problems by making everyone a generic sort of beautiful.
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* [[Big Bad]]: Dr. Cable.
* [[Bitch in Sheep's Clothing]]: Shay eventually becomes this. The exact point that she does is an exercise left to the reader.
** Though Shay's character is treated with bafflingly little sympathy, considering that her original role was to save Tally from Pretty obscurity by introducing her to another culture {{spoiler|only to have Tally return the favor by betraying her trust, moving in on her crush, and ultimately bringing ruin upon her home.}}
* [[Break the Cutie]]: Tally becomes progressively more broken as she's dicked about with by the various authorities.
* [[Can Not Tell a Lie]]: The members of Frizz's clique in ''Extras'', Radical Honesty, take (brain) surgery so that it's impossible for them to lie.
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* Honorifics: Young people use (fictional) honorifics as part of the [[Future Slang]].
* [[Hover Board]]: The only way of transportation for uglies. Pretties aren't able to focus enough to use them.
* [[I Lied]]: Heroic example. In ''Specials'', Tally and Shay get Zane to agree to {{spoiler|lead them to the Smoke's third version, and in exchange, the Special surgery should treat the brain damage he received from the pills that he and Tally split. Zane points out that the Specials turned Tally unwillingly into one of them, so why the hell would he agree to that? Shay said it's because Tally is guilty about what happened to him, and wants to fix her mistake. Out of love for his girlfriend, Zane agrees...only for it to be implied that he knew Diego would have similar medical facilities as well as the security to rout the Specials. The New Smoke easily cures Shay when they encounter her, as well as the other forcefully-turned Specials, while Diego detains Tally and successfully knocks her out as she attempts to infiltrate the city}}.
* [[Instant AI, Just Add Water]]: Moggle from ''Extras''. Despite being a cheap, run-of-the-mill ''video camera''. How's that for a [[Playful Hacker]] achievement?
* [[Instant Plastic Surgery]]: Justified. While the surgeries themselves are not necessarily easy to get-- they do require anesthetic and have to make adjustments-- they are more convenient than they would be in real life. Books two and three start with Tally suffering no physical complications from {{spoiler|being turned Pretty and later Special}}. Emotional complications, however, are another matter: {{spoiler|when Tally undoes the brainwashing from the lesions by sheer [[Magic Feather]], she's shocked and broken by the end of the series}}. We also find out that surgeries have more complications when performed on people with brain damage, because there's a high risk of the tissues being rejected. {{spoiler|While Zane agrees to receive the Specials surgery if he betrays the New Smoke haven when a brainwashed Tally and Shay persuade him, turns out he lied. He knew it would be futile to fix him. To make it worse, his brain dies on the operating table when Diego surgeons attempt to repair his tissue}}.
* [[Late Arrival Spoiler]]: Don't read the back of any of the books if you haven't completely finished the previous book. The very first sentence on the backs of ''Pretties,'' ''Specials,'' and ''Extras'' give away, respectively, that {{spoiler|Tally becomes a Pretty, Tally becomes a Special, and Tally brings down the dystopian system at the end of the original trilogy.}}
* [[Leap of Faith]]: Finding your way to the Smoke includes making one.
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* [[The Mole]]: Tally in ''Uglies''. {{spoiler|This was also Shay and Tally's plan for Zane in ''Specials''.}}
* [[Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate]]: Dr. Cable.
* [[My Greatest Failure]]: Tally is wrought with guilt in ''Specials'' when learning that {{spoiler|Dr. Cable used hers and Shay's museum heist as a pretext for war on Diego. Bombs fall on the city, right when Zane's surgery fails. His body rejects the new tissue, turning him into a vegetable. All Tally can think is that it's her fault.}}
* [[Nanomachines]]: In ''Specials'' it's revealed that the Specials have nanobots in their blood to make them heal quickly, and Tally and Shay accidentally destroy a museum with some destructive nanos.
* [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]]: A minor version of this is used as a plot device in the first two books; In the first, Tally is given a medallion to use to signal the specials to come take out the Smoke. {{spoiler|She throws it in the fire once she decides to stay in the Smoke, but destroying it sets it off as well...}} In the second, she and her new boyfriend find pills to reverse the Pretty brain lesions. {{spoiler|Turns out that the two pills were supposed to be taken by one person. One pill eats the lesions. The second pill stops the first pill from eating the entire brain.}}
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* [[Premiseville]]: New Pretty Town, Uglyville, and Crumblyville.
* [[Super Soldier]]: The Specials.
* [[Took a Level
* [[Totally Radical]]: Prettyspeak. And it's infectious--beware, oh reader, of [[Got Me Doing It]].
* [[Translation Convention]]: Averted in Extras. Aya does not speak good English.
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[[Category:Young Adult Literature]]
[[Category:Science Fiction Literature]]
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