History DinoAttackRPG / TropesGToL

* {{Hologram}}: The messages contained within the chess pieces from [[spoiler:[[ReverseMole Frank Einstein]]]].

* TheInfiltration: Perhaps thanks to its ''Roleplay/AlphaTeamMissionDeepFreezeRPG'' predecessor, ''Dino Attack RPG'' reeks of this trope. Examples of Infiltrations include Dr. Rex planting Rex in the Dino Attack Team (which led to Rex BecomingTheMask), XERRD planting TheMole in Dino Attack Team, Dino Attack Team planting a ReverseMole in XERRD, and the infiltration squads DressingAsTheEnemy while sneaking about the XERRD Fortress.

* InnocuouslyImportantEpisode: The scene in which Rex learned that Frank Einstein was no longer working in the Dino Attack Hospital Wing, which ultimately set into motion the events leading up to [[spoiler:the reveal of the ReverseMole]].

** How many people payed attention to the throwaway line that revealed that Pterisa's chess piece was a knight, while all the other chess pieces sent by the ReverseMole were ''bishops''?

* HubCity: LEGO City.

* HappilyFailedSuicide: In ''Time and Place'', after Anubis nearly kills himself in a game of RussainRoulette, he decides that his purpose in life is to save the lives of others. With that epiphany, he seems much happier with the fact that he is still alive.

* InterruptedSuicide: In ''Time and Place'', Anubis's game of RussainRoulette is interrupted by Fate. It is later revealed that, if Fate hadn't interrupted, Anubis would have shot himself.

* TheGhost: In a humorous shout-out to ''Film/TheUsualSuspects'', there have been a few passing references to "Keyser Soze", a crime boss (one who Pierce believed to be a myth). Given the film actually treats Soze as a mythical figure (and in the process makes him even more terrifying), a Keyser Soze CaptainErsatz does not appear in the RPG.

* ICannotSelfTerminate: In the original version of Rev Raptor's Heroic Suicide, he asked Banchicto to do the deed. However, since Banchicto was {{retcon}}ned into CanonDiscontinuity in order to work with modern RPG canon, this trope no longer applies.

* InstantAwesomeJustAddMecha: The ''Toys/{{BIONICLE}} [[XMeetsY Meets]] [[Toys/LEGOExoForce Exo-Force]] RPG'' incident was clearly a misguided attempt at adding "instant awesome" into the RPG.

* LetXBeTheUnknown: Agent X.

** Frozeen also has his own Hero Safe Mode which results in [[UnstoppableRage Unstoppable Rages]].

* HideYourLesbians: Before ([[SweetPollyOliver the imposter]]) Pyro's [[SamusIsAGirl gender reveal]], Pyro's wiki page stated that he had a wife and kids. When Pyro was revealed to actually be a woman, this made Pyro the ''Dino Attack RPG'''s first explicitly homosexual character. However, as [[ExecutiveMeddling not everyone was not happy with this revelation and wanted Pyro to remain heterosexual]], [=PeabodySam=] changed Pyro's biography from "wife and kids" to a more generic "family" to avoid any further controversies. Ultimately, this was averted when Andrea Jackson Orange and Maria shared a kiss.
* HighClassGlass: Lord Sam Sinister
* HijackedByGanon: [[spoiler:Baron Typhonus]] did not actually appear until the last few months of this seven-year-long RPG. In that time, he revealed himself to be TheManBehindTheMan and ultimately [[DemonicPossession took control of Dr. Rex's body]].]] [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by the comm chatter in the FinalBattle.

* INeedAFreakingDrink: After having some problems of his own and finding out that two of his teammates were killed, Spy ''really'' needed a cigarette to clear his head so he could figure out the identity of [[TheMole the killer]].

** In his youth, General was considerably handsome. Assuming the recurring male figure in Ben Gunn's photographs is a younger version of himself, he was also handsome in his youth.

* ImpossiblyDeliciousFood: Brickolini's pizza. [[DoesNotLikeSpam At least, for everyone not in the Bishop family.]]

** [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] by Dino Attack Headquarters. After Firecracker filled the building with explosives and detonated it, it seemed likely that it would collapse, but it withstood the explosions. Then, Mutant Dinos attacked the building, creating huge structural damage and setting the upper floors on fire. Still, as a symbol of what the Dino Attack Team stood for, when the smoke cleared, Dino Attack Headquarters was still standing. [[WhatCouldHaveBeen However, it's notable that, in earlier drafts of the final battle, PeabodySam actually intended for this trope to be Played Straight.]]

* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: [[BigBad Dr. Rex]] always was losing his mental stability, but at a very slow rate. Through [[spoiler:[[TheManBehindTheMan the Darkitect's]] manipulation]] and the Dino Attack, he's really lost it in the past few months.

* KillItWithFire: [[{{Pyromaniac}} Pyro]], [[ActionMom Sarah Bishop]], [[SweetPollyOliver Andrea Jackson Orange]], and Rex.

** The Infomaniac illusion Andrew saw in the Maelstrom temple died in a similar fashion.

** Although not many knife fights have occurred, Dust fits the persona of a knife fighter rather well. Since a hero often gets a sword, the anti-hero is thematically forbidden to use such extravagant weapons. Hence, Dust preferred weapon is the knife. Dust actually does use a scimitar in the fight against the [[NeverSmileAtACrocodile Stromling Crocodile]].
** [[ColdSniper Sniper]] versus TheMole. Although Sniper's "knife" was [[UpToEleven a machete]], the mole won.

* LadyMondegreen:
** In-universe; Semick once referred to Sam Throramebi as "Thornabi". In fact, Sam's bitterness about this suggests that people often mispronounce his last name.
** Also in-universe, Donnie couldn't remember [[HerrDoktor Dietrich Luzwheit's]] name. When he tried to tell Walter about it, he ended up saying "Ludwig" (a fairly common German first name, made famous by Ludwig Van Beethoven), "Luftwaffe" (the name given to the German air force during World War II) and "Luxan" (an alien species from the TV show ''Series/{{Farscape}}'').
** Again in-universe, Greybeard mispronounced Anubis's name as "Arubis", subtly referencing a typo that [=PeabodySam=] made when first introducing the character.

* LaserBlade: The Space Knights' [[StarWars laser saber]].

** The ramblings of the Wallace Bishop in Antarctica revealed that he was once the lab partner of Einstein. Bartholomew Enderson thought that he was talking about UsefulNotes/AlbertEinstein, but from what we later learned from [[spoiler:Frank Einstein in the Maelstrom Temple]]... Other things said by Wallace Bishop foreshadowed the big reveal.
** Word Of God states that one can easily deduce [[TheHermit Ben Gunn's]] true identity simply by paying attention to the things that he kept in his cave.

* LovedOnesMontage: Rex used one in order to break free of [[spoiler:[[FaceYourFears the Darkitect's illusions]]]].

** Scout finds out that [[LadykillerInLove Spy]] is his father.

* TheHunter: Scratch.

** When Solomon and Trigger are arguing, an amused Shiller asks if he sould get a ruler. It could be a juvenile measure of who is taller, [[BiggerIsBetterInBed but it could also be a measure of something else]]...

* TheGhost: In a humorous shout-out to ''Film/TheUsualSuspects'', there have been a few passing references to "Keyser Soze", a crime boss (one who Pierce believed to be a myth). Given the film actually treats Soze as a mythical figure (an in the process makes him even more terrifying), a Keyser Soze CaptainErsatz does not appear in the RPG.
* GhostCity: LEGOCity was initially this, although it is been somewhat repaired and some of the population is back. However, it is still played with [[LEGORacers Sandy Bay]] and other cities occasionally visited.

* HellishCopter: The T-1 Typhoon used by Rex, Hotwire, and Zyra to travel to the [[UndergroundLevel Goo Caverns]] was probably the least safe method of traveling to Ogel's Island imaginable.

* InstantWinCondition: The Einstein Device had (and used) the ability to wipe out practically the entire Mutant Dino army without turning LEGOCity into a nuclear fallout zone. Because of this, [=PeabodySam=] went to great measures to make sure that preparing the Einstein Device required teamwork and cooperation from other players, and during the FinalBattle against [[FinalBoss Dr. Rex]], the Einstein Device could only be fired when Viper had a clear shot at Dr. Rex from aboard the ''Amanda''.

* GoodSmokingEvilSmoking: Smoking usually designates that a character is either a badass or a {{jerkass}}.
** CigarChomper: Bricassius, Clint, Snake, and Trigger.
** DistinguishedGentlemansPipe: Angel Eyes.

** How did XERRD fit a Mutant T-Rex, [[{{LEGO}} LEGO's]] largest non-Creator dinosaur, in a disguise the size of a Minifig? Some sort of shrinking serum that reacts with oxygen. But, if you think that's bad, [=PeabodySam=]'s original explanation was [[AssPull even worse]]: XERRD just somehow ''stuffed'' Rex into that disguise really, really well.
** How did [[Franchise/RockRaiders Axle]] suddenly end up at Eldorado Fortress? Teleporter malfunction.

* HeroicSafeMode: Rex is prone to this. The results range from rescuing Dr. Einstein from a Mutant Raptor while using only rope to beating a Mutant Lizard to death with a metal pipe after it threatened Amanda Claw.

* HideYourLesbians: Before ([[SweetPollyOliver the imposter]]) Pyro's [[SamusIsAGirl gender reveal]], Pyro's wiki page stated that he had a wife and kids. When Pyro was revealed to actually be a woman, this made Pyro the ''Dino Attack RPG'''s first explicitly homosexual character. However, as [[ExecutiveMeddling not everyone was not happy with this revelation and wanted Pyro to remain heterosexual]], [=PeabodySam=] changed Pyro's biography from "wife and kids" to a more generic "family" to avoid any further controversies. This, of course, gave rise to certain UnfortunateImplications. Ultimately, this was averted when Andrea Jackson Orange and Maria shared a kiss.

* HoldingHands: Considering the amount of love stories in the seven-year-old RPG, it would be too impractical to list every time this happened.
** Everyone held hands and calmly accepted their fate in ''[[WhatIf December 21, 2010]]''.

* InformedAttribute: Sometimes, the way a character is depicted is not exactly how the character is described.
** InformedAbility: Rex is incredibly skilled with ropes, [[ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything even though he only uses ropes about three or four times the entire RPG]]. Aster Oid, Greybeard, Sam Race, King Joseph Race, and Sir Robert Batrick are apparently skilled racers, but we've only really seen Sam Race behind the wheel. Many other examples exist. Mostly, these are ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything.
*** Mutant Lizards (and by extension, ''Quasifigus lacteriilia'') are said to be adaptable, never falling for the same trick twice. This really has not been displayed much in ''Dino Attack RPG'', though. Although, numerous times in the final battle, it was mentioned that Greybeard and Frozeen had to occasionally switch tactics to keep the Mutant Lizards from adapting.
*** Kat, who is supposedly an expert in security systems, has never demonstrated this beyond escaping a pair of handcuffs.
*** Hertz is said to be an expert in cryptology and [[CunningLinguist linguistics]] but has never exhibited this skill.
*** Trigger is described as cold and logical, but all of his actions so far have shown him to be hotheaded and almost entirely ruled by emotion.
*** Trigger was hired by Dino Attack Team for his driving skills... and we've ''never'' seen him behind the wheel.
** InformedFlaw: Frozeen's Asperger's syndrome, which, despite the character's eight-year-long literary history, never really presented itself until the last few months when Gromtin was introduced.
** [[InformedJudaism Informed Islam]]: WordOfGod says Dust is Muslum, however there is no evidence that he follows the faith since he comes off as a skeptic and drinks liquor. Given his background, a rational explanation would be that he is of Islamic descent, and maybe grew up learning Islamic culture, but Dust himself is not very religious and so does not follow the all of standard traditions.
** InformedJudaism: WordOfGod says that Frank Einstein is Jewish. Given his [[UsefulNotes/AlbertEinstein namesake]], this shouldn't be ''too'' much of a surprise.
*** Dr. Solomon Koplowitz is also Jewish.
** InformedLoner: Despite Voltage, Kai, Hammer, Magma, and Reptile being Informed Loners, they all ended up working closely with other Dino Attack agents.
* InnocentBystander: Trigger's flashback contained a few unfortunate bystanders who happened to be in the way of his illegal job. Of particular note is the unnamed truck driver that was murdered when his cargo was hijacked (though that was self-defense, as he did try to pull a gun), Edward Korrupte's secretary Ursula Bennett who was shot during the heist, and even Dust became one briefly.

* InstantAwesomeJustAddMecha: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] by the [[DorkAge infamous]] ''Toys/{{BIONICLE}} [[XMeetsY Meets]] [[Toys/LEGOExoForce Exo-Force]] RPG'' incident.
* InstantEmergencyResponse: Justified in most instances. J.D.'s murder recieved a quick response because it was ''inside'' the medical tent, right in front of at least three Doctors. The sudden death of Engineer arguably recieved similar, as did Medic.

* IntendedAudienceReaction: Atton Rand feels repulsed by [=Andrewnuva199=]'s illustration of Pterisa, which was the exact impression that [=PeabodySam=] wanted [[TheGrotesque Pterisa's appearance]] to invoke.

* JerkassHasAPoint: Dust was right oh so many times.

* JustFriends: Minerva claimed that she and Zach were this. However, it was apparent before and after her statement that their feelings for each other was beyond being "just friends".

* KatanasAreJustBetter: Despite Nazareno's status as a sci-fi ninja-type guy, he primarily uses two golden katanas to fight everything from cutting down fortress guards to ''shattering ''the skull of a Mutant Raptor. Enforced by Solomon Koplowitz and Zelda Frodongan.
** RuleOfCool is definitely at play here as well, given that real-life katanas -- while indeed incredibly sharp -- are not all that strong.

* KillEmAll: ''[[WhatIf December 21, 2010]]'' ended with ''the entire world'' blowing up, and an explicit description saying that none of the six main characters survived. It's made more heartbreaking by the references to some of the most likable characters having died long before, meaning this small group of people were the only ones left.
** While it was established that Minifig life exists on other planets, the destruction of their home world and largest population would be harsh blow to Minifigkind and a major victory for the Maelstrom, which would have spread to the LEGO System and began destroying other worlds such as [[Toys/LEGOLifeOnMars Mars]] and [[Toys/LEGOSpace Ice Planet 2002]].

* KilledMidSentence: [[spoiler:Walter Breen.]]
** The Infomaniac Andrew saw in the Maelstrom temple died in a similar fashion.
* TheKirk: Rotor to some extent.

** In a very Darth Vader-esque example, not only does Minerva’s suffering force Zach to change his ways but overthrow the big boss and save the girl.

* HeelRaceTurn: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] by the Quasifigus Hybrids. They appear to have switched sides twice during the war: first a HeelFaceTurn, then a FaceHeelTurn. However, they never actually were on Dino Attack Team's side; they were working for XERRD the whole time, and their Heel Face Turn was just a ploy and thus there was no real Face Heel Turn.

* GoodSmokingEvilSmoking: Smoking usually designates that a character is either a {{badass}} or a {{jerkass}}.

* InstantAwesomeJustAddNinja: Kareem Nazareno and Clarke Deadworth.

* HuntingTheMostDangerousGame: [[TheMostDangerousGame The Trope Namer]] was referenced by Stromling Zachary as he prepared to hunt down Frozeen and Greybeard.

** InformedJudaism: WordOfGod says that Frank Einstein is Jewish. Given his [[AlbertEinstein namesake]], this shouldn't be ''too'' much of a surprise.

** The ramblings of the Wallace Bishop in Antarctica revealed that he was once the lab partner of Einstein. Bartholomew Enderson thought that he was talking about AlbertEinstein, but from what we later learned from [[spoiler:Frank Einstein in the Maelstrom Temple]]... Other things said by Wallace Bishop foreshadowed the big reveal.

* InstantAwesomeJustAddMecha: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] by the [[DorkAge infamous]] ''Franchise/{{BIONICLE}} [[XMeetsY Meets]] [[Toys/LEGOExoForce Exo-Force]] RPG'' incident.

* GuiltFreeExterminationWar: Played with, discussed, and defied. The Mutant Dinos are apparently DumbDinos that exist only to kill and destroy, and therefore most of Dino Attack Team doesn't think twice about exterminating the monsters responsible for the apocalypse. However, the efforts of Rex and other like-minded agents reveal that the Mutant Dinos are actually intelligent NonMaliciousMonsters forcibly controlled by Dr. Rex [[spoiler:and the Darkitect]], and therefore these agents go to great lengths to try finding alternative means of victory. This is the source of a lot of conflict between Dino Attack agents.

* GenreShift: Granted it's very hard to determine exactly what genre this would be, but different writers lean toward different angles. While it could be consistently classified as a war story, Between That Guy and Atton Rand it comes closer to science fiction of varying degrees of hardness, with efforts to keep things semi-grounded in reality; whereas Andrewnuva treats it more like fantasy. Many of Atton Rand's later posts could almost border on cosmic horror on a potentially Lovecraftian scale, while Andrewnuva199's still opted for the relatively lighthearted tone of the source material.

* GoingToGiveItMoreEnergy: The Overloader's function.

* IntendedAudienceReaction: Atton Rand feels repulsed by Andrewnuva199's illustration of Pterisa, which was the exact impression that [=PeabodySam=] wanted [[TheGrotesque Pterisa's appearance]] to invoke.

** [[ColdSniper Sniper]] versus [[spoiler:TheMole Ata]]. Although Sniper's "knife" was [[UpToEleven a machete]], [[spoiler:Ata]] won.
* KnifeNut: Dust, Spy, Silencia Venomosa, [[spoiler:[[TheMole Ata]]]], and Oswald Fabello

* LampshadeHanging: Prone to happen in [=PeabodySam=], Andrewnuva199, and Brikman [=McStudz=]'s writing, especially whenever a DeadpanSnarker opens his/her mouth.

* LineageComesFromTheFather: Frozeen and Gromtin both inherited their fathers' [[LEGOAlphaTeam Alpha Team]] codenames.

* LongRunners: Now over seven years old, ''Dino Attack RPG'' has outlasted every Franchise/{{LEGO}} [[PlayByPostGames TBRPG]] on Website/{{BZPower}}.

* LoweredRecruitingStandards: The Dino Attack Team has so many crazy people. Some RPG players, such as Andrewnuva199 and that guy from that show, offered commentary on this in regards to Duke and Kuru.

** How did [[LEGORockRaiders Axle]] suddenly end up at Eldorado Fortress? Teleporter malfunction.

* GenreSavvy:
** Evil Ogel appears quite aware that Rex has an uncanny ability to survive.
** Amanda Claw, when it comes to disposing of bodies.
** Rex, Reptile, and other characters have mused that XERRD seems to follow nearly every villain cliche, right down to HerrDoktor.
** Anybody from VideoGame/LEGOIsland, apparently. This includes Andrew and Zachary.
** Stranger too, to a lesser extent.

** Zed Provhezor mockingly told [[HandicappedBadass Rex]] a variation of the SorryBillyButYouJustDontHaveLegs trope. [[EvilCripple Look who's talking]]...

** Dino Attack Team asked [[LEGOAlphaTeam Alpha Team]] for aid during the final battle.

** As seen in ''Alpha Team: Mission Deep Freeze RPG'', this was how Alpha Team got hold of the ''[[SpiderTank Silver Scorpion]]''.

* TheInfiltration: Perhaps thanks to its ''Alpha Team: Mission Deep Freeze RPG'' predecessor, ''Dino Attack RPG'' reeks of this trope. Examples of Infiltrations include Dr. Rex planting Rex in the Dino Attack Team (which led to Rex BecomingTheMask), XERRD planting TheMole in Dino Attack Team, Dino Attack Team planting a ReverseMole in XERRD, and the infiltration squads DressingAsTheEnemy while sneaking about the XERRD Fortress.

** Shannon "Gromtin" Grimton is the daughter of [[RedShirt Gromit "Gromtin" Grimton]] from Alpha Team: Mission Deep Freeze RPG.

** Also in-universe, Donnie couldn't remember [[HerrDoktor Dietrich Luzwheit's]] name. When he tried to tell Walter about it, he ended up saying "Ludwig" (a fairly common German first name, made famous by Ludwig Van Beethoven), "Luftwaffe" (the name given to the German air force during World War II) and "Luxan" (an alien species from the TV show ''{{Farscape}}'').

* GDayMate: Hunter 2000, Adventure, Sniper, and other Australian characters tend to talk like this.

* TheGhost: In a humorous shout-out to ''TheUsualSuspects'', there have been a few passing references to "Keyser Soze", a crime boss (one who Pierce believed to be a myth). Given the film actually treats Soze as a mythical figure (an in the process makes him even more terrifying), a Keyser Soze CaptainErsatz does not appear in the RPG.

** According to WordOfGod, this trope was heavily involved in Frozeen's relationship with Baron von Brickthief and decision to go into hiding and become The Phantom.

** Rex and Phantom both suffered from this, inflicted upon then by XERRD experiments and General Evil, respectively. While Rex eventually recovered most of his memories, Phantom's current state is unknown, although WordOfGod states that Phantom's amnesia was intended to be only temporary.

** WordOfGod states that one can easily deduce [[TheHermit Ben Gunn's]] true identity simply by paying attention to the things that he kept in his cave.

* LadykillerInLove: Spy, the typical JamesBond-esque spy, genuinely fell in love with Helen Rutherford.