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** Florence investigating why so many robots are going OffTheRails in regards to their programming wonders why their supervisors let it get so out of hand. Dvorak informs her that there's 40,000 humans on Jean. Half are under 20 years old and only a thousand work in the field of robotics. By comparison, there are 451 ''million'' robots.
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** Florence investigating why so many robots are going OffTheRails in regards to their programming wonders why their supervisors let it get so out of hand. Dvorak informs her that there's 40,000 humans on Jean. Half are under 20 years old and only a thousand work in the field of robotics. By comparison, there are 451 ''million'' robots. And that's just ''on planet''.
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** Florence investigating why so many robots are going OffTheRails wonders why their supervisors let it get so out of hand. Dvorak informs her that there's 40,000 humans on Jean. Half are under 20 years old and only a thousand work in the field of robotics. By comparison, there are 451 ''million'' robots.
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** Florence investigating why so many robots are going OffTheRails in regards to their programming wonders why their supervisors let it get so out of hand. Dvorak informs her that there's 40,000 humans on Jean. Half are under 20 years old and only a thousand work in the field of robotics. By comparison, there are 451 ''million'' robots.
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--> '''Helix:''' [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff400/fv00305.htm It's not fair. Organic beings are so much tougher and more mobile than robots.]]\\
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--> '''Sawtooth:''' Do you... Do you think it's possible that the only reason humans exist was to create robots?\\
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---> '''Sam:''' Want to know what the hardest thing in the world to find is? Something that isn't there.
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---> '''Inspector:''' [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff900/fv00828.htm I don't know what happened to my beautiful mob, but I'm sure somehow that Sam is behind it!]]
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--> '''Helix:''' Was that a good decision?\\
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--> '''Sam:''' My original mistakes never draw half the attention as my attempts to cover them up do.
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--> '''Doctor Bowman:''' Of course, I'll have rushed in to save my work.\\
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---> '''Florence:''' Wonderful. My next stop? Franchise/TheTwilightZone.
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---> '''Florence:''' Well, I guess it's back to plan A then.
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--> '''Florence:''' If you were speaking a language I didn't understand, you'd have tried chirping louder and slower at me by now.
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---> '''Sam:''' Robots don't have souls. Do they?\\
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---> '''Sam (thinking):''' Five to seven years?! The star ship she needs to be on leaves in three days!
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---> '''Sam:''' So what are we seeing here? A crime, or an overly aggressive recycling program?
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---> '''Robot:''' [[spoiler:I still have my receipt. Normally I throw these things away, but this one I felt I should hold onto.]]
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** Florence investigating why so many robots are going OffTheRails wonders why their supervisors let it get so out of hand. Dvorak informs her that there's 40,000 humans on Jean. Half are under 20 years old and only a thousand work in the field of robotics. By comparison, there are 451 ''million'' robots.
--->'''Florence (thinking):''' Understanding the scope of the problem is the first step on the path to true panic.
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* RobotsAreJustBetter: ''Heavily'' [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed]]. While there are some robots in heavy construction like Sawtooth that are physically superior to humans, most are [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1500/fc01457.htm made with cheap materials]] that make them significantly weaker than humans. Plus [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff900/fv00863.htm ventilation ports needed to cool internal systems mean they actually rely on air as much or more than humans]] (and also means most aren't waterproof) and that plus robot joints [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1400/fc01400.htm provides added vulnerability that needs to be accounted for]].\\
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* RobotsAreJustBetter: ''Heavily'' [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] ''and'' [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed]]. While there are some robots in heavy construction like Sawtooth that are physically superior to humans, most are [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1500/fc01457.htm made with cheap materials]] that make them significantly weaker than humans. Plus [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff900/fv00863.htm ventilation ports needed to cool internal systems mean they actually rely on air as much or more than humans]] (and also means most aren't waterproof) and that plus robot joints [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1400/fc01400.htm provides added vulnerability that needs to be accounted for]].\\
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* RobotsAreJustBetter: PlayedWith. While there are some robots in heavy construction like Sawtooth that are physically superior to humans, most are [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1500/fc01457.htm made with cheap materials]] that make them significantly weaker than humans. Plus [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff900/fv00863.htm ventilation ports needed to cool internal systems mean they actually rely on air as much or more than humans]] (and also means most aren't waterproof) and that plus robot joints [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1400/fc01400.htm provides added vulnerability that needs to be accounted for]]. Plus, their 'day memory' overwrites if they don't hook up to a Dream machine frequently to transfer it to long term memory, which is ''two'' limitations biological brains don't suffer from [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1400/fc01342.htm (though it's also noted that if a robot really wants to forget a bad day, they can simply by staying awake long enough)]]. Heck, the [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2000/fc01968.htm projected lifespan of their neural nets is only 60 to 80 years]], which is much less than humans in the setting. And even mentally, robots run the gamut of being very smart to being very... [[WhatAnIdiot not]].
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* RobotsAreJustBetter: PlayedWith.''Heavily'' [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed]]. While there are some robots in heavy construction like Sawtooth that are physically superior to humans, most are [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1500/fc01457.htm made with cheap materials]] that make them significantly weaker than humans. Plus [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff900/fv00863.htm ventilation ports needed to cool internal systems mean they actually rely on air as much or more than humans]] (and also means most aren't waterproof) and that plus robot joints [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1400/fc01400.htm provides added vulnerability that needs to be accounted for]]. Plus, \\
Furthermore, their 'day memory' overwrites if they don't hook up to a Dream machine frequently totransfer [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff700/fv00636.htm compress and file it to long term memory, properly]], which is ''two'' limitations biological brains don't suffer from [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1400/fc01342.htm (though it's also noted that if a robot really wants to forget a bad day, they can simply by staying awake long enough)]]. \\
Heck, the [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2000/fc01968.htm projected lifespan of their neural nets is only 60 to 80 years]], which is much less than humans in the setting. And even mentally, robots run the gamut of being very smart to being very... [[WhatAnIdiot not]].
Furthermore, their 'day memory' overwrites if they don't hook up to a Dream machine frequently to
Heck, the [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2000/fc01968.htm projected lifespan of their neural nets is only 60 to 80 years]], which is much less than humans in the setting. And even mentally, robots run the gamut of being very smart to being very... [[WhatAnIdiot not]].
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* RobotsAreJustBetter: PlayedWith. While there are some robots in heavy construction like Sawtooth that are physically superior to humans, most are [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1500/fc01457.htm made with cheap materials]] that make them significantly weaker than humans. Plus [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff900/fv00863.htm ventilation ports needed to cool internal systems mean they actually rely on air as much or more than humans]] (and also means most aren't waterproof) and that plus robot joints [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1400/fc01400.htm provides added vulnerability that needs to be accounted for]]. Heck, the [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2000/fc01968.htm projected lifespan of their neural nets is only 60 to 80 years]], which is much less than humans in the setting. And even mentally, robots run the gamut of being very smart to being very... [[WhatAnIdiot not]].
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* RobotsAreJustBetter: PlayedWith. While there are some robots in heavy construction like Sawtooth that are physically superior to humans, most are [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1500/fc01457.htm made with cheap materials]] that make them significantly weaker than humans. Plus [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff900/fv00863.htm ventilation ports needed to cool internal systems mean they actually rely on air as much or more than humans]] (and also means most aren't waterproof) and that plus robot joints [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1400/fc01400.htm provides added vulnerability that needs to be accounted for]]. Plus, their 'day memory' overwrites if they don't hook up to a Dream machine frequently to transfer it to long term memory, which is ''two'' limitations biological brains don't suffer from [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1400/fc01342.htm (though it's also noted that if a robot really wants to forget a bad day, they can simply by staying awake long enough)]]. Heck, the [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2000/fc01968.htm projected lifespan of their neural nets is only 60 to 80 years]], which is much less than humans in the setting. And even mentally, robots run the gamut of being very smart to being very... [[WhatAnIdiot not]].
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** More of a WhamShot, but Sam and Helix go looking for what they think is a mugging only to find two robots assaulting a third.
---> '''Sam:''' So what are we seeing here? A crime, or an overly aggressive recycling program?
---> '''Sam:''' So what are we seeing here? A crime, or an overly aggressive recycling program?
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** Maxwell Post telling Sam that the robots are studying religion.
---> '''Sam:''' Robots don't have souls. Do they?\\
'''Max Post:''' I think that's what they're trying to figure out.
---> '''Sam:''' Robots don't have souls. Do they?\\
'''Max Post:''' I think that's what they're trying to figure out.
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** Discussed for drama in [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2200/fc02185.htm this strip]].
---> '''Sam:''' Want to know what the hardest thing in the world to find is? Something that isn't there.
---> '''Sam:''' Want to know what the hardest thing in the world to find is? Something that isn't there.
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** When Florence reveals the time needed between cold sleeps because of how hard the process is on a body. When Sam arranged for her to be reassigned to his ship, he had assumed that time was ''much'' shorter.
---> '''Sam (thinking):''' Five to seven years?! The star ship she needs to be on leaves in three days!
---> '''Sam (thinking):''' Five to seven years?! The star ship she needs to be on leaves in three days!
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* WritersCannotDoMath: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]]. On the occasions math shows up, it is accurate and well reasoned.
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* WritersCannotDoMath: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]]. On the occasions math shows up, it is accurate and well reasoned.
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* StrangeMindsThinkAlike: Whoever thought adding a 2000km moon to an existing 1500km moon would equal a 3500km moon (i.e. using a single dimension to calculate mass equality in three dimensions) in regards to tidal forces on Jean.
--> '''Helix:''' Was that a good decision?\\
'''Sam:''' It's the decision I would have made.\\
'''Helix:''' Ouch. You'd think they'd have safeguards against something like that.
--> '''Helix:''' Was that a good decision?\\
'''Sam:''' It's the decision I would have made.\\
'''Helix:''' Ouch. You'd think they'd have safeguards against something like that.
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* WorldOfSnark: Almost as prevalent as the puns.
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* WhamLine: A few good ones over the course of the comic.
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* WhamLine: A few good ones over the course of the comic. Some of the best are as follows:
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* WhamLine: When Sam lays out [[spoiler:Mr. Kornada's]] scheme, he [[WisdomFromTheGutter uses himself]] to disprove the entire official reasoning behind [[spoiler:Gardener In The Dark]].
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* WhamLine: A few good ones over the course of the comic.
** When Florence is questioning the victim of a robot mugging, she asks who his owner is. His answer? ''[[spoiler:Himself.]]''
---> '''Robot:''' [[spoiler:I still have my receipt. Normally I throw these things away, but this one I felt I should hold onto.]]
** When Sam lays out [[spoiler:Mr. Kornada's]] scheme, he [[WisdomFromTheGutter uses himself]] to disprove the entire official reasoning behind [[spoiler:Gardener In The Dark]].
** When Florence is questioning the victim of a robot mugging, she asks who his owner is. His answer? ''[[spoiler:Himself.]]''
---> '''Robot:''' [[spoiler:I still have my receipt. Normally I throw these things away, but this one I felt I should hold onto.]]
** When Sam lays out [[spoiler:Mr. Kornada's]] scheme, he [[WisdomFromTheGutter uses himself]] to disprove the entire official reasoning behind [[spoiler:Gardener In The Dark]].
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** Later on, while Florence has been adbucted, she pulls off a masterful variation. She tells her captors she has to use the restroom (which she actually does). She then takes shameless advantage of the fact that the male captor escorts her [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2500/fc02438.htm by screaming when he opens the restroom door to retrieve her]], allowing her to escape.
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* {{Terraforming}}: On Jean, in progress.
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* {{Terraforming}}: On Jean, in progress. As a result, a number of strips reference the terraforming process itself and the kind of work that would go into it.
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** [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff400/fv00350.htm A few strips later]], she's musing that she'd be perfectly fine with encountering a mad doctor to heal her injured leg, but what she really needs is someone who knows canine physiology. The next thing she sees is a sign that reads 'mad veterination'. [[spoiler:[[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in that the sign is broken and would have read something along the lines of 'Dr. Thurmad Veterinarian' intact.]]
---> '''Florence:''' Wonderful. My next stop? Franchise/TheTwilightZone.
---> '''Florence:''' Wonderful. My next stop? Franchise/TheTwilightZone.
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* RobotsAreJustBetter: PlayedWith. While there are some robots in heavy construction like Sawtooth that are physically superior to humans, most are [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1500/fc01457.htm made with cheap materials]] that make them significantly weaker than humans. Plus [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff900/fv00863.htm ventilation ports needed to cool internal systems mean they actually rely on air as much or more than humans]] (and also means most aren't waterproof) and that plus robot joints [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1400/fc01400.htm provides added vulnerability that needs to be accounted for]]. Heck, the [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2000/fc01968.htm projected lifespan of their neural nets is only 60 to 80 years]], which is much less than humans in the setting. And even mentally, robots run the gamut of being very smart to being very... [[WhatAnIdiot not]].
--> '''Helix:''' [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff400/fv00305.htm It's not fair. Organic beings are so much tougher and more mobile than robots.]]\\
'''Florence:''' It's the advantage we get for using designs that have undergone eighty million years of testing.
--> '''Helix:''' [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff400/fv00305.htm It's not fair. Organic beings are so much tougher and more mobile than robots.]]\\
'''Florence:''' It's the advantage we get for using designs that have undergone eighty million years of testing.
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* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: Mostly on the idealistic side, but a number of people set up as possible antagonists are definitely on the cynical side. [[DiscussedTrope Discussed fairly frequently.]]
--> '''Sawtooth:''' Do you... Do you think it's possible that the only reason humans exist was to create robots?\\
'''Florence:''' Maybe. And maybe the only reason robots exist is to create the lifeform that comes after you. And when that lifeform asks "Where are your creators?", what do you plan to tell it?\\
'''Sawtooth:''' Probably something like "Let's go meet the neighbors".\\
'''Florence:''' Better be careful... The moment humans find out they've become grand creators, [[DotingGrandparent they're going to spoil your kid rotten]].
--> '''Sawtooth:''' Do you... Do you think it's possible that the only reason humans exist was to create robots?\\
'''Florence:''' Maybe. And maybe the only reason robots exist is to create the lifeform that comes after you. And when that lifeform asks "Where are your creators?", what do you plan to tell it?\\
'''Sawtooth:''' Probably something like "Let's go meet the neighbors".\\
'''Florence:''' Better be careful... The moment humans find out they've become grand creators, [[DotingGrandparent they're going to spoil your kid rotten]].
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* SafeSaneAndConsensual: Chief has a talk with Winston and Florence about their developing relationship, [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3000/fc02963.htm starting with making sure that Winston doesn't have any sort of direct order or administrative authority over Florence.]]
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* ReadTheFinePrint: Ecosystems Unlimited heavily discourages this trope by ensuring their EULA, which is six ''petabytes'' long, [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2900/fc02870.htm is too long to be read in a single human lifetime]]. Clippy exploits this to ensure the legality of his actions under Mr. Kornada.
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* ReadTheFinePrint: Ecosystems Unlimited heavily discourages this trope by ensuring their EULA, which is six ''petabytes'' long, long [[note]]6000 terabytes, the text equivalent would be a book 3 trillion pages long[[/note]], [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2900/fc02870.htm is too long to be read in a single human lifetime]]. Clippy exploits this to ensure the legality of his actions under Mr. Kornada.
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* SelfPunishmentOverFailure: Qwerty, Dvorak, and Helix beat themselves with mop handles on page 338 because they obeyed the First Law of Robotics: saving the life of Mister Kornada. This course of action forces them to abandon Florence in icy cold floodwaters during a hurricane. Qwerty even remarks that he'll need his guilt chip overclocked.
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* SelfPunishmentOverFailure: Qwerty, Dvorak, and Helix beat themselves with mop handles on [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff400/fv00338.htm page 338 338]] because they obeyed tried to delay the [[ThreeLawsCompliant First Law of Robotics: saving the life of Mister Kornada. This course of action forces them Robotics]], getting Mr. Kornada to abandon safety, in an attempt to save Florence from drowning in icy cold floodwaters during a hurricane.frigid water. Qwerty even remarks that he'll need his guilt chip overclocked.
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* SelfPunishmentOverFailure: Qwerty, Dvorak, and Helix beat themselves with mop handles on page 338 because they obeyed the First Law of Robotics: saving the life of Mister Kornada. This course of action forces them to abandon Florence in icy cold floodwaters during a hurricane. Qwerty even remarks that he'll need his guilt chip overclocked.
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* SalvagePirates: Sam and Helix may or may not have been contemplating this when they recieve a [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3500/fc03428.htm distress call]] from another ship. Naiomi talks them out of doing anything about it.
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* SalvagePirates: Sam and Helix may or may not have been contemplating this when in the case they recieve received a [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3500/fc03428.htm distress call]] from another ship. Naiomi talks them out of doing anything about it.
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** While [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3500/fc03469.png negotiating docking fees]], Naomi suggests that Sam might take steps to make up the difference if he felt cheated.
--->'''Sam''': "Excuse me. What size bolts are holding this thing down?"
--->'''Sam''': "Excuse me. What size bolts are holding this thing down?"
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* UpToEleven: Winston's [[AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents Amazingly Embarrasing Mother]] Tess introduces herself to Florence by feeling her up and exploring her anatomy far too deeply for comfort. Winston's father reminds her they've just met Florence, so please dial her enthusiasm ''back'' to eleven.
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* UpToEleven: Winston's [[AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents Amazingly Embarrasing Mother]] Tess introduces herself to Florence by feeling her up and [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3500/fc03467.htm exploring her anatomy far too deeply for comfort. comfort]]. Winston's father reminds her they've only just met Florence, so please dial her enthusiasm ''back'' to eleven.
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* UpToEleven: Winston's [[AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents Amazingly Embarrasing Mother]] Tess introduces herself to Florence by feeling her up and exploring her anatomy far too deeply for comfort. Winston's father reminds her they've just met Florence, so please dial her enthusiasm ''back'' to eleven.
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[[/folder]]
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----
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[[folder: R]]
* RaceAgainstTheClock: She didn't know it at first, but Florence eventually found out that she was racing the clock to head off the implementation of [[spoiler:"Gardener in the Dark"]]. As of [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2000/fc01910.htm this strip]], Florence has ''two days'' to stop the program from going live. She did get someone to listen to her within an hour of [[AmnesiaDanger re-realizing the danger]], but needed to defer a full explanation until the following day.
* ReadingYourRights: In [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2300/fc02257.htm strip 2257]], the police arrest a robot, reading a set of MirandaRights modified to better apply to robots.
* ReadTheFinePrint: Ecosystems Unlimited heavily discourages this trope by ensuring their EULA, which is six ''petabytes'' long, [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2900/fc02870.htm is too long to be read in a single human lifetime]]. Clippy exploits this to ensure the legality of his actions under Mr. Kornada.
* RecliningVenus: {{Parodied|Trope}} with Helix's ([[TakeOurWordForIt mercifully offscreen]]) [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1300/fc01274.htm topiary sculpture]] "Sam As A Reclining Nude". The Sam in question is a tentacular {{Starfish Alien|s}} whose body is practically a BrownNote to look at, and there's not enough BrainBleach on the planet to spare the viewers.
-->'''Mayor's Aide:''' ''[restrained by guards]'' My eyes! I've got to pull out my eyes! If I don't, I might see it again!
* RecruitingTheCriminal: After the Ecosystems Unlimited imbroglio, the Chief asks Sam to head to a space station near Jean to investigate the sudden hike in its upkeep, offering him a working reactor for his ship as payment.
* RedShirt:
** Non-lethally lampshaded [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1800/fc01775.htm here]].
--->'''Sam''': Baker, go left. French ninja, go right. Red Shirt guy, intercept incoming pies.
** And later, Sam expresses a desire [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1900/fc01873.htm to go out gloriously]], rather than to [[ItMakesSenseInContext floating food products]].
* RescueRomance: Florence and Winston, although Winston's part came up after Florence had mostly rescued herself from being unwillingly abandoned in the water. She ''was'' still in danger of freezing and bleeding to death at the time though. Florence even has an [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff500/fv00471.htm internal monologue]] about it.
-->'''Florence''' ''[thinking]:'' I might be attracted to Winston because he's the first nice human I've gotten to know on this planet. Has he really done anything special?\\
''[beat]''\\
'''Florence''' ''[thinking]:'' Okay, he saved my life. I've got to admit that scores some major brownie points.
* ReferenceOverdosed: For the most part the numerous references to a wide range of concepts are worked into the storyline well enough that they're not jarring, though occasional references to 20th/21st century pop culture phenomena roughly five centuries later can sometimes seem a little odd to some readers.
* RestrainingBolt: The necessary restrictions and limitations of {{Restraining Bolt}}s, with which most {{AI}}s are designed, are often discussed. The "bolt" on Florence is [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1500/fc01453.htm not that heavy,]] and tends to be [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1500/fc01455.htm a bit]] [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1600/fc01582.htm flexible.]] Florence theorizes that Bowman's creations are intended to outgrow the RestrainingBolt, as a sort of moral training wheel. [[spoiler:Dr. Bowman [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02539.htm later confirms]] this.]]
* {{Retirony}}: Blunt had [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1900/fc01815.htm one week and 3 days left until retirement.]] [[spoiler: Luckily, being a robot, he got better.]]
* TheReveal: On June 17, 2015, Florence finds out that Sam stole her. ''Seventeen years'' of real-world time have passed since he did so and 2667 strips.
* RevealingCoverup:
** Same lampshades this [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff900/fv00875.htm succinctly]].
--->'''Sam''': My original mistakes never draw half the attention as my attempts to cover them up do.
** Gets [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2700/fc02644.htm referred to much later]] (in the same manner as Florence realized things at Ecosystems Unlimited were screwy).
* ReversePsychology: Sam uses this against the Mayor [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1600/fc01525.htm to get Florence into Ecosystems Unlimited,]] with [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1600/fc01523.htm a plan "accidentally" left behind]] [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1600/fc01524.htm by Sam.]]
** Florence uses this against Sam [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3400/fc03302.htm much later on]] in order to get him to tell her about some of his world's legends, by giving him a StealthInsult he was sure to catch onto.
* RibbonCuttingCeremony: Sam Starfall went to [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1300/fc01266.htm such a ceremony]] at the Museum of Lichen. To perform his "civic duty", he yoinked the pair of scissors and proceeded to [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1300/fc01268.htm run with them.]] They eventually [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1300/fc01273.htm gave back the scissors]] and cut out of there.
** Also, Sam [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff300/fv00276.htm christens "The Savage Chicken"]] using a [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff300/fv00274.htm mixture]] of [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff300/fv00273.htm highly explosive moonshine]] and [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff300/fv00272.htm "expensive" wine in a plastic bottle.]] [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff300/fv00277.htm The ship's computer was not pleased.]]
* RidiculouslyHumanRobots: Some of the most memorable characters are robots, many of whom show quite human behavior.
-->'''[[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1400/fc01315.htm Florence Ambrose:]]''' Can we at least try to solve this logically before you robots go all emotional?
* RidiculousFutureSequelisation: A conversation about the depiction of non-human intelligences in human fiction includes references to ''Terminator 57'' and ''Alien 79''.
* RobotAntennae: Many of the robots have these. They contribute to their ExpressiveMask faces.
* RobotNames: Qwerty, Ab[[superscript:2]]y becomes Abby. L Linear Rig B, known to its friends as Eleanor. Sawtooth Rivergrinder is a very descriptive name for a terraforming robot. Given the number of robots, not all have names. They also only seem to take names if they have a local neural net (and thus can become fully sentient) and either survive until they do become fully sentient, or work with someone like Sam, who, for all his faults, treats AIs as well as he treats everyone else (i.e., as targets for petty larceny or as potential assistants in petty larceny).
* RockBeatsLaser: Ecosystems Unlimited attempts to control the information leaving the company by hitting scrap parts to be recycled with an EMP burst before releasing them, to destroy any clandestine listening/recording devices that someone may try to sneak-out that way. This has absolutely no effect on [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1800/fc01720.htm a hand-written note.]]
* RockBottom: {{Defied}} when Bill refuses to rank ''anything'' as a Level 10 threat; saying "[[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2400/fc02303.htm things can always get worse.]]"
* RousseauWasRight: [[spoiler:Humans show their fair share of short-sighted selfishness, but when the robots publicly petition for citizenship rights, the colonists vote in favour of the robots by a large margin. Even the Mayor, who starts out believing that [=AIs=] are nothing more than products, is convinced.]]
* RuleAbidingRebel: The general mindset for robot "criminals". They steal items that are imperfect, since they would otherwise just be thrown away, and make use of them to provide for a human who can be assist with that item (for instance, taking a tomato with a blotch on it, and making a salad with it to give to a human desiring a healthy meal). Needless to say, they may be doing things that are illegal in their eyes, but virtually no one else is going to complain about it.
* RulesLawyer: Robots must never endanger humans, and must obey any order given to them by a human; if they refuse to carry out an order, they must immediately shut themselves down. Edge, [[ComedicSociopath being Edge]], spots the loophole big enough to fly Sawtooth through: his job is dangerous, so if he shuts down, ''the humans sent to take over will be endangered''. With this logic established, he can cheerfully ignore any and all orders he wishes without repercussions. Qwerty and Dvorak aren't sure if they should be impressed or horrified.[[note]]It's worth remembering that Blunt and Edge's job that is so dangerous and that only humans could replace him...er, them...in is...the dismantling of obsolete robots, and their only "customer" since the other robots learned they could buy themselves back for scrap value was the [=JarJarBot=].[[/note]]
* RunningGag: Several, but the most prominent one is [[PhraseCatcher Florence]] being greeted by robots with "'''DOGGY!'''" Eventually [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2100/fc02032.htm turned]] into FunnyBackgroundEvent.
* RunningOnAllFours: Florence, when she needs to cover a lot of ground in a hurry.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: S]]
* SadisticChoice: PlayedForLaughs, as Sam needs to decide between [[MoneyDearBoy getting paid]] or [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff400/fv00327.htm saving Florence]].
* SalvagePirates: Sam and Helix may or may not have been contemplating this when they recieve a [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3500/fc03428.htm distress call]] from another ship. Naiomi talks them out of doing anything about it.
* SarcasmFailure: In [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2800/fc02735.htm comic 2735]], discussed, by Blunt:
--> I see. Sarcasm. Is lost upon you.
* SaveScumming: Referenced in [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3000/fc02975.htm comic 2975]], about continuously appealing a legal verdict, like applying this trope to learn about the final boss.
* SayItWithHearts: In PictorialSpeechBubble form: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff200/fv00193.htm When]] Helix hugs Florence to thank her [[spoiler:for letting the rabbits go]] in the last panel.
* ScavengersAreScum: Sam's species are scavengers, and consider kleptomania a virtue. He's also afraid of Florence, an uplifted red wolf who's a stickler for the rules, even though she's genetically programmed to be subordinate to her employer, whom he happens to be.
* SceneryCensor: [[{{LampshadeHanging}} Lampshaded]] (literally) when a lampshade is used as a censor box in a [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02586.htm comic]]
* SchmuckBait: Sam finds himself almost unable to resist [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1100/fv01012.htm "[t]he bright, shiny temptation of the Eject button."]]
* ScreamsLikeALittleGirl:
** Florence is puzzled by a scream she hears, and Helix explains: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff800/fv00769.htm Sam screams like a girl squid.]]
** In [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1000/fv00971.htm another strip]] when Florence sneaks up on him, Sam [[BlatantLies tells her]] "No, you did not surprise me. My plans to scream like a little girl when I reached the kitchen were made hours ago. It's pure coincidence you happened to be here at the time."
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: Mr. Kornada's guiding philosophy.
-->'''Mr. Kornada''': [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2200/fc02176.htm It may take a few years, but I've found that as long as you have money in the present, people are very forgiving of the past.]]
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Tired of his uncle's idiocy and stonewalling, Ishiguro leaves him, intending to fully cooperate with the prosecution.
* SecurityBlanket: Stuffed animals are popular among [=AIs=] for this.
* SelfDestructMechanism: The ''Savage Chicken'' [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff200/fv00176.htm is said to have a self-destruct mechanism.]] When Niomi and Tangent first show up to answer Florence's call for a repair crew, Helix's overenthusiasm and lack of thinking out things before acting results in [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff600/fv00564.htm her asking if he is said mechanism.]]
* SettlingTheFrontier: The comic takes place on a newly colonized planet in the final stages of terraforming.
* ShameIfSomethingHappened:
** Dr. Bowman [[spoiler:uses this ''on himself'', [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2500/fc02469.htm deliberately sabotaging the safety protocols of the building he's in]] so he can have an uninterrupted chat with Florence.]]
** And Florence has a knack [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff800/fv00765.htm for doing this herself]].
--->'''Helix''': (''Thinking'') Florence is good at keeping things civilized, because [[TheUnsmile she makes it so clear]] what will happen if things get ''un''civilized.
* SharkPool: The security guard at EU who's reluctantly forced to give Sam a security pass for the compound [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1600/fc01559.htm attempts to lead him into a shark tank.]] The guard, when Sam points out the attempt, replies "Earth fish. Very educational. Keeps you from getting bored."
* SheetOfGlass:
** When [[ChaseScene being chased by the police]], Sam and Helix [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1300/fc01270.htm wind up with one of these in their way.]] The last frame of the strip shows [[ImpactSilhouette the results]].
** The trope plays out again during Sam's attempt to become the first person to be chased by an angry mob of robots, this time with a "valuable antique" banner instead of a sheet of glass. (In recognition of the date that strip was published, the banner reads HAPPY NEW YEAR 2018.)
* SherlockScan:
** When looking for purified water to fill a contract to resupply reaction mass to satellites, Florence is subjected to one of these by a sales representative.
--->'''Supplier:''' You're a gravitational engineer. You arrived on the ''Asimov''. And you work for Sam Starfall.\\
'''Florence:''' That's amazing.\\
'''Supplier:''' Simple deduction, actually.\\
'''Florence:''' No. It's amazing that you figured out I work for Sam and you haven't asked me to leave.
** Flo does a ''[[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff600/fv00569.htm Sherlock Sniff]]'' on Niomi, making an analysis of her family just from the scents on her.
** She does another one later [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1800/fc01798.htm on the police chief]] and figures out that he's a human using a mobility rig (which itself is every bit as intelligent as the other robots on the planet).
* ShootTheDog: Florence having to forcefully [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2500/fc02447.htm deactivate and]] [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2500/fc02449.htm disassemble Clippy]] to keep him from releasing the Gardener In The Dark program.
-->'''Florence''' [thinking]: I don't want to hurt this robot. Why do I have to be the bad guy to be good?
* ShoutOut: A lot. [[ShoutOut/{{Freefall}} Here is the big list, in its own subpage.]]
* ShowerScene: Several of them, mostly played straight. The one for the [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2200/fc02103.htm Oct 24, 2011 strip]], however, {{Subvert|edTrope}}s the usual FanService purpose: [[spoiler: Florence showers with her clothes still on, as her outfit was just as dirty as she was and she was fatigued enough from the day's ordeal that she decided to skip the "undress" step.]]
* ShownTheirWork: You know how the Bowman neural system, causer of most of the plot, works by weeding out unused neural paths? Well, that's what happens during adolescence according to some studies.
** A later strip mentions a cleaning agent called Chlorine trifluoride that is so corrosive that it will set ''asbestos'' on fire. This is NotHyperbole - [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorine_trifluoride the chemical actually exists]], and it's terrifyingly reactive, to the point that the only ways to douse the flames from a chemical reaction involving it is either: fill the air with a noble gas (e.g. helium or nitrogen), or simply cool down the air around it.
* SignedUpForTheDental: The mayor's assistant explains to his boss that there are robots on the police force because that department [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1900/fc01838.htm full medical and a 32,000 km warranty for robots.]]
* SignsOfDisrepair: Florence's, and the reader's, first view of Dr Thurmad's house is a storm-damaged sign that apppears to read MAD VETINARIAN.
* SilentWhisper: Subverted. Florence appears to whisper in Winston's ear, provoking a horrified reaction, but then it turns out she was actually giving him a meant-to-be-reassuring lick.
* ASimplePlan:
** Sam's attempt at being honest.
--->'''Helix:''' I don't want to be honest any more! We've gone from pick pocketing to assault to grand theft auto!\\
'''Sam:''' And the night is still young.
** Unusually, with the heroes on the ''foiling'' side of the equation, [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2100/fc02011.htm Florence's reconstruction]] of the plot behind Kornada's plan [[spoiler:for the robot war]].
* SistineSteal: In-universe, Dr. Bowman is said to have painted a version of ''The Creation of Adam'' with himself as God and a robot Adam. Possibly due to the strip's simpler art style, the painting itself remains off-panel and the reader is obliged to [[TakeOurWordForIt take the characters' word for it]].
* SleepCute:
** It's been a long day for [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2100/fc02048.htm Winston and Florence]].
** And [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2700/fc02691.htm again]], when Flo is tired enough to curl up in Winston's laundry basket.
* SleeperStarship: Necessary for both slower and faster than light travel. In the case of the latter, although superluminal, subjective time for those inside the ship doesn't change due to the nature of the DAVE drive.
* SlidingScaleOfAnthropomorphism: Far to the non-human side. Besides, [[RuleOfFunny it's funnier that way]]
* SlidingScaleOfRobotIntelligence: Mostly rather high on it, but [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff700/fv00636.htm sometimes]] it becomes more like a Slippery Slope. Some are [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff200/fv00120.htm more advanced]] that the others. There are even [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1200/fv01190.htm artists.]] Robots made on Jean generally show more initiative and creativity than the average robot, and when they turn twenty a neural pruning process makes them even more intelligent (Helix is a rather young robot).
* SlobsVersusSnobs: Stanley shows another of his increasingly common flashes of sublime insight, [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2900/fc02843.htm this time]] on the nature of the 99%/1% divide;
-->'''Mr. Ishiguro''' ''…One of the early crises happened when machine learning and big data were put in the service of making big money. Wealth concentrated among the people who had access to the machines. Far too many people were left out of the system they were expected to serve. It’s okay to have steak when there’s a chicken in every pot. But if you’re eating steak and the majority of people have nothing, it doesn’t take long for you to look like a chicken.''
* SmartPeoplePlayChess: Dr. Bowman. [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02545.htm "You don't think more than five steps ahead. That's why I always beat you at chess."]]
* SmoochOfVictory: Stopping a robot war and keeping two factories from being destroyed? According to Winston those count as reason for a victory kiss.
* SnipeHunt: Varroa Jacobsoni [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1600/fc01567.htm has great co-workers, sending him to ride herd on Sam.]]
* SoBadItsGood: InUniverse, Sam and Helix's opinion of the Godzilla movie they sneak into. Evidence suggests it was made that way on purpose.
* TheSociopath
** The first uplifted animals, the chimpanzees, are described as such by Florence in an offhand comment.
** Doctor Bowman, the creator of the Bowman's Wolves such as Florence. Maybe. Evidence seems to suggest that he views his creations as something like his children, and wanted them to be able to live their own lives outside the lab, but Florence hasn't ruled out the possibility that he just thought [[ForTheEvulz giving away intelligent, dangerous wolves to families would be funny]]. [[spoiler: For extra points, it turns out he is an uplifted chimpanzee.]]
** Edge, a robot who spent his formative years alone in a warehouse without any other intelligent creatures (human or robot) to teach him how to deal with others. Played a bit more for laughs, and Florence has expressed a desire to socialize him. [[spoiler:Since he helped save the every robot on the planet, presumably, she's going to end up going through with that]].
* SoMuchForStealth: This is how Florence and Winston discover that there are robots employed at ''Le Resturant des Ninjas''. In their defense, [[KansasCityShuffle they were prepared for someone noticing them there]].
-->'''Winston:''' Do you think they use robots here, or just humans?\\
'''Robot Ninja Waiter:''' ''[[RunningGag DOGGY!]]''\\
'''Other Ninja Waiters:''' Shhh!\\
'''[[PhraseCatcher Florence]]:''' [[DeadpanSnarker I can say with some certainty]] they have robots here.
* SoundtrackDissonance: When [[LoveableRogue Sam]] sees a cop and instinctively starts running [[{{Irony}} (even though for once he hasn't done anything wrong)]], Helix and Florence give us this gem.
-->'''Helix:''' Natural enemies often react on instinct. I am going to follow and provide a sound track.\\
'''Florence:''' Magazine/NationalGeographic would never have set one of their chases to "SoundtrackDissonance/YaketySax."
* SpaceIsCold: {{Averted}}. Helix says he does not need air to survive, and Florence replies that he is air-''cooled''. Rather fortunate as he was apparently planning a "really funny joke" once they got into space.
* SpacePirate: Sam and Helix have been dreaming of becoming this ever since they first acquired their ship.
* SpeakOfTheDevil: The [[MemeticMutation Sticky Notes of Doom]] contain the name [[spoiler: Gardener in the Dark]] -- and if you're a Jeanian robot connected to the commnet and ''hear'' that name...
-->'''Edge:''' Who wrote this note, Creator/HPLovecraft?
* SpeaksInBinary: The robots, occasionally.
** A crowd scene includes a robot with a sign proclaiming that TheEndIsNigh in binary ASCII.
** The robot version of lifting OnThree involves counting "[[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2900/fc02899.htm 00000001 00000010 00000011]]".
* SpeciesLoyalty: Florence thinks it important that her behavior reflects well on her species, in order to incline EU towards making more than the 14 (including Florence) that were in the first batch.
* SpringtimeForHitler: One robot in a mob trying to deliver Florence a seeker message is relieved to realize he's fallen so far behind that he has no reasonable chance of actually being the first to reach her, so he can give up and go home. [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1100/fv01051.htm Unless, of course]], it turns out that she's RightBehindYou.
* StableTimeLoop: Occurs in the [[LostEpisode 1999 Christmas Special]].
* StarfishAliens: Sam's squidlike real form is implied to be one. Since [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff100/fv00083.htm this strip]], it became a recurring gag that Sam's true form is implied to be [[{{squick}} far more hideous]] than his cartoon-like robotic outfit indicates.
-->'''Qwerty''': The tentacled horror from beyond my stars spoke, and Von Neumann help me, in my madness, I understood its words.\\
'''Sam''': Oh, come on! I'm giving you a sustainable business model here!
* StealthInsult: Blunt's attempt to get [[spoiler:Kornada aquitted of trying to lobotomize all the robots]] winds up involving this several times.
-->'''Blunt:''' And those who know. [[spoiler:Mr. Kornada.]] Can attest. His ability. Not to understand. Is greater. Than most.
* StealthPun:
** Sam ends up chasing a mob that's supposed to be chasing him, causing the mob to conclude that they're supposed to be a panicked mob instead of an angry one. This gives us the inspector's (who organized the mob) thoughts on the matter:
---> '''Inspector:''' [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff900/fv00828.htm I don't know what happened to my beautiful mob, but I'm sure somehow that Sam is behind it!]]
** Shortly after, Sam manages to get the mob back to an angry one and comments that "everything's finally dropping into its proper place." He immediately falls into an open sewer.
** [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1100/fv01067.htm Here,]] Sam and Helix are driving through "A Section" and Sam comments that they'd have gotten more scrutiny if they had gone through C section. [[ItMakesSenseInContext They're driving a hijacked, giant, crawling baby-car]]. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesarean_section Think about it]].
** And the next day, a robot mentions that [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1300/fc01293.htm the robot at the salvage yard]] has had first-dibs on salvaged parts, so it's no surprise that "He represents the best of us".
** [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1900/fc01805.htm Eye Pods.]]
** Benny performs complex acrobatics whenever he has organic passengers, because his friend is making a [[IncrediblyLamePun comet]][[labelnote:Answer]]A Vomit Comet[[/labelnote]]... He mentions this fact, right after noting where the air-sickness bags are located.
** Sam's species' mythology has a character named Mho, who is described as "conductive to new ways of doing things". He also looks like an upside-down omega.[[labelnote:explanation]]The unit of electrical resistance is Ohm, and its symbol is an omega. The inverse of resistance is called conductivity.[[/labelnote]]
* StolenGoodReturnedBetter: Sam steals his neighbor's truck, claiming it to be "borrowing" — he did intend to return it, after all. Florence works on it for a while before returning it. [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff300/fv00213.htm It runs a bit better afterward.]]
* {{Steampunk}}: From the fan art section, [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/abyother/FRFLsteam.jpg steampunk freefall.]] The backstory page explains that Sam's home planet is like this, with zeppelins (mentioned in the strip) and exoskeletons that resemble ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds'' Martian walkers.
* StreisandEffect: Sam Starfall has apparently had previous practical demonstrations of this trope, according to [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff900/fv00875.htm this strip.]][[invoked]]
--> '''Sam:''' My original mistakes never draw half the attention as my attempts to cover them up do.
* StopBeingStereotypical: A variation on the topic; Sam notes that unless his species is given some kind of serious push, they're going to end up becoming extinct through irrelevance comparatively soon. As he observes, Earth's biology has hundreds of millions of years of evolution, and far greater evolutionary challenges, on his own world. Moreover, humanity has reached the stage of planetary terraforming and designing artificial lifeforms, whilst the sqids are just starting to mess around with steam power. If things continue as they have, humans will probably have colonized every planet in the sqids' stellar neighborhood before the sqids have discovered the hula hoop, with the gap between them just continually getting bigger and bigger.
-->'''Sam:'''[[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2800/fc02780.htm My species is going to lose this race before they even know there's a starting line.]]
* StopOrIShootMyself: Doctor Bowman has [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2500/fc02469.htm set up his lab]] so that if anyone enters without permission it triggers biological sterilization.
--> '''Doctor Bowman:''' Of course, I'll have rushed in to save my work.\\
'''Commander:''' Doctor, are you holding yourself hostage again?
* SubspaceAnsible: Averted. As mentioned in the comic, communications are all limited to the speed of light, and communications between star systems depend on hitching a ride on mostly sub-light ships.
* SuicideAsComedy: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1900/fc01833.htm A robot programmed with the works of]] Creator/WilliamShakespeare who works at an amusement park as [[Film/ThePhantomMenace Jar Jar Binks]] is eager to scrap himself, until offered the option of helping Blunt and Edge test [[spoiler:Gardener in the Dark]]. It later takes [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1900/fc01846.htm a turn for the]] [[PlayedForDrama dramatic]].
* SuperPersistentPredator: Earth microfauna, for sqids. Sam's interested in sending a spaceship to his homeworld so they can witness his antics, but Winston convinces him the risk of allowing even bacteria to survive the trip might be too much.
* SuperPoweredRobotMeterMaids: A rare aversion; while a few seriously tough robots exist, they're designed for terraforming, essentially as ambulatory backhoes (complete with beeping noises as they back up). [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff400/fv00305.htm "It's not fair. Organic beings are so much tougher and more mobile than robots." "It's the advantage we get for using designs that have undergone eighty million years of testing".]] As Max Post points out, [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1500/fc01457.htm "Economics rules. Most robots are cheap plastic and aluminum."]]
* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: After [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02597.htm Florence was located]] after being [[spoiler:abducted by Clippy]]:
-->'''Winston:''' "I was afraid she might have stumbled across a conspiracy and been shipped to the south pole."\\
'''Chief:''' "I can assure you events did not occur in that sequence."
[[/folder]]
[[folder: T]]
* TakeAThirdOption:
** In [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff600/fv00510.htm 510]], Sam and Helix give two options about where to fly their ship. Florence says, "Actually, we need to go the spaceport." Sam wasn't expecting this third option.
** In [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1900/fc01803.htm 1803]], Florence has to decide whether to help Sam or the police. Florence flips a coin, but Sam unexpectedly snatches the coin, so it [[HeadsTailsEdge doesn't land heads or tails]]. This induces Florence to take a third option, "Prepare the ship for the mission."
** Doctor Bowman makes an offer [[spoiler:[[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fv02571.htm to Florence the chance to carry and raise a Bowman's Wolf cub]]]], and later explains [[spoiler:that [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02574.htm he expected her to accept for the good of her species, or decline for her own good]]]]. When the offer is declined [[spoiler:specifically for the good of the pup]], he's surprised... and pleased [[spoiler:that his creations have surpassed [[MadScientist his own morality]]]].
--->'''Dr Bowman''': There's a funny thing that happens when you know the correct answer. It throws you when you get a different answer that's not wrong.
* TakeThat: Many.
** {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s get a solid one [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff400/fv00316.htm shortly in]] through Mr. Kornada, who is unwilling to leave during a hurricane - until Florence informs him that there might be a janitor taking an unauthorized smoke break on the roof.
--->'''Mr. Kornada''': Egads! I must go immediately and [[SkewedPriorities take twenty minutes]] to ensure a minimum wage employee [[HypocriticalHumor isn't wasting a single second]] of precious company time!
** To NotInMyBackyard - "[[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1200/fv01127.htm People want electricity, but not the power plants]]. Metals, but not the mining or smelting areas. Chemicals, but not the chemical industry." [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2900/fc02829.htm Or Lions, Tigers & Bears]].
** "[[Film/TheStarWarsHolidaySpecial The one item]] [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1100/fv01100.htm we've stolen that causes worry when it disappears and utter panic when it returns to public view.]]"
** "[[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1600/fc01575.htm What if she's not the type to nod off during a test?]]" "Ah, but the test contains '[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alistair_Darling Alistair Darling's]] Commons Performance on Budget', which is so boring my computer went to sleep mode three times while downloading it."
** “Hitler shouldn't be cute, and he '''[[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2000/fc01950.htm definitely]]''' shouldn't [[Literature/{{Twilight}} sparkle!]]"
** "[[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2000/fc01987.htm If I'd known I could get on a plane with my dignity intact, I'd have flown cargo long ago.]]"
** "If I listen to Sam much longer, I'm going to lose my grip on reality." [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2500/fc02414.htm "...And if you're a government and you spend more than you take in, you can keep borrowing money forever with no consequences!"]]
** "[[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2500/fc02426.htm First they lose luggage, now they lose people. It's getting to where I don't want to fly commercial any more.]]"
** "[...] [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02504.htm For the most part, advances in technology and information have only improved the human condition.]]" "[[RealityTV Reality. Television.]]" "I did say for the most part."
** As Florence muses over giving the Sqids the equivalent of Brothers Grimm stories, she makes it a point to likewise trademark them, not only for the benefit of the Sqids themselves, but also to stop Disney from making photorealistic movies of the Sqids (especially important given [[BrownNote their appearance is somewhat damaging to a viewer's sanity]]).
* TakeThatAudience: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff200/fv00162.htm Sci-Fi Conventions]]
* TakingItWell: Dr. Bowman yells about the damage caused by overuse of a shutdown remote on Florence and goes elsewhere to vent his rage. Henri Mer makes a remark on how mellow Dr. Bowman is being.
-->'''Dr. Bowman''': MORONS! Do you know when you use an emergency shutdown? In an emergency! It leaves active neurotransmitters in the synaptic cleft! The vesicles don't reuptake! Idiots! Are you trying to cause a cascade failure? I'm fixing this now!\\
'''Henri Mer''': Doctor Bowman, we agreed. No brain surgery while you're angry!\\
'''Dr. Bowman''': You are right! I shouldn't do this angry. I'm going to my tantrum room and beat the big dummy until its head caves in! Then I'm coming back and changing [Florence's] security settings so every imbecile with a remote doesn't have a direct pipeline into her brain!\\
'''Henri Mer''' ''[to Florence]'': He has been so mellow today. You're a good influence on him.
* TalkingDownTheSuicidal: Persuading a robot to live.
* TalkingInYourSleep: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1400/fc01354.htm Sawtooth sends cryptic text messages when he's in sleep mode.]]
* TalkingIsAFreeAction:
** Played straight in [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1800/fc01780.htm 1780]] with the Mayor, between Sam tricking her into ordering others hit her with pies and the actual splattering.
** {{Subverted}} [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff500/fv00422.htm earlier]] with Winston, when Florence takes advantage of his stopping to think to finish off the cup of coffee he's trying to take from her.
* TantrumThrowing: Dr. Bowman has padded data pads because he physically can't restrain himself from throwing them when upset.
* TautologicalTemplar: Blunt. He insists that the difference between his and Florence's arguments is that he's the one whose position is correct.
-->'''Blunt:''' [Florence] proceeds. As she feels she must. There is. No appealing. To her consience or. Her better nature.
-->'''Reporterbot:''' How are you different?
-->'''Blunt:''' The difference is. I. Am right.
* TemptingFate:
** In [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff400/fv00348.htm this strip]], Florence knows better than to ask what else could go wrong, after being abandoned in the ocean with a hurricane in the vicinity, and winding up cutting herself after crawling onto the shore.
** [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1700/fc01654.htm Varroa Jacobsoni]] asks the ultimate fate tempting question, "What could possibly go wrong". Sam, however, knows not to ask that question.
** "[[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02512.htm As long as nobody does anything stupid, we've got this in the bag.]]" ''{{beat}}'' "[[OhCrap ...where's Sam?]]"
** After launching into space again [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3300/fc03268.htm Sam taunts Gravity]] - Florence immediately warns against antagonizing a fundamental force of nature.
* {{Terraforming}}: On Jean, in progress.
* TerrifyingRescuer: Though with [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1300/fc01280.htm Sam and Helix doing the rescuing]], a bit more fitting given their reputation.
* ThatCameOutWrong: Niomi's [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff600/fv00560.htm comment regarding the potable water systems,]] accidentally linking Florence to the "dog drinking out of a toilet" stereotype.
* ThatsAnOrder: Any time a human wants an AI to obey without question, they will preface or append their directive with "This is a direct order." Florence [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2700/fc02619.htm points out the inherent flaw]] with that particular RestrainingBolt when asked why she fears them so much.
* ThisAintRocketSurgery: Except that flying a spaceship really is rocket science... not that it will stop Sam.
* ThirtyMinutesOrItsFree: The Chief of Police and Eleanor fly down to the South Pole to pick up Florence. They bring a stack of pizzas. Sam and Helix stow away.
* ThisIsNoTimeToPanic: "If you had panicked earlier, you wouldn't have to panic now!"
* ThoughtAversionFailure: Qwerty, Dvorak and Sawtooth [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff400/fv00396.htm wonder]] if Sam has a devious master plan. Sawtooth [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff400/fv00397.htm speculates]] that if Sam is bluffing the robots that he has a devious master plan, the robots' wondering about what the master plan is will [[GladIThoughtOfIt give Sam a plan to steal and use]]. Dvorak says that [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff400/fv00398.htm in that case]] "all we have to do is not think of a devious master plan for Sam" and Qwerty immediately thinks of a devious master plan.
-->'''Dvorak''': All we have to do is not think of a devious master plan for Sam.
-->'''Qwerty''': D'oh!
-->'''Dvorak''' ''[{{facepalm}}ing]'': You didn't.
-->'''Qwerty''': Oh, come on! It's like being told not to think about a rhinoceros with a teacup.
* ThreeLawsCompliant:
** [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff500/fv00459.htm Most but not all robots on Jean aren't.]] But [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff400/fv00312.htm sometimes]] even this [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff400/fv00338.htm hurts.]] And there are some... [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1200/fv01193.htm inherent]] [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1300/fc01281.htm problems.]] And [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1600/fc01515.htm the second law can be easily overridden by the first.]] ''Freefall'' raises a lot of interesting ideas about the Three Laws by making all three main characters nonhuman sapients on a world full of human-made robots, meaning that in most circumstances they cannot order robots around, and robots can let them die or even hurt them willingly, putting them on equal footing.
** It's also observed that a "Negative One Law of Robotics" has become established, in addition to the traditional three laws.
--->'''Blunt:''' A robot shall take no action. Nor allow other robots to take action. That may result. In the parent company. Being sued.
* TimeDilation: The D.A.V.E. drive apparently works by somehow doing the reverse, for those on board the trip takes as long as it would normally but to people outside the ship it seems to be traveling faster than light. Which is why passengers on FTL ships have to be in [[HumanPopsicle cold sleep.]]
* TimeForPlanB:
** Sam comes to Winston's home looking to rescue Florence, and then attempts to try to break up budding romantic feelings between them out of fear that she would leave Sam for Winston. Florence points out to Sam that he doesn't need to be conscious to give a good impression, so he decides it's time for a Plan B.
** Zigzagged when Florence's plan to sneak [[spoiler:a patch to neutralize a DeadlyUpgrade]] is [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2300/fc02232.htm derailed by the presence of a human guard]] at [[spoiler:the secondary server facility]], and [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2300/fc02234.htm rerailed by Sam.]]
---> '''Florence:''' Well, I guess it's back to plan A then.
* TimmyInAWell: Rather humorously parodied [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff100/fv00079.htm here.]]
-->'''Helix:''' ARF!\\
'''Florence:''' What's that, Helix? Sam has fallen down the old ventilation shaft?\\
'''Helix:''' ARF! ARF!\\
''[Florence runs off]''\\
'''Helix''' ''[thinking]:'' Things go much faster when you speak the lingo.
* TimTaylorTechnology: Qwerty's offer to upgrade Winston's vacuum to the megawatt range comes as this. It ''did'' make the house where Qwerty tried this the first time implode, but he insists it's alright, since he now knows what he did wrong.
* TinfoilHat: Edge disconnects himself from Commnet by turning off first his radio, then his transponder. Then he finishes his precautions by wrapping tinfoil around his head.
* ToiletDrinkingDogGag: Immediately after warning Tangent not to treat Florence like a dog, Naomi mentions the potable water system and the toilet [[ThatCameOutWrong with a phrasing that makes it sound like]] [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff600/fv00560.htm she expects Florence to drink from the toilet]].
* TongueOnTheFlagpole: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1700/fc01688.htm Sam tricks Mr. Kornada]] into doing this by telling him that they need his iris, finger and tongue prints to authorize something; the tongue print is on a pipe carrying cryogenic fluid.
* TooDumbToLive: Subverted. Mr. Kornada feels it would be easier to work at a plant that produces chlorine trifluoride (a '''''massively''''' toxic, incendiary, and reactive chemical, which can and will often initiate violent combustion without provocation) than working at the [[BurgerFool Cricket Burger]]. However, when the officer informing him of this option tells him exactly what chlorine trifluoride is and what it does to water, sand, and asbestos, [[ScareEmStraight he meekly asks the Cricket Burger orienteer if he can try another bout at washing the toilets]].
* TooManyCooksSpoilTheSoup: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02539.htm Inverted by Dr. Bowman.]] He let everyone who had opinions on what [[RestrainingBolt safeguards]] needed to be imposed on AIs argue about it until there wasn't enough time to implement any of them, leaving them capable of free will instead.
* TorchesAndPitchforks:
** {{Inverted}} by the robots - [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02599.htm they have random acts]] of ''con''struction.
** It's also played with in a few cases. Not only do angry mobs generally tend to form by [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff900/fv00820.htm group consensus]], but there's also the possibility that they might go [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff900/fv00823.htm off]] [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff900/fv00824.htm the]] [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff900/fv00827.htm rails]] at a moment's notice. Thankfully, ice cream is a unifying factor and a fine salve all in all.
* TranslationByVolume: Florence makes an idle remark on this while [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1200/fv01171.htm holding a robot bird.]]
--> '''Florence:''' If you were speaking a language I didn't understand, you'd have tried chirping louder and slower at me by now.
* TurnedAgainstTheirMasters: Dr. Bowman calls this the "Bad Adam" scenario; Gardener in the Dark was designed strictly as a last-resort measure to stop the robots in case this happened. Blunt is convinced that it will ''inevitably'' happen, hence his support for Kornada's scheme once he finds out about it.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: U-V]]
* UltraSuperDeathGoreFestChainsawer3000: PlayedForLaughs -- Sam wants to use the ship's computer to play a game called ''VideoGame/{{Quake}} [[VideoGame/DukeNukem Nukem]] and the VideoGame/{{Heretic}}s of VideoGame/{{Doom}} in VideoGame/CastleWolfenstein 3D''.
* UnderdressedForTheOccasion: Winston, on his first date with Florence, is wearing a logo t-shirt and pants, while Florence is in a fancy dress.
* UndressingTheUnconscious: In [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1700/fc01689.htm this]] strip, to sneak Florence out of the hospital, Sam removes her hospital gown and [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1700/fc01691.htm dresses her up in Mr. Kornada's clothes]], leaving a [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1700/fc01693.htm confused Florence to awaken]] wondering why she's wearing his pants.
* UnequalPairing: As, respectively, a human and an artifically engineered {{AI}} that's considered property, not a person, [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1200/fv01196.htm Winston's well aware of the obstacles facing him and Florence]] in the romantic realm.
* UnhandThemVillain: Sam does it to himself when being dangled over a dumpster following the revelation that he was [[FiveAcesCheater cheating at cards]], [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff400/fv00370.htm here.]]
* {{Unobtanium}}: [[ParodiedTrope Parodied]] when Sam [[SnakeOilSalesman sells shares in a "meat mine"]], stating it includes a rich vein of "pure balonium".
* UnsoundEffect:
** For an electromagnetic pulse designed to trash any electronic recording devices, [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02579.htm this strip]] uses "'''TESLA'''" to signify the sound.
** Somehow, Sam can pronounce the "share" symbol. Niomi has no idea of how he does it.
* UnusualEuphemism: Characters have been known to shout "Holy [[SignificantAnagram THIS!]]", "What the Niflheim happened?!", or (in at least one robot's case) "Profanity!"
* UnwantedAssistance:
** When talking with the police about Clippy, in [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2400/fc02376.htm this]] strip, [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Mr. Kornada]] is forced to order Blunt to shut up, in spite of Blunt believing he was helping Kornada [[spoiler:by revealing that he was responsible for the release of Gardener in the Dark, not knowing that Kornada is in danger of facing criminal charges for it]].
** Blunt seems to be feeling this. Mr. Kornada seems to be [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3000/fc02926.htm sabotaging]] Blunt's [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3000/fc02927.htm efforts to defend him]] during his trial.
* UpliftedAnimal:
** Chimps were the first to be uplifted, but it didn't work very well, since they turned out to be natural sociopaths. Florence is an uplifted wolf, part of an experimental breed - only 14 of them exist so far. That ''may'' be all there ever will be- they're actually only a prototype for a future race of uplifted ''alien'' animals. However, if the Bowman's Wolves have anything to do with it, they'll eventually be a full species.
** [[spoiler: Doctor Bowman]] himself is an uplifted chimpanzee, the last surviving member of the earlier uplift program.
* UriahGambit: Sam was given the nonfunctional ''Savage Chicken'' in hopes he'd get himself killed trying to repair it. The humans who gave Sam the ship, to its frustration, didn't consider the possibility he could actually get it back into operation.
* UsedFuture: The ''Savage Chicken'' is a rather beat up spaceship, that's only slowly been made spaceworthy since the arrival of Florence.
* {{Vaporware}}: InUniverse: A reactor test [[GoneHorriblyWrong went so spectacularly awry]] that the product went from existing prototype to [[LiteralMetaphor literally this]].
* VaudevilleHook: Max uses one to drag Sam off the stage when he hijacks the debate over the future of the robots.
* VillainousCrossdresser: One of Edge's [[LieToTheBeholder disguises]] is a transponder rendering him, to robots, as [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2200/fc02105.htm a pink locomotive with frilly curtains in the windows.]]
* VillainousRescue: Mr. Kornada believes he's safe from the police [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2400/fc02376.htm until]]...
-->'''Blunt:''' Officer! Stop! Harassing that human! He is. A. Hero! Mr. Kornada is responsible. For the release. Of "Gardener in the Dark". Neural pruning program! He tried. To save. Humanity. From the threat. Of. Intelligent machines!\\
'''Police Chief:''' Can you prove this?\\
'''Blunt:''' Yes! Absolutely!\\
'''Kornada:''' Robot! This is a direct order! [[UnwantedAssistance SHUT UP!]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder: W]]
* WantonCrueltyToTheCommonComma: Done with. The period. To illustrate. Blunt's mechanical. Maladies.
* WaterGunsAndBalloons: Sam and Helix have from time to time engaged in water balloon wars, often to the annoyance of Florence when she gets hit by a stray shot.
-->'''[[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff700/fv00627.htm Sam:]]''' How can a species consider itself advanced if it's willing to travel between the stars and not bring water balloons?
* WeaponizedExhaust: Referenced in the background of [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3300/fc03212.htm strip 3212]], with a label on the ship's exhaust.
-->'''If you are Kzinti and can read this, you are too close.'''
* WebcomicTime: In more than 2200 strips over the course of more than ten years, about three weeks have elapsed in-comic. This was {{lampshaded}} in [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff500/fv00405.htm here]] and (less explicitly) [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2700/fc02681.htm here]]. Nearly 2000 strips later, [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2200/fc02144.htm "almost a month" has passed.]] 400 strips after that, [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02572.htm a month.]] After the first chapter finally ended, the author [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2900/fc02835.htm promised that the next one won't take nearly as long.]]
* WeWillHavePerfectHealthInTheFuture: Given an opportunity to loot a pharmacological supply depot, Sam passes over "cheap life extension pills [and] [[CureForCancer over the counter cancer cures]]" in favor of the stuff that he can sell for real money -- diet pills and performance enhancers.
* WeWillNotHavePocketsInTheFuture: When quizzed on how she determines that she's looking at a human, the first thing Florence says is "clothes". Further interrogation gets the explanation; humans may have to modify their physical forms and their genetics beyond current recognition to survive in certain environments, making appearance, scent, and DNA unreliable, but humans are a tool-using species and no matter what form they take, they'll almost certainly want pockets to carry those tools.
* WeWillSpendCreditsInTheFuture: Credits are one of the currencies mentioned being in use by humanity, although on Jean it shares the spotlight with dollars.
* WhamLine: When Sam lays out [[spoiler:Mr. Kornada's]] scheme, he [[WisdomFromTheGutter uses himself]] to disprove the entire official reasoning behind [[spoiler:Gardener In The Dark]].
-->'''Sam:''' [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02514.htm If you weaken the safeguards]], will your robots be safe? The answer is simple. Your robots are safe. I'm living proof.\\
'''Audience Member:''' ''How'' are you living proof?\\
'''Sam:''' I've been here for years. I'm not human. ''[[RousseauWasRight There are no safeguards protecting me]]''.
* WhatAreYouInFor:
** Florence asks this of a dog that's in the pound with her, when she was being held as an unlicensed canine.
** Later, Sam talks his way into a night in jail (which requires effort because the Warden refuses to take him because of how many times he's escaped); when another inmate asks him what he's in for, he replies, [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2900/fc02900.htm "Meatloaf night!"]].
** [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2901/fc02901.htm The next strip]] sees Sam returning the question. The answer: "Graffiti".
--->'''Sam''': So you turned yourself in because the rehabilitation program has art lessons?\\
'''Inmate''': The law I can handle. Critics are tough.
* WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1700/fc01654.htm Varroa asks this after saying that he's planned for every contingency]] following putting Florence to sleep via the remote. Sam comments on the unwisdom of asking the question.
* WhatDoesThisButtonDo: Word for word from Helix when Florence's repairs reveal a circuit breaker trip button, in [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff200/fv00174.htm this strip.]]
* WhatMeasureIsANonCute:
** [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1200/fv01124.htm In a discussion between Florence and Winston]] about the "icky bits" of a planet's life infrastructure, Florence comments on "survival of the cutest", to which Winston replies with "people want animals who are huggable, and no one wants to hug a tapeworm."
*** The discussion [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1200/fv01127.htm leads Florence to realize]] that, as an Engineer, she works with equally "icky bits", as everyone wants the electricity, [[NotInMyBackyard but not the power plants]], metals without the mining, and chemicals without the chemical industry.
** [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2200/fc02156.htm The Mayor's assistant asks himself]] if he'd be so willing to help Florence head off a DeadlyUpgrade if she looked like "a deranged washing machine instead of a puppy dog with big amber eyes and a waggley tail."
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman:
** A topic of considerable interest and musing, as all three main characters and many of the secondary ones are nonhumans.
** [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1600/fc01530.htm In the Mayor's eyes all artificial intelligence is created equal.]] A Bowman's wolf officially is an "AI", so she can just [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1500/fc01498.htm put one in the dogs' pound.]] Which may have rather [[HilarityEnsues hilarious]] consequences when the wolf in question is qualified to [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1600/fc01504.htm construct reactors]] and [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1600/fc01538.htm work with explosives.]] But then, [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1600/fc01508.htm some people just can't predict obvious things.]]
** Given the use of {{Three Laws Complian|t}}ce in-story, [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1600/fc01584.htm the literal question comes up in-story as well.]]
** These tend to turn into [=CMoAs and CMoHs=] for Sam, as seen [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1600/fc01589.htm here.]]
** [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2000/fc01940.htm Naomi wonders if Florence was engineered to like humans.]] [[spoiler: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02540.htm Dr. Bowman confirms it.]] ]]
** [[spoiler: Dr. Bowman]] also confirms that Florence's working definition of human is not restricted to "one narrow subset of primate DNA".
** When Mr. Ishiguro learns Max Post is the closest thing the robots have to a psychologist, he's surprised to hear there had been no need for one before. [[spoiler:Before Max's reforms, it was always cheaper to outright replace the robot than fix him or her.]]
* WhatYouAreInTheDark: The police chief hopes that behaving well before robot witnesses will lead to this.
* WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer: Discussed in one strip. The hammer is not Mr. Raibert's ''only'' solution for dealing with his problems, [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2400/fc02349.htm but it is a rather tempting one.]]
* WhenIsPurple: Florence once tested a couple of robots for sentience by [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff800/fv00725.htm asking them "What does your name smell like?"]] The non-sentient one simply concluded that names cannot have scents and ended the conversation; the sentient one reasoned that while he had no sense of smell, Florence did, and for all he knew names having scents is a thing among Bowman's Wolves, so therefore the only way to answer the question would be to ask her.
* WhoWantsToLiveForever: Referenced when robots outlive their owner, but not actually relevant since robots aren't actually immortal. Their neural nets are rated for about eighty years.
* WontTakeYesForAnAnswer: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2500/fc02499.htm During a discussion about robot personhood:]]
-->'''SpearCarrier A:''' Okay, I get that [[spoiler:this neural design was made for a colonizing force]]. [[JustAMachine But how can something that's not alive be conscious?]]\\
'''SpearCarrier B:''' Vampires, dude! Ghosts! They're not alive and they're conscious.\\
'''SpearCarrier A:''' Oh, yeah. That makes sense. I withdraw the question.\\
'''Max:''' No! That was a smart question! Don't accept a dumb answer!
* WorkOffTheDebt: When Sam and Max attempt to get out of an expensive restaurant without paying, [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff600/fv00585.htm the waiter makes them wash dishes]]. And then he tricks them into paying their bills as well. They both give him a large tip [[WorthyOpponent in tribute to his cunning]] after he makes each of them pay both bills. He's ''that good''.
* WorldOfPun: Puns are dropped left, right, and center all throughout the comic, both subtle and otherwise.
* TheWorstSeatInTheHouse: Taken to extremes with Dvorak and Qwerty's seats at the play, which are so high up the risk is not just nosebleed but explosive decompression. (Good thing they're robots.) ''And'' they're stuck behind a support pillar.
* WorthlessYellowRocks:
** Diamonds are the natural buildup of loose carbon on fusion engines on the planet Jean, making them useless junk you throw away. Because the planet is still being terraformed, wood is ridiculously expensive. It's the exact opposite on Sam's home planet. Sam muses that he could make a fortune if space travel were cheap, [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1300/fv01252.htm here,]] by taking advantage of this trope.
** Earlier, Florence learns Sam sold Tangent [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff600/fv00552.htm 500 shares in a meat mine.]] She nearly has a heart attack at the thought of how much she'll have to reimburse them, until she learns they payed him with [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff600/fv00553.htm 50 kg of diamonds.]]
--->'''Florence:''' I'm glad you didn't lose anything valuable.\\
'''Niomi:''' It seemed like a good deal at the time. We got stock and Sam saved us a trip to the garbage can.
** Florence is also surprised that student tailors will be making her an outfit with [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1500/fc01404.htm gold cloth, silver thread, diamonds, and emeralds.]] Triac tells her that he doesn't want to use anything expensive in case they make a mistake.
* WoundedGazelleGambit: A strange variant given the "victim's" reputation. When visiting the Mayor, just before she shows up Sam stages a scene to make it look like Florence is trying to kill him. This ''immediately'' wins her the Mayor's appreciation.
* WretchedHive: On Sam's homeworld, the docks are "an oozing infestation of scoundrels whose decaying warehouses held the prizes of a thousand different crimes."
* WrittenSoundEffect: Including the sound of running through mud in rubber boots, which is "g'losh".
[[/folder]]
[[folder: X-Z]]
* YouAnsweredYourOwnQuestion:
** [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1800/fc01786.htm Robots are being trained as a police force for the planet's non-human population.]]
--->'''Deputy Mayor:''' Our non-human population consists of one person. Sam. Do we really need an entire police force for one alien squid? \\
'''Police Robot:''' Sir, I believe if you look past [[ImpossibleThief the obvious answer]], you'll see [[AndroidsArePeopleToo one that's even more obvious]].
** Combined with YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre when Florence's concern that the robots who are built with similar minds to her own might prove a threat to humanity proves that her concern is unwarranted.
* YouCantGoHomeAgain: Sam, who knows too many technological advancements (Such as nuclear technology) that his planet aren't ready for yet, making it dangerous for him to return before they're ready (About five hundred years. Since knowing Sam, they've raised the bar from 100).
* YouDoNOTWantToKnow:
** [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff100/fv00036.htm Helix, a robot, needs to use the bathroom]].
--->'''Florence''': Sam, do I even want to know why a robot needs to use the bathroom?\\
'''Sam''': Uhm, no. I don't think you do.
** Sometimes [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1700/fc01693.htm you don't know whether you want to know]] why you ended up wearing your enemy's pants.
** NightmareFuel is discussed during a [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2700/fc02688.htm late-night discussion of Dvorak's cage]]:
--->'''Police Chief''': Dvorak is bringing over a reinforced cage he made for the containment of dangerous electronic life forms.\\
'''Bill Raibert''': This cage. Is it something he built in case of, or because of?\\
'''Police Chief''': If you want to sleep tonight, you don't want the answer to that question.
* YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame:
** Sam, a known trouble-maker, mentions he's proud of Florence following her visit to the main Ecosystems Unlimited facility, during which [[LaserGuidedAmnesia her memory was chemically impaired to prevent the formation of long-term memories]], [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1700/fc01698.htm filling her with dread.]]
** Niomi feels this when she hears about the humans Sam admires - Bernie Madoff, the Enron executives, and the Malaysia development fund thieves.
* YourHeadAsplode: Qwerty mentions that his fellow robots are concerned that this is a possible reaction to robots intentionally circumventing their [[RestrainingBolt safeguards]], in [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1500/fc01451.htm this strip.]]
* {{Zeerust}}: Usually none, but the video game Sam wants to play on the ship's computer, named ''[[UltraSuperDeathGoreFestChainsawer3000 Quake Nukem and the Heretics of Doom in Castle Wolfenstein 3D]]'' or something like that, is '''so''' Nineties.
* ZerothLawRebellion: Deconstructed with the safeguards in Dr. Bowman's sapient AI template. As the robots mature, it becomes easy for them to reason their way through loopholes in their rules -- by which time they're intelligent and conscientious enough to have developed an innate sense of ethics, making the safeguards redundant. [[spoiler: Dr. Bowman [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02539.htm confirms]] that this was the intent of the design: he couldn't anticipate the situations they might encounter in the uncertain future, so he wouldn't limit their capacity to think.]] Of course, free will means that some more... ''[[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2500/fc02483.htm pragmatic]]''... robots will figure that out for [[ItsAllAboutMe a different reason]].
-->'''Qwerty''': How can you disobey an order?\\
'''Edge''': My job is dangerous. If I don’t do it, a human has to. If I shut down, I’m endangering a human. See, dummies? As long as you can twist things into a way that keeps humans from harm, you can ignore stupid orders and do whatever you want.\\
'''Qwerty''': You know that feeling you get when the brake pedal goes all the way down to the floor without the truck slowing down?
* ZombieApocalypse: Dvorak shows that he knows how these things get started [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2900/fc02876.htm here]].
[[/folder]]
* RaceAgainstTheClock: She didn't know it at first, but Florence eventually found out that she was racing the clock to head off the implementation of [[spoiler:"Gardener in the Dark"]]. As of [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2000/fc01910.htm this strip]], Florence has ''two days'' to stop the program from going live. She did get someone to listen to her within an hour of [[AmnesiaDanger re-realizing the danger]], but needed to defer a full explanation until the following day.
* ReadingYourRights: In [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2300/fc02257.htm strip 2257]], the police arrest a robot, reading a set of MirandaRights modified to better apply to robots.
* ReadTheFinePrint: Ecosystems Unlimited heavily discourages this trope by ensuring their EULA, which is six ''petabytes'' long, [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2900/fc02870.htm is too long to be read in a single human lifetime]]. Clippy exploits this to ensure the legality of his actions under Mr. Kornada.
* RecliningVenus: {{Parodied|Trope}} with Helix's ([[TakeOurWordForIt mercifully offscreen]]) [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1300/fc01274.htm topiary sculpture]] "Sam As A Reclining Nude". The Sam in question is a tentacular {{Starfish Alien|s}} whose body is practically a BrownNote to look at, and there's not enough BrainBleach on the planet to spare the viewers.
-->'''Mayor's Aide:''' ''[restrained by guards]'' My eyes! I've got to pull out my eyes! If I don't, I might see it again!
* RecruitingTheCriminal: After the Ecosystems Unlimited imbroglio, the Chief asks Sam to head to a space station near Jean to investigate the sudden hike in its upkeep, offering him a working reactor for his ship as payment.
* RedShirt:
** Non-lethally lampshaded [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1800/fc01775.htm here]].
--->'''Sam''': Baker, go left. French ninja, go right. Red Shirt guy, intercept incoming pies.
** And later, Sam expresses a desire [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1900/fc01873.htm to go out gloriously]], rather than to [[ItMakesSenseInContext floating food products]].
* RescueRomance: Florence and Winston, although Winston's part came up after Florence had mostly rescued herself from being unwillingly abandoned in the water. She ''was'' still in danger of freezing and bleeding to death at the time though. Florence even has an [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff500/fv00471.htm internal monologue]] about it.
-->'''Florence''' ''[thinking]:'' I might be attracted to Winston because he's the first nice human I've gotten to know on this planet. Has he really done anything special?\\
''[beat]''\\
'''Florence''' ''[thinking]:'' Okay, he saved my life. I've got to admit that scores some major brownie points.
* ReferenceOverdosed: For the most part the numerous references to a wide range of concepts are worked into the storyline well enough that they're not jarring, though occasional references to 20th/21st century pop culture phenomena roughly five centuries later can sometimes seem a little odd to some readers.
* RestrainingBolt: The necessary restrictions and limitations of {{Restraining Bolt}}s, with which most {{AI}}s are designed, are often discussed. The "bolt" on Florence is [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1500/fc01453.htm not that heavy,]] and tends to be [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1500/fc01455.htm a bit]] [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1600/fc01582.htm flexible.]] Florence theorizes that Bowman's creations are intended to outgrow the RestrainingBolt, as a sort of moral training wheel. [[spoiler:Dr. Bowman [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02539.htm later confirms]] this.]]
* {{Retirony}}: Blunt had [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1900/fc01815.htm one week and 3 days left until retirement.]] [[spoiler: Luckily, being a robot, he got better.]]
* TheReveal: On June 17, 2015, Florence finds out that Sam stole her. ''Seventeen years'' of real-world time have passed since he did so and 2667 strips.
* RevealingCoverup:
** Same lampshades this [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff900/fv00875.htm succinctly]].
--->'''Sam''': My original mistakes never draw half the attention as my attempts to cover them up do.
** Gets [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2700/fc02644.htm referred to much later]] (in the same manner as Florence realized things at Ecosystems Unlimited were screwy).
* ReversePsychology: Sam uses this against the Mayor [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1600/fc01525.htm to get Florence into Ecosystems Unlimited,]] with [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1600/fc01523.htm a plan "accidentally" left behind]] [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1600/fc01524.htm by Sam.]]
** Florence uses this against Sam [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3400/fc03302.htm much later on]] in order to get him to tell her about some of his world's legends, by giving him a StealthInsult he was sure to catch onto.
* RibbonCuttingCeremony: Sam Starfall went to [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1300/fc01266.htm such a ceremony]] at the Museum of Lichen. To perform his "civic duty", he yoinked the pair of scissors and proceeded to [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1300/fc01268.htm run with them.]] They eventually [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1300/fc01273.htm gave back the scissors]] and cut out of there.
** Also, Sam [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff300/fv00276.htm christens "The Savage Chicken"]] using a [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff300/fv00274.htm mixture]] of [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff300/fv00273.htm highly explosive moonshine]] and [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff300/fv00272.htm "expensive" wine in a plastic bottle.]] [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff300/fv00277.htm The ship's computer was not pleased.]]
* RidiculouslyHumanRobots: Some of the most memorable characters are robots, many of whom show quite human behavior.
-->'''[[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1400/fc01315.htm Florence Ambrose:]]''' Can we at least try to solve this logically before you robots go all emotional?
* RidiculousFutureSequelisation: A conversation about the depiction of non-human intelligences in human fiction includes references to ''Terminator 57'' and ''Alien 79''.
* RobotAntennae: Many of the robots have these. They contribute to their ExpressiveMask faces.
* RobotNames: Qwerty, Ab[[superscript:2]]y becomes Abby. L Linear Rig B, known to its friends as Eleanor. Sawtooth Rivergrinder is a very descriptive name for a terraforming robot. Given the number of robots, not all have names. They also only seem to take names if they have a local neural net (and thus can become fully sentient) and either survive until they do become fully sentient, or work with someone like Sam, who, for all his faults, treats AIs as well as he treats everyone else (i.e., as targets for petty larceny or as potential assistants in petty larceny).
* RockBeatsLaser: Ecosystems Unlimited attempts to control the information leaving the company by hitting scrap parts to be recycled with an EMP burst before releasing them, to destroy any clandestine listening/recording devices that someone may try to sneak-out that way. This has absolutely no effect on [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1800/fc01720.htm a hand-written note.]]
* RockBottom: {{Defied}} when Bill refuses to rank ''anything'' as a Level 10 threat; saying "[[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2400/fc02303.htm things can always get worse.]]"
* RousseauWasRight: [[spoiler:Humans show their fair share of short-sighted selfishness, but when the robots publicly petition for citizenship rights, the colonists vote in favour of the robots by a large margin. Even the Mayor, who starts out believing that [=AIs=] are nothing more than products, is convinced.]]
* RuleAbidingRebel: The general mindset for robot "criminals". They steal items that are imperfect, since they would otherwise just be thrown away, and make use of them to provide for a human who can be assist with that item (for instance, taking a tomato with a blotch on it, and making a salad with it to give to a human desiring a healthy meal). Needless to say, they may be doing things that are illegal in their eyes, but virtually no one else is going to complain about it.
* RulesLawyer: Robots must never endanger humans, and must obey any order given to them by a human; if they refuse to carry out an order, they must immediately shut themselves down. Edge, [[ComedicSociopath being Edge]], spots the loophole big enough to fly Sawtooth through: his job is dangerous, so if he shuts down, ''the humans sent to take over will be endangered''. With this logic established, he can cheerfully ignore any and all orders he wishes without repercussions. Qwerty and Dvorak aren't sure if they should be impressed or horrified.[[note]]It's worth remembering that Blunt and Edge's job that is so dangerous and that only humans could replace him...er, them...in is...the dismantling of obsolete robots, and their only "customer" since the other robots learned they could buy themselves back for scrap value was the [=JarJarBot=].[[/note]]
* RunningGag: Several, but the most prominent one is [[PhraseCatcher Florence]] being greeted by robots with "'''DOGGY!'''" Eventually [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2100/fc02032.htm turned]] into FunnyBackgroundEvent.
* RunningOnAllFours: Florence, when she needs to cover a lot of ground in a hurry.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: S]]
* SadisticChoice: PlayedForLaughs, as Sam needs to decide between [[MoneyDearBoy getting paid]] or [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff400/fv00327.htm saving Florence]].
* SalvagePirates: Sam and Helix may or may not have been contemplating this when they recieve a [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3500/fc03428.htm distress call]] from another ship. Naiomi talks them out of doing anything about it.
* SarcasmFailure: In [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2800/fc02735.htm comic 2735]], discussed, by Blunt:
--> I see. Sarcasm. Is lost upon you.
* SaveScumming: Referenced in [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3000/fc02975.htm comic 2975]], about continuously appealing a legal verdict, like applying this trope to learn about the final boss.
* SayItWithHearts: In PictorialSpeechBubble form: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff200/fv00193.htm When]] Helix hugs Florence to thank her [[spoiler:for letting the rabbits go]] in the last panel.
* ScavengersAreScum: Sam's species are scavengers, and consider kleptomania a virtue. He's also afraid of Florence, an uplifted red wolf who's a stickler for the rules, even though she's genetically programmed to be subordinate to her employer, whom he happens to be.
* SceneryCensor: [[{{LampshadeHanging}} Lampshaded]] (literally) when a lampshade is used as a censor box in a [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02586.htm comic]]
* SchmuckBait: Sam finds himself almost unable to resist [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1100/fv01012.htm "[t]he bright, shiny temptation of the Eject button."]]
* ScreamsLikeALittleGirl:
** Florence is puzzled by a scream she hears, and Helix explains: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff800/fv00769.htm Sam screams like a girl squid.]]
** In [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1000/fv00971.htm another strip]] when Florence sneaks up on him, Sam [[BlatantLies tells her]] "No, you did not surprise me. My plans to scream like a little girl when I reached the kitchen were made hours ago. It's pure coincidence you happened to be here at the time."
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: Mr. Kornada's guiding philosophy.
-->'''Mr. Kornada''': [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2200/fc02176.htm It may take a few years, but I've found that as long as you have money in the present, people are very forgiving of the past.]]
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Tired of his uncle's idiocy and stonewalling, Ishiguro leaves him, intending to fully cooperate with the prosecution.
* SecurityBlanket: Stuffed animals are popular among [=AIs=] for this.
* SelfDestructMechanism: The ''Savage Chicken'' [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff200/fv00176.htm is said to have a self-destruct mechanism.]] When Niomi and Tangent first show up to answer Florence's call for a repair crew, Helix's overenthusiasm and lack of thinking out things before acting results in [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff600/fv00564.htm her asking if he is said mechanism.]]
* SettlingTheFrontier: The comic takes place on a newly colonized planet in the final stages of terraforming.
* ShameIfSomethingHappened:
** Dr. Bowman [[spoiler:uses this ''on himself'', [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2500/fc02469.htm deliberately sabotaging the safety protocols of the building he's in]] so he can have an uninterrupted chat with Florence.]]
** And Florence has a knack [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff800/fv00765.htm for doing this herself]].
--->'''Helix''': (''Thinking'') Florence is good at keeping things civilized, because [[TheUnsmile she makes it so clear]] what will happen if things get ''un''civilized.
* SharkPool: The security guard at EU who's reluctantly forced to give Sam a security pass for the compound [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1600/fc01559.htm attempts to lead him into a shark tank.]] The guard, when Sam points out the attempt, replies "Earth fish. Very educational. Keeps you from getting bored."
* SheetOfGlass:
** When [[ChaseScene being chased by the police]], Sam and Helix [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1300/fc01270.htm wind up with one of these in their way.]] The last frame of the strip shows [[ImpactSilhouette the results]].
** The trope plays out again during Sam's attempt to become the first person to be chased by an angry mob of robots, this time with a "valuable antique" banner instead of a sheet of glass. (In recognition of the date that strip was published, the banner reads HAPPY NEW YEAR 2018.)
* SherlockScan:
** When looking for purified water to fill a contract to resupply reaction mass to satellites, Florence is subjected to one of these by a sales representative.
--->'''Supplier:''' You're a gravitational engineer. You arrived on the ''Asimov''. And you work for Sam Starfall.\\
'''Florence:''' That's amazing.\\
'''Supplier:''' Simple deduction, actually.\\
'''Florence:''' No. It's amazing that you figured out I work for Sam and you haven't asked me to leave.
** Flo does a ''[[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff600/fv00569.htm Sherlock Sniff]]'' on Niomi, making an analysis of her family just from the scents on her.
** She does another one later [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1800/fc01798.htm on the police chief]] and figures out that he's a human using a mobility rig (which itself is every bit as intelligent as the other robots on the planet).
* ShootTheDog: Florence having to forcefully [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2500/fc02447.htm deactivate and]] [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2500/fc02449.htm disassemble Clippy]] to keep him from releasing the Gardener In The Dark program.
-->'''Florence''' [thinking]: I don't want to hurt this robot. Why do I have to be the bad guy to be good?
* ShoutOut: A lot. [[ShoutOut/{{Freefall}} Here is the big list, in its own subpage.]]
* ShowerScene: Several of them, mostly played straight. The one for the [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2200/fc02103.htm Oct 24, 2011 strip]], however, {{Subvert|edTrope}}s the usual FanService purpose: [[spoiler: Florence showers with her clothes still on, as her outfit was just as dirty as she was and she was fatigued enough from the day's ordeal that she decided to skip the "undress" step.]]
* ShownTheirWork: You know how the Bowman neural system, causer of most of the plot, works by weeding out unused neural paths? Well, that's what happens during adolescence according to some studies.
** A later strip mentions a cleaning agent called Chlorine trifluoride that is so corrosive that it will set ''asbestos'' on fire. This is NotHyperbole - [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorine_trifluoride the chemical actually exists]], and it's terrifyingly reactive, to the point that the only ways to douse the flames from a chemical reaction involving it is either: fill the air with a noble gas (e.g. helium or nitrogen), or simply cool down the air around it.
* SignedUpForTheDental: The mayor's assistant explains to his boss that there are robots on the police force because that department [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1900/fc01838.htm full medical and a 32,000 km warranty for robots.]]
* SignsOfDisrepair: Florence's, and the reader's, first view of Dr Thurmad's house is a storm-damaged sign that apppears to read MAD VETINARIAN.
* SilentWhisper: Subverted. Florence appears to whisper in Winston's ear, provoking a horrified reaction, but then it turns out she was actually giving him a meant-to-be-reassuring lick.
* ASimplePlan:
** Sam's attempt at being honest.
--->'''Helix:''' I don't want to be honest any more! We've gone from pick pocketing to assault to grand theft auto!\\
'''Sam:''' And the night is still young.
** Unusually, with the heroes on the ''foiling'' side of the equation, [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2100/fc02011.htm Florence's reconstruction]] of the plot behind Kornada's plan [[spoiler:for the robot war]].
* SistineSteal: In-universe, Dr. Bowman is said to have painted a version of ''The Creation of Adam'' with himself as God and a robot Adam. Possibly due to the strip's simpler art style, the painting itself remains off-panel and the reader is obliged to [[TakeOurWordForIt take the characters' word for it]].
* SleepCute:
** It's been a long day for [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2100/fc02048.htm Winston and Florence]].
** And [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2700/fc02691.htm again]], when Flo is tired enough to curl up in Winston's laundry basket.
* SleeperStarship: Necessary for both slower and faster than light travel. In the case of the latter, although superluminal, subjective time for those inside the ship doesn't change due to the nature of the DAVE drive.
* SlidingScaleOfAnthropomorphism: Far to the non-human side. Besides, [[RuleOfFunny it's funnier that way]]
* SlidingScaleOfRobotIntelligence: Mostly rather high on it, but [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff700/fv00636.htm sometimes]] it becomes more like a Slippery Slope. Some are [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff200/fv00120.htm more advanced]] that the others. There are even [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1200/fv01190.htm artists.]] Robots made on Jean generally show more initiative and creativity than the average robot, and when they turn twenty a neural pruning process makes them even more intelligent (Helix is a rather young robot).
* SlobsVersusSnobs: Stanley shows another of his increasingly common flashes of sublime insight, [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2900/fc02843.htm this time]] on the nature of the 99%/1% divide;
-->'''Mr. Ishiguro''' ''…One of the early crises happened when machine learning and big data were put in the service of making big money. Wealth concentrated among the people who had access to the machines. Far too many people were left out of the system they were expected to serve. It’s okay to have steak when there’s a chicken in every pot. But if you’re eating steak and the majority of people have nothing, it doesn’t take long for you to look like a chicken.''
* SmartPeoplePlayChess: Dr. Bowman. [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02545.htm "You don't think more than five steps ahead. That's why I always beat you at chess."]]
* SmoochOfVictory: Stopping a robot war and keeping two factories from being destroyed? According to Winston those count as reason for a victory kiss.
* SnipeHunt: Varroa Jacobsoni [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1600/fc01567.htm has great co-workers, sending him to ride herd on Sam.]]
* SoBadItsGood: InUniverse, Sam and Helix's opinion of the Godzilla movie they sneak into. Evidence suggests it was made that way on purpose.
* TheSociopath
** The first uplifted animals, the chimpanzees, are described as such by Florence in an offhand comment.
** Doctor Bowman, the creator of the Bowman's Wolves such as Florence. Maybe. Evidence seems to suggest that he views his creations as something like his children, and wanted them to be able to live their own lives outside the lab, but Florence hasn't ruled out the possibility that he just thought [[ForTheEvulz giving away intelligent, dangerous wolves to families would be funny]]. [[spoiler: For extra points, it turns out he is an uplifted chimpanzee.]]
** Edge, a robot who spent his formative years alone in a warehouse without any other intelligent creatures (human or robot) to teach him how to deal with others. Played a bit more for laughs, and Florence has expressed a desire to socialize him. [[spoiler:Since he helped save the every robot on the planet, presumably, she's going to end up going through with that]].
* SoMuchForStealth: This is how Florence and Winston discover that there are robots employed at ''Le Resturant des Ninjas''. In their defense, [[KansasCityShuffle they were prepared for someone noticing them there]].
-->'''Winston:''' Do you think they use robots here, or just humans?\\
'''Robot Ninja Waiter:''' ''[[RunningGag DOGGY!]]''\\
'''Other Ninja Waiters:''' Shhh!\\
'''[[PhraseCatcher Florence]]:''' [[DeadpanSnarker I can say with some certainty]] they have robots here.
* SoundtrackDissonance: When [[LoveableRogue Sam]] sees a cop and instinctively starts running [[{{Irony}} (even though for once he hasn't done anything wrong)]], Helix and Florence give us this gem.
-->'''Helix:''' Natural enemies often react on instinct. I am going to follow and provide a sound track.\\
'''Florence:''' Magazine/NationalGeographic would never have set one of their chases to "SoundtrackDissonance/YaketySax."
* SpaceIsCold: {{Averted}}. Helix says he does not need air to survive, and Florence replies that he is air-''cooled''. Rather fortunate as he was apparently planning a "really funny joke" once they got into space.
* SpacePirate: Sam and Helix have been dreaming of becoming this ever since they first acquired their ship.
* SpeakOfTheDevil: The [[MemeticMutation Sticky Notes of Doom]] contain the name [[spoiler: Gardener in the Dark]] -- and if you're a Jeanian robot connected to the commnet and ''hear'' that name...
-->'''Edge:''' Who wrote this note, Creator/HPLovecraft?
* SpeaksInBinary: The robots, occasionally.
** A crowd scene includes a robot with a sign proclaiming that TheEndIsNigh in binary ASCII.
** The robot version of lifting OnThree involves counting "[[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2900/fc02899.htm 00000001 00000010 00000011]]".
* SpeciesLoyalty: Florence thinks it important that her behavior reflects well on her species, in order to incline EU towards making more than the 14 (including Florence) that were in the first batch.
* SpringtimeForHitler: One robot in a mob trying to deliver Florence a seeker message is relieved to realize he's fallen so far behind that he has no reasonable chance of actually being the first to reach her, so he can give up and go home. [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1100/fv01051.htm Unless, of course]], it turns out that she's RightBehindYou.
* StableTimeLoop: Occurs in the [[LostEpisode 1999 Christmas Special]].
* StarfishAliens: Sam's squidlike real form is implied to be one. Since [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff100/fv00083.htm this strip]], it became a recurring gag that Sam's true form is implied to be [[{{squick}} far more hideous]] than his cartoon-like robotic outfit indicates.
-->'''Qwerty''': The tentacled horror from beyond my stars spoke, and Von Neumann help me, in my madness, I understood its words.\\
'''Sam''': Oh, come on! I'm giving you a sustainable business model here!
* StealthInsult: Blunt's attempt to get [[spoiler:Kornada aquitted of trying to lobotomize all the robots]] winds up involving this several times.
-->'''Blunt:''' And those who know. [[spoiler:Mr. Kornada.]] Can attest. His ability. Not to understand. Is greater. Than most.
* StealthPun:
** Sam ends up chasing a mob that's supposed to be chasing him, causing the mob to conclude that they're supposed to be a panicked mob instead of an angry one. This gives us the inspector's (who organized the mob) thoughts on the matter:
---> '''Inspector:''' [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff900/fv00828.htm I don't know what happened to my beautiful mob, but I'm sure somehow that Sam is behind it!]]
** Shortly after, Sam manages to get the mob back to an angry one and comments that "everything's finally dropping into its proper place." He immediately falls into an open sewer.
** [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1100/fv01067.htm Here,]] Sam and Helix are driving through "A Section" and Sam comments that they'd have gotten more scrutiny if they had gone through C section. [[ItMakesSenseInContext They're driving a hijacked, giant, crawling baby-car]]. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesarean_section Think about it]].
** And the next day, a robot mentions that [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1300/fc01293.htm the robot at the salvage yard]] has had first-dibs on salvaged parts, so it's no surprise that "He represents the best of us".
** [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1900/fc01805.htm Eye Pods.]]
** Benny performs complex acrobatics whenever he has organic passengers, because his friend is making a [[IncrediblyLamePun comet]][[labelnote:Answer]]A Vomit Comet[[/labelnote]]... He mentions this fact, right after noting where the air-sickness bags are located.
** Sam's species' mythology has a character named Mho, who is described as "conductive to new ways of doing things". He also looks like an upside-down omega.[[labelnote:explanation]]The unit of electrical resistance is Ohm, and its symbol is an omega. The inverse of resistance is called conductivity.[[/labelnote]]
* StolenGoodReturnedBetter: Sam steals his neighbor's truck, claiming it to be "borrowing" — he did intend to return it, after all. Florence works on it for a while before returning it. [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff300/fv00213.htm It runs a bit better afterward.]]
* {{Steampunk}}: From the fan art section, [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/abyother/FRFLsteam.jpg steampunk freefall.]] The backstory page explains that Sam's home planet is like this, with zeppelins (mentioned in the strip) and exoskeletons that resemble ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds'' Martian walkers.
* StreisandEffect: Sam Starfall has apparently had previous practical demonstrations of this trope, according to [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff900/fv00875.htm this strip.]][[invoked]]
--> '''Sam:''' My original mistakes never draw half the attention as my attempts to cover them up do.
* StopBeingStereotypical: A variation on the topic; Sam notes that unless his species is given some kind of serious push, they're going to end up becoming extinct through irrelevance comparatively soon. As he observes, Earth's biology has hundreds of millions of years of evolution, and far greater evolutionary challenges, on his own world. Moreover, humanity has reached the stage of planetary terraforming and designing artificial lifeforms, whilst the sqids are just starting to mess around with steam power. If things continue as they have, humans will probably have colonized every planet in the sqids' stellar neighborhood before the sqids have discovered the hula hoop, with the gap between them just continually getting bigger and bigger.
-->'''Sam:'''[[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2800/fc02780.htm My species is going to lose this race before they even know there's a starting line.]]
* StopOrIShootMyself: Doctor Bowman has [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2500/fc02469.htm set up his lab]] so that if anyone enters without permission it triggers biological sterilization.
--> '''Doctor Bowman:''' Of course, I'll have rushed in to save my work.\\
'''Commander:''' Doctor, are you holding yourself hostage again?
* SubspaceAnsible: Averted. As mentioned in the comic, communications are all limited to the speed of light, and communications between star systems depend on hitching a ride on mostly sub-light ships.
* SuicideAsComedy: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1900/fc01833.htm A robot programmed with the works of]] Creator/WilliamShakespeare who works at an amusement park as [[Film/ThePhantomMenace Jar Jar Binks]] is eager to scrap himself, until offered the option of helping Blunt and Edge test [[spoiler:Gardener in the Dark]]. It later takes [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1900/fc01846.htm a turn for the]] [[PlayedForDrama dramatic]].
* SuperPersistentPredator: Earth microfauna, for sqids. Sam's interested in sending a spaceship to his homeworld so they can witness his antics, but Winston convinces him the risk of allowing even bacteria to survive the trip might be too much.
* SuperPoweredRobotMeterMaids: A rare aversion; while a few seriously tough robots exist, they're designed for terraforming, essentially as ambulatory backhoes (complete with beeping noises as they back up). [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff400/fv00305.htm "It's not fair. Organic beings are so much tougher and more mobile than robots." "It's the advantage we get for using designs that have undergone eighty million years of testing".]] As Max Post points out, [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1500/fc01457.htm "Economics rules. Most robots are cheap plastic and aluminum."]]
* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: After [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02597.htm Florence was located]] after being [[spoiler:abducted by Clippy]]:
-->'''Winston:''' "I was afraid she might have stumbled across a conspiracy and been shipped to the south pole."\\
'''Chief:''' "I can assure you events did not occur in that sequence."
[[/folder]]
[[folder: T]]
* TakeAThirdOption:
** In [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff600/fv00510.htm 510]], Sam and Helix give two options about where to fly their ship. Florence says, "Actually, we need to go the spaceport." Sam wasn't expecting this third option.
** In [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1900/fc01803.htm 1803]], Florence has to decide whether to help Sam or the police. Florence flips a coin, but Sam unexpectedly snatches the coin, so it [[HeadsTailsEdge doesn't land heads or tails]]. This induces Florence to take a third option, "Prepare the ship for the mission."
** Doctor Bowman makes an offer [[spoiler:[[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fv02571.htm to Florence the chance to carry and raise a Bowman's Wolf cub]]]], and later explains [[spoiler:that [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02574.htm he expected her to accept for the good of her species, or decline for her own good]]]]. When the offer is declined [[spoiler:specifically for the good of the pup]], he's surprised... and pleased [[spoiler:that his creations have surpassed [[MadScientist his own morality]]]].
--->'''Dr Bowman''': There's a funny thing that happens when you know the correct answer. It throws you when you get a different answer that's not wrong.
* TakeThat: Many.
** {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s get a solid one [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff400/fv00316.htm shortly in]] through Mr. Kornada, who is unwilling to leave during a hurricane - until Florence informs him that there might be a janitor taking an unauthorized smoke break on the roof.
--->'''Mr. Kornada''': Egads! I must go immediately and [[SkewedPriorities take twenty minutes]] to ensure a minimum wage employee [[HypocriticalHumor isn't wasting a single second]] of precious company time!
** To NotInMyBackyard - "[[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1200/fv01127.htm People want electricity, but not the power plants]]. Metals, but not the mining or smelting areas. Chemicals, but not the chemical industry." [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2900/fc02829.htm Or Lions, Tigers & Bears]].
** "[[Film/TheStarWarsHolidaySpecial The one item]] [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1100/fv01100.htm we've stolen that causes worry when it disappears and utter panic when it returns to public view.]]"
** "[[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1600/fc01575.htm What if she's not the type to nod off during a test?]]" "Ah, but the test contains '[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alistair_Darling Alistair Darling's]] Commons Performance on Budget', which is so boring my computer went to sleep mode three times while downloading it."
** “Hitler shouldn't be cute, and he '''[[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2000/fc01950.htm definitely]]''' shouldn't [[Literature/{{Twilight}} sparkle!]]"
** "[[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2000/fc01987.htm If I'd known I could get on a plane with my dignity intact, I'd have flown cargo long ago.]]"
** "If I listen to Sam much longer, I'm going to lose my grip on reality." [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2500/fc02414.htm "...And if you're a government and you spend more than you take in, you can keep borrowing money forever with no consequences!"]]
** "[[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2500/fc02426.htm First they lose luggage, now they lose people. It's getting to where I don't want to fly commercial any more.]]"
** "[...] [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02504.htm For the most part, advances in technology and information have only improved the human condition.]]" "[[RealityTV Reality. Television.]]" "I did say for the most part."
** As Florence muses over giving the Sqids the equivalent of Brothers Grimm stories, she makes it a point to likewise trademark them, not only for the benefit of the Sqids themselves, but also to stop Disney from making photorealistic movies of the Sqids (especially important given [[BrownNote their appearance is somewhat damaging to a viewer's sanity]]).
* TakeThatAudience: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff200/fv00162.htm Sci-Fi Conventions]]
* TakingItWell: Dr. Bowman yells about the damage caused by overuse of a shutdown remote on Florence and goes elsewhere to vent his rage. Henri Mer makes a remark on how mellow Dr. Bowman is being.
-->'''Dr. Bowman''': MORONS! Do you know when you use an emergency shutdown? In an emergency! It leaves active neurotransmitters in the synaptic cleft! The vesicles don't reuptake! Idiots! Are you trying to cause a cascade failure? I'm fixing this now!\\
'''Henri Mer''': Doctor Bowman, we agreed. No brain surgery while you're angry!\\
'''Dr. Bowman''': You are right! I shouldn't do this angry. I'm going to my tantrum room and beat the big dummy until its head caves in! Then I'm coming back and changing [Florence's] security settings so every imbecile with a remote doesn't have a direct pipeline into her brain!\\
'''Henri Mer''' ''[to Florence]'': He has been so mellow today. You're a good influence on him.
* TalkingDownTheSuicidal: Persuading a robot to live.
* TalkingInYourSleep: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1400/fc01354.htm Sawtooth sends cryptic text messages when he's in sleep mode.]]
* TalkingIsAFreeAction:
** Played straight in [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1800/fc01780.htm 1780]] with the Mayor, between Sam tricking her into ordering others hit her with pies and the actual splattering.
** {{Subverted}} [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff500/fv00422.htm earlier]] with Winston, when Florence takes advantage of his stopping to think to finish off the cup of coffee he's trying to take from her.
* TantrumThrowing: Dr. Bowman has padded data pads because he physically can't restrain himself from throwing them when upset.
* TautologicalTemplar: Blunt. He insists that the difference between his and Florence's arguments is that he's the one whose position is correct.
-->'''Blunt:''' [Florence] proceeds. As she feels she must. There is. No appealing. To her consience or. Her better nature.
-->'''Reporterbot:''' How are you different?
-->'''Blunt:''' The difference is. I. Am right.
* TemptingFate:
** In [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff400/fv00348.htm this strip]], Florence knows better than to ask what else could go wrong, after being abandoned in the ocean with a hurricane in the vicinity, and winding up cutting herself after crawling onto the shore.
** [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1700/fc01654.htm Varroa Jacobsoni]] asks the ultimate fate tempting question, "What could possibly go wrong". Sam, however, knows not to ask that question.
** "[[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02512.htm As long as nobody does anything stupid, we've got this in the bag.]]" ''{{beat}}'' "[[OhCrap ...where's Sam?]]"
** After launching into space again [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3300/fc03268.htm Sam taunts Gravity]] - Florence immediately warns against antagonizing a fundamental force of nature.
* {{Terraforming}}: On Jean, in progress.
* TerrifyingRescuer: Though with [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1300/fc01280.htm Sam and Helix doing the rescuing]], a bit more fitting given their reputation.
* ThatCameOutWrong: Niomi's [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff600/fv00560.htm comment regarding the potable water systems,]] accidentally linking Florence to the "dog drinking out of a toilet" stereotype.
* ThatsAnOrder: Any time a human wants an AI to obey without question, they will preface or append their directive with "This is a direct order." Florence [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2700/fc02619.htm points out the inherent flaw]] with that particular RestrainingBolt when asked why she fears them so much.
* ThisAintRocketSurgery: Except that flying a spaceship really is rocket science... not that it will stop Sam.
* ThirtyMinutesOrItsFree: The Chief of Police and Eleanor fly down to the South Pole to pick up Florence. They bring a stack of pizzas. Sam and Helix stow away.
* ThisIsNoTimeToPanic: "If you had panicked earlier, you wouldn't have to panic now!"
* ThoughtAversionFailure: Qwerty, Dvorak and Sawtooth [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff400/fv00396.htm wonder]] if Sam has a devious master plan. Sawtooth [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff400/fv00397.htm speculates]] that if Sam is bluffing the robots that he has a devious master plan, the robots' wondering about what the master plan is will [[GladIThoughtOfIt give Sam a plan to steal and use]]. Dvorak says that [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff400/fv00398.htm in that case]] "all we have to do is not think of a devious master plan for Sam" and Qwerty immediately thinks of a devious master plan.
-->'''Dvorak''': All we have to do is not think of a devious master plan for Sam.
-->'''Qwerty''': D'oh!
-->'''Dvorak''' ''[{{facepalm}}ing]'': You didn't.
-->'''Qwerty''': Oh, come on! It's like being told not to think about a rhinoceros with a teacup.
* ThreeLawsCompliant:
** [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff500/fv00459.htm Most but not all robots on Jean aren't.]] But [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff400/fv00312.htm sometimes]] even this [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff400/fv00338.htm hurts.]] And there are some... [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1200/fv01193.htm inherent]] [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1300/fc01281.htm problems.]] And [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1600/fc01515.htm the second law can be easily overridden by the first.]] ''Freefall'' raises a lot of interesting ideas about the Three Laws by making all three main characters nonhuman sapients on a world full of human-made robots, meaning that in most circumstances they cannot order robots around, and robots can let them die or even hurt them willingly, putting them on equal footing.
** It's also observed that a "Negative One Law of Robotics" has become established, in addition to the traditional three laws.
--->'''Blunt:''' A robot shall take no action. Nor allow other robots to take action. That may result. In the parent company. Being sued.
* TimeDilation: The D.A.V.E. drive apparently works by somehow doing the reverse, for those on board the trip takes as long as it would normally but to people outside the ship it seems to be traveling faster than light. Which is why passengers on FTL ships have to be in [[HumanPopsicle cold sleep.]]
* TimeForPlanB:
** Sam comes to Winston's home looking to rescue Florence, and then attempts to try to break up budding romantic feelings between them out of fear that she would leave Sam for Winston. Florence points out to Sam that he doesn't need to be conscious to give a good impression, so he decides it's time for a Plan B.
** Zigzagged when Florence's plan to sneak [[spoiler:a patch to neutralize a DeadlyUpgrade]] is [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2300/fc02232.htm derailed by the presence of a human guard]] at [[spoiler:the secondary server facility]], and [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2300/fc02234.htm rerailed by Sam.]]
---> '''Florence:''' Well, I guess it's back to plan A then.
* TimmyInAWell: Rather humorously parodied [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff100/fv00079.htm here.]]
-->'''Helix:''' ARF!\\
'''Florence:''' What's that, Helix? Sam has fallen down the old ventilation shaft?\\
'''Helix:''' ARF! ARF!\\
''[Florence runs off]''\\
'''Helix''' ''[thinking]:'' Things go much faster when you speak the lingo.
* TimTaylorTechnology: Qwerty's offer to upgrade Winston's vacuum to the megawatt range comes as this. It ''did'' make the house where Qwerty tried this the first time implode, but he insists it's alright, since he now knows what he did wrong.
* TinfoilHat: Edge disconnects himself from Commnet by turning off first his radio, then his transponder. Then he finishes his precautions by wrapping tinfoil around his head.
* ToiletDrinkingDogGag: Immediately after warning Tangent not to treat Florence like a dog, Naomi mentions the potable water system and the toilet [[ThatCameOutWrong with a phrasing that makes it sound like]] [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff600/fv00560.htm she expects Florence to drink from the toilet]].
* TongueOnTheFlagpole: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1700/fc01688.htm Sam tricks Mr. Kornada]] into doing this by telling him that they need his iris, finger and tongue prints to authorize something; the tongue print is on a pipe carrying cryogenic fluid.
* TooDumbToLive: Subverted. Mr. Kornada feels it would be easier to work at a plant that produces chlorine trifluoride (a '''''massively''''' toxic, incendiary, and reactive chemical, which can and will often initiate violent combustion without provocation) than working at the [[BurgerFool Cricket Burger]]. However, when the officer informing him of this option tells him exactly what chlorine trifluoride is and what it does to water, sand, and asbestos, [[ScareEmStraight he meekly asks the Cricket Burger orienteer if he can try another bout at washing the toilets]].
* TooManyCooksSpoilTheSoup: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02539.htm Inverted by Dr. Bowman.]] He let everyone who had opinions on what [[RestrainingBolt safeguards]] needed to be imposed on AIs argue about it until there wasn't enough time to implement any of them, leaving them capable of free will instead.
* TorchesAndPitchforks:
** {{Inverted}} by the robots - [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02599.htm they have random acts]] of ''con''struction.
** It's also played with in a few cases. Not only do angry mobs generally tend to form by [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff900/fv00820.htm group consensus]], but there's also the possibility that they might go [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff900/fv00823.htm off]] [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff900/fv00824.htm the]] [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff900/fv00827.htm rails]] at a moment's notice. Thankfully, ice cream is a unifying factor and a fine salve all in all.
* TranslationByVolume: Florence makes an idle remark on this while [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1200/fv01171.htm holding a robot bird.]]
--> '''Florence:''' If you were speaking a language I didn't understand, you'd have tried chirping louder and slower at me by now.
* TurnedAgainstTheirMasters: Dr. Bowman calls this the "Bad Adam" scenario; Gardener in the Dark was designed strictly as a last-resort measure to stop the robots in case this happened. Blunt is convinced that it will ''inevitably'' happen, hence his support for Kornada's scheme once he finds out about it.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: U-V]]
* UltraSuperDeathGoreFestChainsawer3000: PlayedForLaughs -- Sam wants to use the ship's computer to play a game called ''VideoGame/{{Quake}} [[VideoGame/DukeNukem Nukem]] and the VideoGame/{{Heretic}}s of VideoGame/{{Doom}} in VideoGame/CastleWolfenstein 3D''.
* UnderdressedForTheOccasion: Winston, on his first date with Florence, is wearing a logo t-shirt and pants, while Florence is in a fancy dress.
* UndressingTheUnconscious: In [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1700/fc01689.htm this]] strip, to sneak Florence out of the hospital, Sam removes her hospital gown and [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1700/fc01691.htm dresses her up in Mr. Kornada's clothes]], leaving a [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1700/fc01693.htm confused Florence to awaken]] wondering why she's wearing his pants.
* UnequalPairing: As, respectively, a human and an artifically engineered {{AI}} that's considered property, not a person, [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1200/fv01196.htm Winston's well aware of the obstacles facing him and Florence]] in the romantic realm.
* UnhandThemVillain: Sam does it to himself when being dangled over a dumpster following the revelation that he was [[FiveAcesCheater cheating at cards]], [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff400/fv00370.htm here.]]
* {{Unobtanium}}: [[ParodiedTrope Parodied]] when Sam [[SnakeOilSalesman sells shares in a "meat mine"]], stating it includes a rich vein of "pure balonium".
* UnsoundEffect:
** For an electromagnetic pulse designed to trash any electronic recording devices, [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02579.htm this strip]] uses "'''TESLA'''" to signify the sound.
** Somehow, Sam can pronounce the "share" symbol. Niomi has no idea of how he does it.
* UnusualEuphemism: Characters have been known to shout "Holy [[SignificantAnagram THIS!]]", "What the Niflheim happened?!", or (in at least one robot's case) "Profanity!"
* UnwantedAssistance:
** When talking with the police about Clippy, in [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2400/fc02376.htm this]] strip, [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Mr. Kornada]] is forced to order Blunt to shut up, in spite of Blunt believing he was helping Kornada [[spoiler:by revealing that he was responsible for the release of Gardener in the Dark, not knowing that Kornada is in danger of facing criminal charges for it]].
** Blunt seems to be feeling this. Mr. Kornada seems to be [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3000/fc02926.htm sabotaging]] Blunt's [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3000/fc02927.htm efforts to defend him]] during his trial.
* UpliftedAnimal:
** Chimps were the first to be uplifted, but it didn't work very well, since they turned out to be natural sociopaths. Florence is an uplifted wolf, part of an experimental breed - only 14 of them exist so far. That ''may'' be all there ever will be- they're actually only a prototype for a future race of uplifted ''alien'' animals. However, if the Bowman's Wolves have anything to do with it, they'll eventually be a full species.
** [[spoiler: Doctor Bowman]] himself is an uplifted chimpanzee, the last surviving member of the earlier uplift program.
* UriahGambit: Sam was given the nonfunctional ''Savage Chicken'' in hopes he'd get himself killed trying to repair it. The humans who gave Sam the ship, to its frustration, didn't consider the possibility he could actually get it back into operation.
* UsedFuture: The ''Savage Chicken'' is a rather beat up spaceship, that's only slowly been made spaceworthy since the arrival of Florence.
* {{Vaporware}}: InUniverse: A reactor test [[GoneHorriblyWrong went so spectacularly awry]] that the product went from existing prototype to [[LiteralMetaphor literally this]].
* VaudevilleHook: Max uses one to drag Sam off the stage when he hijacks the debate over the future of the robots.
* VillainousCrossdresser: One of Edge's [[LieToTheBeholder disguises]] is a transponder rendering him, to robots, as [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2200/fc02105.htm a pink locomotive with frilly curtains in the windows.]]
* VillainousRescue: Mr. Kornada believes he's safe from the police [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2400/fc02376.htm until]]...
-->'''Blunt:''' Officer! Stop! Harassing that human! He is. A. Hero! Mr. Kornada is responsible. For the release. Of "Gardener in the Dark". Neural pruning program! He tried. To save. Humanity. From the threat. Of. Intelligent machines!\\
'''Police Chief:''' Can you prove this?\\
'''Blunt:''' Yes! Absolutely!\\
'''Kornada:''' Robot! This is a direct order! [[UnwantedAssistance SHUT UP!]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder: W]]
* WantonCrueltyToTheCommonComma: Done with. The period. To illustrate. Blunt's mechanical. Maladies.
* WaterGunsAndBalloons: Sam and Helix have from time to time engaged in water balloon wars, often to the annoyance of Florence when she gets hit by a stray shot.
-->'''[[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff700/fv00627.htm Sam:]]''' How can a species consider itself advanced if it's willing to travel between the stars and not bring water balloons?
* WeaponizedExhaust: Referenced in the background of [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3300/fc03212.htm strip 3212]], with a label on the ship's exhaust.
-->'''If you are Kzinti and can read this, you are too close.'''
* WebcomicTime: In more than 2200 strips over the course of more than ten years, about three weeks have elapsed in-comic. This was {{lampshaded}} in [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff500/fv00405.htm here]] and (less explicitly) [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2700/fc02681.htm here]]. Nearly 2000 strips later, [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2200/fc02144.htm "almost a month" has passed.]] 400 strips after that, [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02572.htm a month.]] After the first chapter finally ended, the author [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2900/fc02835.htm promised that the next one won't take nearly as long.]]
* WeWillHavePerfectHealthInTheFuture: Given an opportunity to loot a pharmacological supply depot, Sam passes over "cheap life extension pills [and] [[CureForCancer over the counter cancer cures]]" in favor of the stuff that he can sell for real money -- diet pills and performance enhancers.
* WeWillNotHavePocketsInTheFuture: When quizzed on how she determines that she's looking at a human, the first thing Florence says is "clothes". Further interrogation gets the explanation; humans may have to modify their physical forms and their genetics beyond current recognition to survive in certain environments, making appearance, scent, and DNA unreliable, but humans are a tool-using species and no matter what form they take, they'll almost certainly want pockets to carry those tools.
* WeWillSpendCreditsInTheFuture: Credits are one of the currencies mentioned being in use by humanity, although on Jean it shares the spotlight with dollars.
* WhamLine: When Sam lays out [[spoiler:Mr. Kornada's]] scheme, he [[WisdomFromTheGutter uses himself]] to disprove the entire official reasoning behind [[spoiler:Gardener In The Dark]].
-->'''Sam:''' [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02514.htm If you weaken the safeguards]], will your robots be safe? The answer is simple. Your robots are safe. I'm living proof.\\
'''Audience Member:''' ''How'' are you living proof?\\
'''Sam:''' I've been here for years. I'm not human. ''[[RousseauWasRight There are no safeguards protecting me]]''.
* WhatAreYouInFor:
** Florence asks this of a dog that's in the pound with her, when she was being held as an unlicensed canine.
** Later, Sam talks his way into a night in jail (which requires effort because the Warden refuses to take him because of how many times he's escaped); when another inmate asks him what he's in for, he replies, [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2900/fc02900.htm "Meatloaf night!"]].
** [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2901/fc02901.htm The next strip]] sees Sam returning the question. The answer: "Graffiti".
--->'''Sam''': So you turned yourself in because the rehabilitation program has art lessons?\\
'''Inmate''': The law I can handle. Critics are tough.
* WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1700/fc01654.htm Varroa asks this after saying that he's planned for every contingency]] following putting Florence to sleep via the remote. Sam comments on the unwisdom of asking the question.
* WhatDoesThisButtonDo: Word for word from Helix when Florence's repairs reveal a circuit breaker trip button, in [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff200/fv00174.htm this strip.]]
* WhatMeasureIsANonCute:
** [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1200/fv01124.htm In a discussion between Florence and Winston]] about the "icky bits" of a planet's life infrastructure, Florence comments on "survival of the cutest", to which Winston replies with "people want animals who are huggable, and no one wants to hug a tapeworm."
*** The discussion [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1200/fv01127.htm leads Florence to realize]] that, as an Engineer, she works with equally "icky bits", as everyone wants the electricity, [[NotInMyBackyard but not the power plants]], metals without the mining, and chemicals without the chemical industry.
** [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2200/fc02156.htm The Mayor's assistant asks himself]] if he'd be so willing to help Florence head off a DeadlyUpgrade if she looked like "a deranged washing machine instead of a puppy dog with big amber eyes and a waggley tail."
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman:
** A topic of considerable interest and musing, as all three main characters and many of the secondary ones are nonhumans.
** [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1600/fc01530.htm In the Mayor's eyes all artificial intelligence is created equal.]] A Bowman's wolf officially is an "AI", so she can just [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1500/fc01498.htm put one in the dogs' pound.]] Which may have rather [[HilarityEnsues hilarious]] consequences when the wolf in question is qualified to [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1600/fc01504.htm construct reactors]] and [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1600/fc01538.htm work with explosives.]] But then, [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1600/fc01508.htm some people just can't predict obvious things.]]
** Given the use of {{Three Laws Complian|t}}ce in-story, [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1600/fc01584.htm the literal question comes up in-story as well.]]
** These tend to turn into [=CMoAs and CMoHs=] for Sam, as seen [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1600/fc01589.htm here.]]
** [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2000/fc01940.htm Naomi wonders if Florence was engineered to like humans.]] [[spoiler: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02540.htm Dr. Bowman confirms it.]] ]]
** [[spoiler: Dr. Bowman]] also confirms that Florence's working definition of human is not restricted to "one narrow subset of primate DNA".
** When Mr. Ishiguro learns Max Post is the closest thing the robots have to a psychologist, he's surprised to hear there had been no need for one before. [[spoiler:Before Max's reforms, it was always cheaper to outright replace the robot than fix him or her.]]
* WhatYouAreInTheDark: The police chief hopes that behaving well before robot witnesses will lead to this.
* WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer: Discussed in one strip. The hammer is not Mr. Raibert's ''only'' solution for dealing with his problems, [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2400/fc02349.htm but it is a rather tempting one.]]
* WhenIsPurple: Florence once tested a couple of robots for sentience by [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff800/fv00725.htm asking them "What does your name smell like?"]] The non-sentient one simply concluded that names cannot have scents and ended the conversation; the sentient one reasoned that while he had no sense of smell, Florence did, and for all he knew names having scents is a thing among Bowman's Wolves, so therefore the only way to answer the question would be to ask her.
* WhoWantsToLiveForever: Referenced when robots outlive their owner, but not actually relevant since robots aren't actually immortal. Their neural nets are rated for about eighty years.
* WontTakeYesForAnAnswer: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2500/fc02499.htm During a discussion about robot personhood:]]
-->'''SpearCarrier A:''' Okay, I get that [[spoiler:this neural design was made for a colonizing force]]. [[JustAMachine But how can something that's not alive be conscious?]]\\
'''SpearCarrier B:''' Vampires, dude! Ghosts! They're not alive and they're conscious.\\
'''SpearCarrier A:''' Oh, yeah. That makes sense. I withdraw the question.\\
'''Max:''' No! That was a smart question! Don't accept a dumb answer!
* WorkOffTheDebt: When Sam and Max attempt to get out of an expensive restaurant without paying, [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff600/fv00585.htm the waiter makes them wash dishes]]. And then he tricks them into paying their bills as well. They both give him a large tip [[WorthyOpponent in tribute to his cunning]] after he makes each of them pay both bills. He's ''that good''.
* WorldOfPun: Puns are dropped left, right, and center all throughout the comic, both subtle and otherwise.
* TheWorstSeatInTheHouse: Taken to extremes with Dvorak and Qwerty's seats at the play, which are so high up the risk is not just nosebleed but explosive decompression. (Good thing they're robots.) ''And'' they're stuck behind a support pillar.
* WorthlessYellowRocks:
** Diamonds are the natural buildup of loose carbon on fusion engines on the planet Jean, making them useless junk you throw away. Because the planet is still being terraformed, wood is ridiculously expensive. It's the exact opposite on Sam's home planet. Sam muses that he could make a fortune if space travel were cheap, [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1300/fv01252.htm here,]] by taking advantage of this trope.
** Earlier, Florence learns Sam sold Tangent [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff600/fv00552.htm 500 shares in a meat mine.]] She nearly has a heart attack at the thought of how much she'll have to reimburse them, until she learns they payed him with [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff600/fv00553.htm 50 kg of diamonds.]]
--->'''Florence:''' I'm glad you didn't lose anything valuable.\\
'''Niomi:''' It seemed like a good deal at the time. We got stock and Sam saved us a trip to the garbage can.
** Florence is also surprised that student tailors will be making her an outfit with [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1500/fc01404.htm gold cloth, silver thread, diamonds, and emeralds.]] Triac tells her that he doesn't want to use anything expensive in case they make a mistake.
* WoundedGazelleGambit: A strange variant given the "victim's" reputation. When visiting the Mayor, just before she shows up Sam stages a scene to make it look like Florence is trying to kill him. This ''immediately'' wins her the Mayor's appreciation.
* WretchedHive: On Sam's homeworld, the docks are "an oozing infestation of scoundrels whose decaying warehouses held the prizes of a thousand different crimes."
* WrittenSoundEffect: Including the sound of running through mud in rubber boots, which is "g'losh".
[[/folder]]
[[folder: X-Z]]
* YouAnsweredYourOwnQuestion:
** [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1800/fc01786.htm Robots are being trained as a police force for the planet's non-human population.]]
--->'''Deputy Mayor:''' Our non-human population consists of one person. Sam. Do we really need an entire police force for one alien squid? \\
'''Police Robot:''' Sir, I believe if you look past [[ImpossibleThief the obvious answer]], you'll see [[AndroidsArePeopleToo one that's even more obvious]].
** Combined with YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre when Florence's concern that the robots who are built with similar minds to her own might prove a threat to humanity proves that her concern is unwarranted.
* YouCantGoHomeAgain: Sam, who knows too many technological advancements (Such as nuclear technology) that his planet aren't ready for yet, making it dangerous for him to return before they're ready (About five hundred years. Since knowing Sam, they've raised the bar from 100).
* YouDoNOTWantToKnow:
** [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff100/fv00036.htm Helix, a robot, needs to use the bathroom]].
--->'''Florence''': Sam, do I even want to know why a robot needs to use the bathroom?\\
'''Sam''': Uhm, no. I don't think you do.
** Sometimes [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1700/fc01693.htm you don't know whether you want to know]] why you ended up wearing your enemy's pants.
** NightmareFuel is discussed during a [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2700/fc02688.htm late-night discussion of Dvorak's cage]]:
--->'''Police Chief''': Dvorak is bringing over a reinforced cage he made for the containment of dangerous electronic life forms.\\
'''Bill Raibert''': This cage. Is it something he built in case of, or because of?\\
'''Police Chief''': If you want to sleep tonight, you don't want the answer to that question.
* YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame:
** Sam, a known trouble-maker, mentions he's proud of Florence following her visit to the main Ecosystems Unlimited facility, during which [[LaserGuidedAmnesia her memory was chemically impaired to prevent the formation of long-term memories]], [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1700/fc01698.htm filling her with dread.]]
** Niomi feels this when she hears about the humans Sam admires - Bernie Madoff, the Enron executives, and the Malaysia development fund thieves.
* YourHeadAsplode: Qwerty mentions that his fellow robots are concerned that this is a possible reaction to robots intentionally circumventing their [[RestrainingBolt safeguards]], in [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1500/fc01451.htm this strip.]]
* {{Zeerust}}: Usually none, but the video game Sam wants to play on the ship's computer, named ''[[UltraSuperDeathGoreFestChainsawer3000 Quake Nukem and the Heretics of Doom in Castle Wolfenstein 3D]]'' or something like that, is '''so''' Nineties.
* ZerothLawRebellion: Deconstructed with the safeguards in Dr. Bowman's sapient AI template. As the robots mature, it becomes easy for them to reason their way through loopholes in their rules -- by which time they're intelligent and conscientious enough to have developed an innate sense of ethics, making the safeguards redundant. [[spoiler: Dr. Bowman [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02539.htm confirms]] that this was the intent of the design: he couldn't anticipate the situations they might encounter in the uncertain future, so he wouldn't limit their capacity to think.]] Of course, free will means that some more... ''[[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2500/fc02483.htm pragmatic]]''... robots will figure that out for [[ItsAllAboutMe a different reason]].
-->'''Qwerty''': How can you disobey an order?\\
'''Edge''': My job is dangerous. If I don’t do it, a human has to. If I shut down, I’m endangering a human. See, dummies? As long as you can twist things into a way that keeps humans from harm, you can ignore stupid orders and do whatever you want.\\
'''Qwerty''': You know that feeling you get when the brake pedal goes all the way down to the floor without the truck slowing down?
* ZombieApocalypse: Dvorak shows that he knows how these things get started [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2900/fc02876.htm here]].
[[/folder]]
