History Literature / Uglies

[[AfterTheEnd Three hundred years]] after a petroleum-destroying bacteria and genetically modified orchids went out of control, the humans of the world were forced to rethink their destructive ways and find new ways to adapt. The main character, Tally Youngblood, lives in what appears to be a {{Utopia}}; clothes can be recycled on the spot, the environment is in better shape, and no one goes hungry. However, the people of the world live under a caste system: [[Dangerous16thBirthday once they turn sixteen]], all teenagers are given operations to become "Pretties" which make them beautiful, popular youths who can do what they want all day and night in New Pretty Town. But then Tally's best friend Shay runs off before her operation, and this makes Tally start to question exactly what it means to live in the world she does, and if maybe [[FalseUtopia things aren't what they seem]].

** Tally's parents are on the vapid side and encourage her to do what Dr. Cable says to get her pretty surgery. {{Justified}} for most of the adults in the series, due to the lesions that make them into vapid Pretties.
** The adults that avert this -- the museum guard, the ones driving the helicopter -- are the ones who need their brains for the jobs they have.

* AllThereInTheManual: All the interesting worldbuilding that Westerfeld couldn't put in the books, plus explanations for many of his ideas, are in companion book ''Bogus To Bubbly''. It also addresses, if leaving ambiguous, some {{fanon}}, like that the Rusty Ruins are Seattle, and could easily serve as a sourcebook for a RolePlayingGame set in the ''Uglies'' verse.

* LoveTriangle: Several occur, focusing often around Tally and her relationships. There's Tally, Shay, and David in ''Uglies'' and Tally, David, and Zane in ''Pretties'' and ''Specials''. In Shay's Story we also have Zane, Shay, and David before Zane turns Pretty and then after Shay's operation we have Shay, Zane, and Helen. Tachs, Shay, and David. Even though Shay is ObliviousToLove for most of the book, this is very evident to the reader and the characters eventually make AnguishedDeclarationsOfLove in the text confirming the shipping. Then In ''Cutters'' we have Tachs, Shay, and Zane before Tally has the operation and then afterwards we have Tally, Zane, and Helen once Shay and Tachs become an OfficialCouple.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: WordOfGod says that the brainwashing was originally intended to prevent people from becoming as destructive as the Rusties were.

* WhiteLikeMe: When Tally and Shay are playing around with what they want their new faces to look like in the first book, Tally mentions moving Shay's skintone "closer to baseline" by making it paler. Add to this the fact that everyone's Pretty appearances are actually selected by a committee of doctors, ''not'' by their own preferences, and it seems like the Pretty surgeries often involve being made to look white, or at least having your skin lightened if you're darker.

[[quoteright:214:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Uglies1Cover.JPG]]

''Uglies'' is the collective name given to a series of books by Creator/ScottWesterfeld:

The series is:

* ''Extras'' (A [[SpinOff companion book]])

The series is set in the future, three hundred years after a petroleum-destroying bacteria and genetically modified orchids went out of control, leaving the humans of the world to rethink their destructive ways.

Indeed, at first glance, this future seems to be a better place: clothes can be recycled on the spot, the environment is in better shape, and no one goes hungry. The people of the world live under a caste system: once they turn sixteen, teenagers are given operations to become 'Pretties,' beautiful, popular youths who can do what they want all day and night in New Pretty Town.

Nothing is wrong with the world--or so it seems.

A quick summary of the books can be found [[Recap/{{Uglies}} here]].

There is also a spin-off series called ''Literature/{{Impostors}}''.

The series was first optioned as a film franchise as early as 2006 but has been in DevelopmentHell since then. In 2020, however, it was [[https://people.com/movies/joey-king-starring-netflix-adaptation-uglies-movie/ reported]] that the first book in the series will be adapted as a Creator/{{Netflix}} film, with Joey King in the starring role.

!!This series provides examples of:

* ActionGirl: Tally Youngblood, Shay, Aya Fuse, and Eden Maru. It's also implied that Maddy was somewhat one before David was born. We also have the Sly Girls in Extras and Frey in Impostors.

** Tally's parents are on the vapid side and encourage her to do what Dr. Cable says to get her pretty surgery. {{Justified}} for most of the adults in the series that come off this way due to the lesions that make them into vapid Pretties.
** The adults that avert this -- the museum guard, the ones driving the helicopter, are the ones who need their brains for the jobs they have.

* AerithAndBob: Tally, Zane, Peris, Fausto, Ho, Az, Tachs...David and Andrew Simpson Smith. This is very much on purpose, as the last two are the only characters born outside the city.
** In ''Extras'', Aya, Hiro, Ren, Miki, Udzir and Jai/Kai/Lai/Ai are all names contrasting with Eden Maru, Nana Love and Frizz.
*** ''Extras'' has an interesting twist on this. Aya, Hiro, Ren, Miki, Jai/Kai (though not Lai), and Nana are all rather standard Japanese names for today's time; Eden is not and Frizz not even possible to say using current standard Japanese phonemes. In terms of surnames, however, only Frizz's is a viable surname (Mizuno) and Eden's a Japanese word (''maru'', meaning circle).
* AesopAmnesia: At the beginning of every book Tally has to re-learn why the status quo is bad. But it's justified because it's not stupidity, [[spoiler:(not intentional stupidity at least). In the beginning of ''Pretties'' the Pretty operation has made her vapid and oblivious, while in ''Specials'' she starts out brainwashed to serve the city.]]
* AfterTheEnd: Petroleum-eating bacteria and an overgrowth of genetically modified white orchids cause destruction for the Rusties, who are now regarded as greedy and insane.

* BettyAndVeronicaSwitch: In the first book, we have Tally (A Betty when she joins the Smoke and is a NaiveNewcomer who turns into a Veronica once she accidentally betrays it and tries to save it. This makes Tally much more edgy in the rest of the book), David (Archie throughout the first book), and Shay (Is a Veronica as a fun loving and risk taking Ugly who turns into a Betty once she turns Pretty and is made placid and ditzy.)

* BigBad: Dr. Cable. Subverted with [[spoiler:the Extraterrestrials]] in ''Extras''.
* BitchInSheepsClothing: Shay eventually becomes this, though in ''Specials'' after receiving the cure she becomes the inversion. The exact point that she does is an exercise left to the reader.Though Shay's character is treated with bafflingly little sympathy, considering that her original role was to save Tally from Pretty obscurity by introducing her to another culture only to have Tally return the favor by (mostly unintentionally) betraying her trust, moving in on her crush, and ultimately bringing ruin upon her home.

* BrainlessBeauty: [[spoiler:Enforced. The operation that turns people into "pretties" is also deliberately designed to make them vapid and oblivious in an attempt to keep them from making the same mistakes the Rusties did.]]

* ChildhoodFriends: Tally and Peris, Zane and Croy.

* ComicBookAdaptation: There's a trilogy that tells the story from Shay's point of view.

* CreatorProvincialism: Ai, a non-English speaker, changes her name by adding a new consonant to the beginning, going through the English alphabet in order. Lampshaded in ''Bogus to Bubbly''. [[note]] Jai/Kai/Lai's names change in alphabetical order, which makes no sense for someone who doesn't even speak English.[[/note]]

* DeathOfTheHypotenuse: Tally has two love interests. [[spoiler:She chooses Zane in ''Pretties'', but he dies in ''Specials'', causing her to end up traveling the world with David.]]
* {{Determinator}}: [[spoiler: Tally, full stop. Tally is this in every single book. Shay definitely seems to be this too. David may have shades of this when it comes to persuing Tally and Dr. Cable is a villainous version.]]

* EternalEnglish: Averted, English has become much more flexible and has different grammar rules. Tally comments that old black and white movies are "in an English she could hardly understand."
* EveryEpisodeEnding: With the exception of ''Extras'', the companion book, each book ends [[spoiler:with what the operation Tally receives turns her into, i.e. "pretty" for ''Uglies'' or with the name of a stage of life.]]

** [[spoiler: Also a subverted example, Tally to Aya in Extras. As Aya is very similar to how Tally used to be before she became TheHero. However, Tally is able to warn Aya about the dangers of the world so that Aya won't become a BrokenBird Anti-Heroine like Tally.]]

** [[spoiler:Through no fault of her own, Shay in each book. Starts out on the good side, gets forcibly changed into a Pretty, which leads to her cutting herself to regain her brainpower after learning Tally gave the cure to Zane instead of to her. Then she gets changed into a Special, which puts her on the Face side, and then is forcibly given the cure in ''Specials'' before rescuing Tally in Diego.]]
** [[spoiler:Tally arguably pulls one of these as well, but since it's mind control, it may not count.]]
* FanDisservice: In Specials, [[spoiler:Tally's operation. She's naked, conscious and about to be cut into pieces. Eww.]]
* FantasticCasteSystem: In the tie-in book ''Bogus to Bubbly'', Scott Westerfeld tells about the strict age-defined hierarchy in the society. Littlies (age 0-11) lived with their parents and were the only people allowed to have traditional family bonds. In fact, parents were encouraged only to have one child every 10 years to keep the population down and stop sibling bonds from forming. Uglies (12-16) were forced to move away to dorms and socially programmed to hate themselves and anticipate the upcoming "Pretty" surgery. New pretties were people who had just had the surgery to make them prettier and more complacent, and they were encouraged to live a crazy lifestyle. Middle pretties were pretties with children and jobs. Late pretties or crumblies were the elderly, who often lived to their middle hundreds

* FutureSlang: 'Happy-making', 'bubbly', 'icy'...Mostly notably, the English language has become more flexible. For example, instead of saying "It looks pretty", you could say "It's pretty-making." Amusingly, the author decided the only way to determine if the slang is good enough for a book series and not just silly is to try it out in real life, so he actually did use words like "bubbly" in real conversation without explaining to others what it was all about.

* GreyGoo: In ''Specials'', Tally and Shay [[spoiler: release a vial of silvery nanomachines that eat all but three things: the vial they were kept in, a special black foam, and dirt.]]
* GrossUpCloseUp: Invoked towards the ending of the first act. In order to finally coerce Tally to become a spy for Special Circumstances, Dr. Cable uses a special monitor that shows Tally all of her physical flaws, from her 'fizzy' hair to her 'squinty' eyes. Overwhelmed by her 'ugliness', Tally gives in.

* HerHeartWillGoOn: Approaches Buffy-level in the third book. [[spoiler:Zane rejects his new neural grafts at the same time the war Tally accidentally started jammed Diego's comms network. As a result the doctors don't reach him in time, and he is reduced to a vegetable. They have to switch the life-support off, yet she must dash over to her home city and give herself up.]]
* HeWhoFightsMonsters:
** Defied by Maddy in ''Uglies''; although she wants to try the pretty cure [[spoiler:on Shay]], she won't force it on the latter without "informed consent." As she explains to Tally and David, Specials like Dr. Cable [[spoiler:killed her husband Az by forcing experimental surgery upon him]], and she doesn't want to stoop to that level.
** Played straight by the town of Diego, though. They consider [[spoiler:Tally in Special form]] a weapon and even though they'd need her consent to change her mind, her body can be BroughtDownToNormal. [[spoiler:For Tally, though, it would be a FateWorseThanDeath.]] They then heavily drug her when she throws a temper tantrum and is reduced to begging for it not to happen, and would have succeeded if not for [[spoiler:Shay]].
* HollywoodHomely: Invoked. All of society is conditioned to view surgical, unnatural perfection as the baseline for attractiveness, and to find anyone who just looks like a normal person horribly ugly.

* InstantAIJustAddWater: Moggle from ''Extras''. Despite being a cheap, run-of-the-mill ''video camera''. How's that for a PlayfulHacker achievement?
* LateArrivalSpoiler: Don't read the back of any of the books if you haven't completely finished the previous book. The very first sentence on the backs of ''Pretties,'' ''Specials,'' and ''Extras'' give away, respectively, that [[spoiler:Tally becomes a Pretty, Tally becomes a Special, and Tally brings down the dystopian system at the end of the original trilogy.]]

* LifeInZeroG: The "inhumans", the antagonists of the ''Extras'', are revealed to be [[spoiler:GoodAllAlong. They aren't stealing metal [[NotWhatItLooksLike to build a weapon]], but to build rocketships, hoping to leave Earth, get into orbit, and start farming and establish a society in space to reduce human waste and footprint on Earth. Their bizarre, sometimes terrifying appearances, with prehensile toes and widened eyes, are adaptations made to make life in space easier. They also practice floating in zero-G as much as possible so they can get used to it ahead of time. To do this on Earth, they use hoverball rigs (a common piece of sports equipment in the series' future), setting them to zero-G mode and wearing them 24/7. As a result of the rigs and the body modifications, they've gotten phenomenally good at floating around and using whatever is nearby to propel themselves where they need to go. They call themselves Extraterrestrials, aka, [[TitleDrop Extras]]. The heroes support the Extras' endeavor once it's explained to them, and, to make up for the fact that they [[PoorCommunicationKills destroyed a few of the Extras' ships as a result of the misunderstanding]], help them recruit, attracting several adventurous people to the project]].
* LoveDodecahedron: A little bit once Shay's Story and Cutters is taken into account.
* LoveTriangle: [[spoiler: Tally, Shay, and David in Uglies. Tally, David, and Zane in Pretties and Specials. In Shay's Story we also have Zane, Shay, and David before Zane turns Pretty and then after Shay's operation we have Shay, Zane, and Helen. Tachs, Shay, and David. Even though Shay is ObliviousToLove for most of the book, this is very evident to the reader and the characters eventually make AnguishedDeclarationsOfLove in the text confirming the shipping. Then In Cutters we have Tachs, Shay, and Zane before Tally has the operation and then afterwards we have Tally, Zane, and Helen once Shay and Tachs become an OfficialCouple.]]
* MagicalComputer: Apparently, the protagonist of ''Extras'' saved a ''backup copy of the entire Internet'' on her hovercam (which isn't even exactly a high-quality model). It should be noted that the future's version of the Internet is mostly video data (with some blogging).

* MeaningfulName: Subverted with David and Zane. In ''From Bogus to Bubbly'', Westerfeld reveals that he just chose the names of Tally's two love interests without knowing that both of them mean "beloved". Played straight with a lot of names, though.

* {{Nanomachines}}: In ''Specials'' it's revealed that the Specials have nanobots in their blood to make them heal quickly, and Tally and Shay accidentally destroy a museum with some destructive nanos.

** In ''Uglies'', Tally is given a medallion to use to signal the specials to come take out the Smoke. [[spoiler:She throws it in the fire once she decides to stay in the Smoke, not knowing that damaging the pendant causes it to automatically send out a signal.]]
** In ''Pretties'', she and her new boyfriend find pills to reverse the Pretty brain lesions. [[spoiler:Turns out that the two pills were supposed to be taken by one person. One pill eats the lesions. The second pill stops the first pill from eating the entire brain. This leads to Zane becoming paralyzed.]]
** In ''Specials'', she and Shay [[spoiler:break into a museum and accidentally release an old relic that causes a huge fire. This gives Dr. Cable the excuse to blame Diego and declare war on the other city for housing the runaway uglies.]]
* NoFameNoWealthNoService: Aya Fuse's entire city has a fame and merit economy. You get merits by having a job, going to school, cleaning the streets etc. and can spend them on items or save for a bigger house/apartment. Fame however is what people value, and without fame you cannot get into any parties. They even have a ''ranking system'' for everyone in the city, from the most popular to the most obscure.

%%* NoPoverty
%% * NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity: In-universe in ''Extras'', thanks to their new economy system.

* OncePerEpisode: Each book begins with party crashing. [[spoiler: Every book also has Talky visit the Rusty Ruins and every book ends in a LateArrivalSpoiler for the next book.]]
* OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions: Gods? You mean those invisible superheroes in the sky that the Rusties believed in? Later subverted, in ''Extras'' Aya mentions that the post-mind rain society has rediscovered religion -- there are even Tally Youngblood cults. And then double subverted, as religions are largely out of fashion after the first few years.
* {{Paparazzi}}: In ''Extras'', all the people with high ranks have paparazzi cameras following them at all times.

%%* PostPeakOil: What caused the new world to come into being.
* {{Premiseville}}: New Pretty Town, Uglyville, and Crumblyville. And in ''Extras'', there is also a Prettyville.
* RescueRomance: [[spoiler:Shay saves Tachs from drowning on the way to The Smoke with David in Shay's Story and this leads Tachs to develop a crush on her but he doesn't admit this because she falls for David, but after they both turn Pretty, then they start dating.]]

* RunningGag: Tally's hatred of [=SpagBol=].
* SanityBall: The inverse. Throughout the entire trilogy most of the main characters are suffering from Mind Control or Brainwashing and there are only one or two characters who aren't. Who those one or two characters are changes throughout the books. Averted in Extras, because [[spoiler: at this point Tally has set everyone free.]]
* ShootTheShaggyDog: This seems to be [[spoiler:Zane's tale]]. First we find out he was responsible for the Specials wanting to track down Shay, then [[spoiler: his brain gets eaten up by nanites, crippling him and his girlfriend is brainwashed into becoming a Special.]] Just when it seems that [[HopeSpot he gets the surgery he needs]], his [[spoiler: brain rejects the new implants, and he becomes a vegetable on life support in the middle of a war. The hospital has to take him off it for the other wounded people coming in.]]

** In-Universe. In "Pretties", after a failed attempt to jumpstart her hoverboard, Tally falls asleep to her reoccurring Princess dream. In it, said-princess decides to escape her tower by floating down on a parasol. But as it turns out, the parasol proves incapable of carrying the princess through the air, much less bringing her safely to the ground.
** Throughout "Specials", the cutters think that everything they do is awesome and epic and intimidating. But gradually, [[spoiler: Tally starts to realize that through the eyes of a normal person, some of the things cutters do are crazy at best and [[ColdHam melodramatic]] at worst]].
** Also in the same book, Tally [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] that dramatic exits and/or leaving without saying goodbye can be overly dramatic, even unnecessary at times.
* TomboyWithAGirlyStreak: Most of the female cast in the series. In the original trilogy Tally and Shay are both OneOfTheBoys, {{Action Girl}}s, and they are both hover boarding thrill seekers and adrenaline junkies. They are also each other's only female friends. Even though they both receive a GirlinessUpgrade after they turn Pretty, their only real feminine traits are that they are both a little bit boy crazy and they appreciate romance and the fact that Tally in particular is a bit obsessed with beauty. Though they both display some interest in fashion too. In Extras, Aya is a hover boarding IntrepidReporter, Tech-Savvy Tomboy except for the fact that she is obsessed with fame, celebrities and gossip. Eden Maru is a glamorous sports star. Some of the Sly Girls like Miki may qualify. Although Jai/Kai/Lai seems to be more of a Ladette.

* TranslationConvention: Averted in ''Extras''. Aya does not speak good English.
* TheTrickster: A lot of Uglies are this and it is to be expected in this society. A few of the Pretties are this as well, but it is less common and it's even rarer among Specials, although all of the Cutters quality since they were Crims when they were Pretty.
* TrilogyCreep: ''Extras'' is dedicated to all the people who wrote to the author to "reveal the secret definition of the word 'trilogy'".

* UnusualUserInterface: Most noticeable in ''Extras'', where the characters could view the in-universe equivalent of internet, television, and video games through screens inside artificial eyeballs.
%%* UnwittingPawn[=/=]SpannerInTheWorks: Yep, Tally again.

* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: Sure, it's a utopia of sorts, but Pretties are mindless airheads.

* VillainHasAPoint: Dr. Cable tells Tally in ''Pretties'' that [[spoiler:the reason why the Rusties died out was because they were wasting the resources they had and polluting the earth, though the fuel crisis was a part of it. The Smoke threatened to do that as well by building fires, cutting down trees for rabbit hutches, and other activities that could destroy the planet on a large scale.]] Tally thinks that Dr. Cable is merely trying to test [[spoiler:if she's gotten cured but later on takes these points to heart, and decides with David to monitor the world so that history doesn't repeat.]]
* WeatherReportOpening: ''Uglies'' begins with "The early summer sky was the color of cat vomit." And then describes the diet said cat would need to get all the colors right.

* WhiteLikeMe: When Tally and Shay are playing around with what they want their new faces to look like in the first book, Tally mentions moving Shay's skintone "closer to baseline" by making it paler. Add to this the fact that everyone's Pretty appearances are actually selected by a committee of doctors, ''not'' by their own preferences, and it seems like the Pretty surgeries often involve being made to look white, or at least having your skin lightened.
* WrongGenreSavvy: Tally for most of Uglies, she gets better. Shay for most of Pretties, she gets better too.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Lots of fans on the author's website wondered what happened to Croy. The same goes for Tally's parents, Sol Youngblood and Ellie Youngblood.

* BitchInSheepsClothing: Shay eventually becomes this, though in ''Specials'' after receiving the cure she becomes the inversion. The exact point that she does is an exercise left to the reader.
** Though Shay's character is treated with bafflingly little sympathy, considering that her original role was to save Tally from Pretty obscurity by introducing her to another culture only to have Tally return the favor by (mostly unintentionally) betraying her trust, moving in on her crush, and ultimately bringing ruin upon her home.

* CreatorProvincialism: Ai, a non-English speaker, changes her name by adding a new consonant to the beginning, going through the English alphabet in order. Lampshaded in ''Bogus to Bubbly''.
-->'' '''Note''': Jai/Kai/Lai's names change in alphabetical order, which makes no sense for someone who doesn't even speak English.''
* DarkActionGirl: Dr. Cable[[spoiler:, Shay in ''Pretties'' and Tally in ''Specials''.]]

* EvilCounterpart: Dr. Cable to Tally. Both of them are very smart, sarcastic, and manipulative natural leaders. This becomes much more apparent as the books go on.

^^* MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate: Dr. Cable.

* NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity: In-universe in ''Extras'', thanks to their new economy system.

* OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions: Gods? You mean those invisible superheroes in the sky that the Rusties believed in? Later subverted, in ''Extras'' Aya mentions that the post-mind rain society has rediscovered religion. There are even Tally Youngblood cults.
** And then double subverted, as religions are largely out of fashion after the first few years.

* PluckyGirl: Tally. She [[spoiler:reverses her own ''brain damage'']] through sheer determination.
** Could also have partially been [[spoiler:a placebo effect. Even though the pill she took didn't do anything to fix her, she didn't know that at the time.]]

* RescueRomance:[[spoiler:Shay saves Tachs from drowning on the way to The Smoke with David in Shay’s Story and this leads Tachs to develop a crush on her but he doesn’t admit this because she falls for David, but after they both turn Pretty, then they start dating.]]

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: In-Universe. In "Pretties", after a failed attempt to jumpstart her hoverboard, Tally falls asleep to her reoccurring Princess dream. In it, said-princess decides to escape her tower by floating down on a parasol. But as it turns out, the parasol proves incapable of carrying the princess through the air, much less bringing her safely to the ground.

* TookALevelInBadass: Tally. Arguably all the Specials/Cutters.

** Scott Westerfeld has said that there is going to be more Croy in the future, so that may be answered.

* LeapOfFaith: Finding your way to the Smoke includes making one.

* MeaningfulName: Subverted with David and Zane. In ''From Bogus to Bubbly'', Westerfeld reveals that he just chose the names of Tally's two love interests without knowing that both of them mean "beloved".
** Played straight with a lot of names, though.

* MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate: Dr. Cable.

* BrainlessBeauty: [[spoiler:Enforced. The operation that turns people into "pretties" is also deliberately design to make them vapid and oblivious in an attempt to keep them from making the same mistakes the Rusties did.]]

* AndManGrewProud
* AndThatsTerrible:
--> "If you've just created a cool new building with smart matter supports, you don't want someone coming along and turning that matter into, say, liquid. Because that would be bad."

* AudienceSurrogate: Tally.
* BadGuysDoTheDirtyWork: Dr. Cable in ''Specials''.
* TheBeautifulElite: Taken to an interesting extreme.

* BigBad: Dr. Cable. Subverted with the Extraterrestrials in Extras.

** In ''Uglies''. David's father Az is dead as a result of Dr. Cable trying to install new lesions, and Maddy may have developed a pretty cure but they have no subject on which to test the pills. Tally decides to perform a HeroicSacrifice in offering herself as a test subject, outing herself as the traitor who destroyed the Smoke, and willingly turning herself in to have the operation.

* BreakTheHaughty: Shay in the graphic novels.

* CrapSaccharineWorld: It is a dystopian novel after all.

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: Dr. Cable kills [[spoiler: Az, David's father, when trying to surgically give him LaserGuidedAmnesia]].
* EarnYourHappyEnding

* FirstGirlWins: [[spoiler:David.]]

* FullNameBasis: Andrew Simpson Smith.

* GlorySeeker: Aya Fuse.

* GreenAesop: Sometimes mildly {{Anvilicious}}.

* HealingFactor: The nanos in the Specials' blood.

* [[MagicalComputer Magical Floating Camera]]: Apparently, the protagonist of ''Extras'' saved a ''backup copy of the entire Internet'' on her hovercam (which isn't even exactly a high-quality model). It should be noted that the future's version of the Internet is mostly video data (with some blogging).

* NoPoverty

* PostCyberpunk: Arguably.
* PostPeakOil: What caused the new world to come into being.

* RescueRomance:[[spoiler: Shay saves Tachs from drowning on the way to The Smoke with David in Shay’s Story and this leads Tachs to develop a crush on her but he doesn’t admit this because she falls for David, but after they both turn Pretty, then they start dating.]]

* SuperSoldier: The Specials.

* UnwittingPawn[=/=]SpannerInTheWorks: Yep, Tally again.

* VillainousBreakdown: [[spoiler:Dr. Cable after Tally cures her near the end of ''Specials''.]]

* WeWillHavePerfectHealthInTheFuture: One of the benefits of the Pretty operation.

* FiveManBand: Technically, if Aya is TheChick / SixthRanger.

* BreakTheCutie: Tally becomes progressively more broken as she's dicked about with by the various authorities.Also, Shay in both "Shay's Story" and "Cutters".

* BettyAndVeronica:[[spoiler: In the second book and parts of the third one, we have David(Betty), Tally(Archie), and Zane(Veronica).]]
* BettyAndVeronicaSwitch: In the first book, we have Tally(A Betty when she joins the Smoke and is a NaiveNewcomer who turns into a Veronica once she accidentally betrays it and tries to save it. This makes Tally much more edgy in the rest of the book), David(Archie throughout the first book), and Shay(Is a Veronica as a fun loving and risk taking Ugly who turns into a Betty once she turns Pretty and is made placid and ditzy.)

* BettyAndVeronicaSwitch: In the first book, we have Tally(A Betty when she joins the Smoke and is a NaiveNewcomer who turns into a Veronica once she acidently betrays it and tries to save it. This makes Tally much more edgy in the rest of the book), David(Archie throughout the first book), and Shay(Is a Veronica as a fun loving and risk taking Ugly who turns into a Betty once she turns Pretty and is made placid and ditzy.)

* TomboyWithAGirlyStreak: Most of the female cast in the series. In the original trilogy Tally and Shay are both OneOfTheBoys, ActionGirls, and they are both hover boarding thrill seekers and adrenaline junkies. They are also each other’s only female friends. Even though they both receive a GirlinessUpgrade after they turn Pretty, their only real feminine traits are that they are both a little bit boy crazy and they appreciate romance and the fact that Tally in particular is a bit obsessed with beauty. Though they both display some interest in fashion too. In Extras, Aya is a hover boarding IntrepidReporter, Tech-Savvy Tomboy except for the fact that she is obsessed with fame, celebrities and gossip. Eden Maru is a glamorous sports star. Some of the Sly Girls like Miki may qualify. Although Jai/Kai/Lai seems to be more of a Ladette.

* Love Dodecahedron: A little bit once Shay’s Story and Cutters is taken into account.

* LoveDodecagon: A little bit once Shay’s Story and Cutters is taken into account.

** While it may be a stretch to call them evil, Tally’s parents are shown to be extremely vapid, selfish, clueless and neglectful when it comes to Tally’s needs and could be seen as the EvilCounterparts to David’s parents who actually try to take care of him. Tally notices this in the first book.

[[spoiler: Also a subverted example, Tally to Aya in Extras. As Aya is very similar to how Tally used to be before she became TheHero. However, Tally is able to warn Aya about the dangers of the world so that Aya won't become a BrokenBird Anti-Heroine like Tally.]]

** Also in the same book, Tally [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] that dramatic exits and/or leaving without saying goodbye can be overly dramatic, even unnecessary at times.