History Main / RetroRocket

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Raygun_Gothic_Rocketship.jpg
[[caption-width:260:[[http://www.raygungothicrocket.com/ Bang, zoom, straight to the moon]]]]

During different eras people had different stereotypical visions of alien spacecraft. Sometimes it came from the movies and sometimes it bled into the movies from real life. This design is a classic- it's the standard classic pointy-nosed sits-on-its-fins spaceship. This piece of RaygunGothic comes from the time when T-bird fins were actually seen as futuristic rather than retro. Spaceships were more likely to be referred to as rocketships by excited seven year old boys and the designs could feed off the ongoing space race and concurrent developments which were based around a long steel tube with a pointy tip that had fins on the bottom and belched flames out of its base to reach for the skies.

While once the definitive spaceship image, nowadays you generally only see these as parody or homage.

A few features are particularly common. The design will often necessitate a vertical take off and the fins often are used for the rocket to stand on, leading to one of the style's alternate names: “tailsitters.” Thus many will have a tripod base for its fins. Note that in a setting with both in space, aliens generally got its nemesis—the FlyingSaucer—while this design was predominantly reserved for human characters, modern times have given us the ISOStandardHumanSpaceship in its stead.

Fast Eddie is a dictator! Rise up against the tyrant! -EA

[[Bong milk is good for the brain.:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/werewolf_9693_8856.jpg]]

But you can't tell your boyfriend about it! He'd freak out and leave you, or worse. But then, you can't keep it a secret forever, either. At some point, one of your supernatural incidents will inevitably happen exactly when you were having a romantic dinner. Or maybe your relationship has simply reached the next level, and you feel that you need to be completely honest with him.

So what now? How will he react? Well, it turns out he's perfectly okay (well, for the most part he's perfectly okay) and understanding with it! That's right, as a reward for your sacrifices, the PowersThatBe will make sure that you end up with a truly noble and loving soul who loves you for who you are and doesn't care what you are. So no worries!

This trope is a DoubleStandard, in that wives and girlfriends are pretty much automatically accepting of their ActionHero husband/boyfriend's actions, whereas the number of husbands/boyfriends who automatically accept that their significant other is an ActionGirl are pretty thin on the ground. For the guy who is a super and needs a girlfriend, his powers are often a plus for her (because AllGirlsWantBadBoys). For women, finding a guy who truly doesn't have a problem with dating someone with superpowers when he's a {{Muggle}} is the bigger issue, because, well, NoGuyWantsAnAmazon.

Compare ButYourWingsAreBeautiful, when a disguise forms part of the powers. Compare to ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend for the ActionGirl [[InvertedTrope variant.]] Compare and contrast BoyMeetsGhoul, for the guy/girl who is on the other end of this trope. See also TheMasqueradeWillKillYourDatingLife, which is an aversion of this trope.
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!!Examples:
[[AC:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]
* The central premise of ''[[NogizakaHarukaNoHimitsu The Secrets of Haruka Nogizaka]]''. The titular girl is an otaku.
* Ditto with ''[[OreImo My Little Sister Can't Be This Cute]]''. Except that the guy is not a boyfriend, but the big brother... [[{{Squick}} yeah]].
* Austria from ''AxisPowersHetalia'', in regards to his VictoriousChildhoodFriend Hungary. While he's concerned for her well-being, in the end he knows that if she wants to fight, he better lets her... since she will go [[OneManArmy One Woman Army]] and destroy the enemy. Considering their childhood, [[LoveAtFirstPunch he knows it beforehand]]!
* [[ShamanKing Keiko Asakura]] had been dumped by ''every'' single boyfriend she had when they learnt she was able to see spirits. Until the last JerkAss left her and a penniless musician with similar abilities comforted her. That guy was Mikihisa, and she would marry him.
* Horribly deconstructed with [[spoiler: Shiso and Ceres]] in ''AyashiNoCeres''. [[spoiler: Shiso started like this, but being left helpless when he and Ceres got attacked [[IJustWantToBeSpecial made him very frustrated]], so he asked Ceres to give him a part of her powers [[IWillProtectHer so he wouldn't be a burden on her.]] But then, [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity said powers turned out to be too much to handle]], and ItGotWorse...]]


[[AC:{{Comic Books}}]]
* [[NiceGuy Kong]] is this to [[XMen Kitty Pryde]] in UltimateMarvel, even going so far as to yell "You're welcome!" at AllOfTheOtherReindeer for not thanking her when she saves their lives.
* Back in the GoldenAge, Steve Trevor was this for WonderWoman (a remarkably progressive move for the times), and not at all threatened by the idea of getting rescued by or mooning over a woman who was twenty times stronger than him. The Silver and Bronze Age characterizations of him were...[[TooDumbToLive unfortunately]] [[JerkAss less so]], which probably led to him being deleted from continuity PostCrisis.
* In an old What If comic, Jimmy Olsen married Supergirl because of amnesia. Once she recovers and lets him know, he's totally fine with being married to Superman's cousin.

[[AC:{{Film}}]]
* In ''InnocentBlood'', FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire Marie has her understanding CopBoyfriend Joe.

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]
* Elend in Brandon Sanderson's ''{{Mistborn}}''. At least [[spoiler:until he gets superpowers himself.]]
* Seth in ''WickedLovely''. When Aislinn tells him that she can see faeries, he has exactly one moment of "Is this a joke?" before accepting it and trying to help her with her faery situation.

[[AC:{{Live Action TV}}]]
* The ''GhostWhisperer'' features Jim the Understanding Husband.
* Both [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] and played straight in ''{{Bewitched}}''. The original Darrin (Dick York) was less than understanding, to the point of being downright hostile to Samantha when she used her magic. TheOtherDarrin (Dick Sargeant), on the other hand, tried his hardest to be understanding, the point that it was more the fault of Endora and the rest of Samantha's family that TheOtherDarrin didn't get along with witches.
* Played with in the ''SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'' TV series. Harvey ''does'' leave Sabrina when he finds out she's a witch, not out of intolerance but because she'd been using magic to mess with his life for years. He eventually does come back to her, though, and says he never had a problem with her being a witch per se.
* Zack was the "gay best friend" equivalent of this in ''Series/{{Heroes}}'', at least until ExecutiveMeddling got in the way.
* Unless she's dating one of the undead, Buffy never got this on ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' (even Riley, who was himself a demon fighting super-soldier, had an inferiority complex due to dating a genuine superhero). It's Willow who hit the boyfriend jackpot with Oz; upon being told the truth about the supernatural world she runs in, he replies, "Actually, it explains a lot," and just goes with the flow from there.
* Tyler Ford in ''TheMiddleman'''s unaired season finale (released as a comic)...[[spoiler:at least, until MM pushes the ResetButton]].
* Allison's husband Joe on ''{{Medium}}'' believes in her powers and is understanding and accepting of them.
* In ''{{Series/Merlin}}'', 2x09. Merlin discovers [[spoiler: Freya turns into a bastet at night, but he isn´t afraid and stills takes care of her. He even pets her cat´s head...]]
[[AC:{{Webcomics}}]]
* [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in [[http://wapsisquare.com/comic/understanding/ this]] ''WapsiSquare'' comic. Also the page quote.
* {{Subverted}} (although this may be a retrospective way of seeing it) in ''SluggyFreelance''. Leo seems to be accepting of all the weird things Zoë tells about happening to her - but it turns out that was only because he thought she was lying. In the words of another jerk he hangs out with, "You've got to respect a girl who realizes romantic relationships are based on lies and goes to town with it!" As soon as Leo finds out it was all true, he feels betrayed, and they eventually break off.

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
* [[PhineasAndFerb Candace]] seems to have this with Jeremy. Despite all of Candace's attempts to put a stop to PhineasAndFerb's projects, the guy never, ever seems to lose his cool, and they're still an item.
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* [[JojosBizarreAdventure ZA WARUDO!]]
* ''{{Sonic Adventure 2}}''.
* ''ShadowTheHedgehog''.
* ''Okami''.
* ''{{Onimusha}} 4'': Jubei Yagyu's special ability to slow down time.
* ''MegaManX 5'': When you use Dark Hold. And hence, TatsunokoVsCapcom.
* The Unknown from ''KingdomHearts: BirthBySleep'' will cast Stop on you and rewind time a few seconds to heal himself, with this effect.

[[AC:Other Coloured Indications of Timestop]]
* ''{{Persona 3}}'': The whole world is covered in a green filter during the Dark Hour
* ''DarkerThanBlack'': When Amber/February users her powers she and whoever else she chooses to affect turns gold and is able to move around while the rest of the world is tinted in a strange purple or blue color.
* ''[[{{Discworld}} The Thief Of Time]]'': The visual effects are described in a way that's [[ShownTheirWork actually sort of plausible]]: everything ahead of Lobsang is blue-shifted, while on the one occasion he glances behind him while moving the view is red-shifted to impenetrability.
* In ''PrinceOfPersia: The Forgotten Sands'', the timestopped world is simply darker.
* ''The Girl, The Gold Watch, and Everything'': Uses a red filter.
* ''ShakuganNoShana'': The sky becomes dark red.
* ''{{Bayonetta}}'': The Witch Time tints the world in dark blue.
* ''CardCaptorSakura'': Everything turns a shade of gold.
* ''{{Homestuck}}'': A red zodiac appears on the victim, who flashes red. [[http://mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=003664 As seen here]]. It doesn't seem to be in effect for all timestops though, just some.
* GhostTrick: The ghost world is basically the normal world with time stopped and a tinted filter over it, different ghosts receiving different colored filters.
* RedDeadRedemption has it's bullet time filtered in a sepia screen.
* In ''BunnyMustDie'', the world turns bluish when time stops, red when time is reversed, and yellow when time is slowed.
* In the non-fighting games of TouhouProject, the screen darkens when Sakuya stops time.
* The ''MegaManBattleNetwork'' and ''MegaManStarForce'' games have some chips/cards which freeze the action while they play out; these darken the screen.
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http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Raygun_Gothic_Rocketship.jpg
[[caption-width:260:[[http://www.raygungothicrocket.com/ Bang, zoom, straight to the moon]]]]

During different eras people had different stereotypical visions of alien spacecraft. Sometimes it came from the movies and sometimes it bled into the movies from real life. This design is a classic- it's the standard classic pointy-nosed sits-on-its-fins spaceship. This piece of RaygunGothic comes from the time when T-bird fins were actually seen as futuristic rather than retro. Spaceships were more likely to be referred to as rocketships by excited seven year old boys and the designs could feed off the ongoing space race and concurrent developments which were based around a long steel tube with a pointy tip that had fins on the bottom and belched flames out of its base to reach for the skies.

While once the definitive spaceship image, nowadays you generally only see these as parody or homage.

A few features are particularly common. The design will often necessitate a vertical take off and the fins often are used for the rocket to stand on, leading to one of the style's alternate names: “tailsitters.” Thus many will have a tripod base for its fins. Note that in a setting with both in space, aliens generally got its nemesis—the FlyingSaucer—while this design was predominantly reserved for human characters, modern times have given us the ISOStandardHumanSpaceship in its stead.

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* The Luxion-class starships from ''{{Gunbuster}}''.
* In ''OutlawStar'', the titular CoolStarship is a GeorgeLucasThrowback to this trope, looking like both a classic Retro Rocket and the [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/X-15_launched_bw.jpg X-15 hypersonic rocket plane]]. As a bonus, it launches vertically from planet surfaces, dramatic countdown and all.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* ''{{Tintin}}'s'' rocket from "Destination: Moon" and "Explorers on the Moon" as seen [[http://www.torpedo-emscher.de/wr/union/rakete/img/tintin_rocket10_.jpg here]]
** This is an interesting case as it's combined with a [[ShownTheirWork frighteningly prescient]] depiction of the ColdWar space program. Blueprints and launchpad shown [[http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/rocket3p.html#tintin here]]. The plot is only [[DuelingMovies slightly similar]] to the American film of the same year.
* Anything used by DanDare.
* {{Superman}} is almost always said to have arrived on earth as a baby in a "rocketship,'' and the little ship is almost always depicted this way. John Byrne made it round instead of pointy, but even his version was recognizably a rocket. The only major exception is the movie version, which was a spiky crystalline sphere.
* The ''LegionOfSuperHeroes'' (originally published in 1958) had a clubhouse shaped like this kind of rocket.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film]]
* ''DestinationMoon'' might be the Trope Codifier.
* Though ''{{Woman in the Moon}}'' got there first back in 1929.
* The second ''MenInBlack'' film has this type of ship as part of the SpecialEffectsFailure ShowWithinAShow.
* Honorable mention goes to ''20 Million Miles to Earth'', and ''Film/WhenWorldsCollide'' has a variant which [[http://www.imdb.com/media/rm3091372032/tt0044207 adds wings]].
* The {{Rocketship X-M}} is likely the most phallic Retro Rocket ever seen, until TheSeventies porn spoof ''Flesh Gordon'' of course.
* Speaking of humorously phallic rockets: Dr. Evil's rocket in ''AustinPowers: The Spy Who Shagged Me'', whose shape is described in a HurricaneOfEuphemisms.
* The War Rocket Ajax in the ''FlashGordon'' film its the design.
* The spaceship in ''EarthGirlsAreEasy'' is very much an homage ship. Not a 'tailsitter' but very close to the 1930s 'Flash Gordon' serial ships.
* The P-1 spaceship from the {{Godzilla}} film ''{{Kaiju}} Daisensou'' (a.k.a. ''Monster Zero'' or ''Invasion of Astro-Monster'').
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* Well you can see [[http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/galileo2.jpg from the cover of the book]] how the ''RocketShipGalileo'' by RobertAHeinlein fits in.
* The cover of another RobertHeinlein book: [[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Robert_Heinlein_-_Space_Cadet.jpg Space Cadet]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* This shows up in ''DoctorWho'' more than once. The one that comes to mind is at the start of "Planet of the Ood", where Donna goes gaga over the “proper rocketship” that flies overhead.
** Also any human rocketship from the First and Second Doctor eras.
* ''StarTrek'' has one in the episode ''[[Recap/StarTrekS1E22SpaceSeed Space Seed]]''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''StarControl'' [[BlueSkinnedSpaceBabe Syreen]] ship, [[http://wiki.uqm.stack.nl/Penetrator Penetrator]] "is shaped after the V-2 rocket, [[BreadEggsMilkSquick and a dildo]]".
* There's one of these in ''Myst''. It doesn't actually take you anywhere, but just holds the link to the Selenitic Age. (You link into an identical spaceship, a remnant of the fact that at one point in the game's development you were supposed to fly in the spaceship.)
* Many of the ships in the ''EscapeVelocity'' series, from the humble [[http://www.evula.com/survival_guide/ev-ships/freighters.html#scoutship scout ship]] in the original to the… Rather [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean engorged]] [[http://www.boring.org.uk/evo/ships/igzara.htm Igazra]] from ''Override''.
* ''Gene Wars''
* ''SuperMarioGalaxy''
* The ''{{Pikmin}}'' franchise
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* In ''GunnerkriggCourt'', the Spacemonauts travel to the Moon in one of these.
* The dragons' [[http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20090829.html prison transport]] ship in ''TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob'' has this shape, although it's also stated to have a retractable ramscoop for interstellar flight.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* BugsBunny shorts:
** ''Mad as a Mars Hare'', where Bugs takes a trip to Mars in one of these ships. Watch him land [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoHUGHb97MA starting at 1:50]].
** ''Haredevil Hare''. Bugs [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-3rzM8a0f0 goes to the Moon in one]].
* The Planet Express Ship from ''{{Futurama}}'', though it's horizontally oriented with extendible landing gear. Note the various late Fifties-ish elements in the show: In a show named after a 1939 & 1964 World Fair exhibit, a man who dresses like James Dean is impressed by a RetroRocket.
* ''DuckDodgersInTheTwentyFourthAndAHalfCentury'': both Dodgers' and Marvin's ships.
** Likewise, Dodgers' ship in the 2003 ''DuckDodgers'' TV series.
* In ''WallaceAndGromit: A Grand Day Out'', the duo build an orange rocket of this design. Some later episodes feature smaller versions of this rocket as decorations in their house.
* The [[SpacePolice Space Ranger]] ships in ''BuzzLightyearOfStarCommand''.
* ''{{Thunderbirds}}'' and its craft Thunderbirds 1 and 3. One's a hypersonic plane based on 50s-60s high-tech fighters and X-planes ([=MiG-21=], X-5, X-15) and mid-50s VTOL designs like the XFV and XFY. The other is a rocket ship with a tripod of engines. Both essentially have the same overall shape and impact leading to many seven year old arguments about which one was better. Both fit very well into the trope, aside from TB 1's VTOL abilities in horizontal position.
** The rocket ships in ''Sunprobe'' and ''Day of Disaster'' were each examples of this trope. The [[http://davidszondy.com/future/Thunderbirds/sunprobe.htm Sunprobe]] was a Vostok-style engine cluster with loads of extra fins and a full-on RetroRocket stuck on the nose. The Mars Probe in ''Day of Disaster''...[[http://davidszondy.com/future/Thunderbirds/marsprobe.htm Well, see for yourself]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Other]]
* The [[http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-trophies/2009-hugo-award-trophy Hugo Award trophy]] is in this shape.
* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-2 V2]] is probably the UrExample.
[[/folder]]

* Well you can see [[http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/galileo2.jpg from the cover of the book]] how the ''Rocket Ship Galileo'' by RobertAHeinlein fits in.

* Honorable mention goes to ''20 Million Miles to Earth'', and ''When Worlds Collide'' has a variant which [[http://www.imdb.com/media/rm3091372032/tt0044207 adds wings]].

[[AC:ComicBooks]]

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

[[AC:Manga and Anime]]
* The Luxion-class starships from ''{{Gunbuster}}''.
* In ''OutlawStar'', the titular CoolStarship is a GeorgeLucasThrowback to this trope, looking like both a classic Retro Rocket and the [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/X-15_launched_bw.jpg X-15 hypersonic rocket plane]]. As a bonus, it launches vertically from planet surfaces, dramatic countdown and all.

[[AC:VideoGames]]

[[AC:{{Webcomics}}]]

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]

[[AC:Other]]

* ''StarControl'' [[BlueSkinnedSpaceBabe Syreen]] ship, [[http://wiki.uqm.stack.nl/Penetrator Penetrator]] "is shaped after the V-2 rocket, and a dildo".

* ''StarTrek'' has one in the episode ''Space Seed''.

* The spaceship in ''EarthGirlsAreEasy'' is very much an homage ship.

A few features are particularly common. The design will often necessitate a vertical take off and the fins often are used for the rocket to stand on, leading to one of the style's alternate names: “tailsitters.” Thus many will have a tripod base for its fins. Note that in a setting with both in space, aliens generally got its nemesis—the FlyingSaucer—while this design was predominantly reserved for human characters, modern times have given us the ISOStandardHumanSpaceship in it's stead.

During different eras people had different stereotypical visions of alien spacecraft. Sometimes it came from the movies and sometimes it bled into the movies from real life. This design is a classic- it's the standard classic pointy-nosed sits-on-its-fins spaceship. This piece of RaygunGothic comes from the time when T-bird fins were actually seen as futuristic rather than retro. Spaceships were more likely to be referred to as Rocket ships by excited seven year old boys and the designs could feed off the ongoing space race and concurrent developements which were based around a long steel tube with a pointy tip that had fins on the bottom and blew gas out of its rear to reach for the skies.

A few features are particularly common. The design will often necessitate a vertical take off and the fins often are used for the rocket to stand on, leading to one of the style's alternate names: "tailsitters". Thus many will have a tripod base for its fins. Modern times have given us the ISOStandardHumanSpaceship.

(And, no, this trope doesn't have anything to do with the single-use miniature engines strapped to the old Mercury space capsules, designed to provide thrust in the retrograde direction for the purpose of deorbiting the spacecraft.)

* This shows up in ''DoctorWho'' more than once. The one that comes to mind is at the start of "Planet of the Ood", where Donna goes gaga over the "proper rocketship" that flies overhead.

* ''{{Thunderbirds}}'' and its craft Thunderbirds 1 and 3. One's a hypersonic plane based on 50s-60s high-tech fighters and X-planes ([=MiG-21=], X-5, X-15) and mid-50s VTOL designs like the XFV and XFY. The other is a rocket ship with a tripod of engines. Both essentially have the same overall shape and impact leading to many seven year old arguments about which one was better. Both fit very well into the trope, aside from TB 1's VTOL abilities in horizontal position.
** The rocket ships in ''Sunprobe'' and ''Day of Disaster'' were each examples of this trope. The [[http://davidszondy.com/future/Thunderbirds/sunprobe.htm Sunprobe]] was a Vostok-style engine cluster with loads of extra fins and a full-on RetroRocket stuck on the nose. The Mars Probe in ''Day of Disaster''...[[http://davidszondy.com/future/Thunderbirds/marsprobe.htm Well, see for yourself]].

* Many of the ships in the ''EscapeVelocity'' series, but probably not even most. The [[http://www.boring.org.uk/evo/ships/igzara.htm Igazra]] from ''Override'' is perhaps the most phallic.

** This is an interesting case as it's combined with a [[ShownTheirWork frighteningly prescient]] depiction of the ColdWar space program. Blueprints and launchpad shown [[http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/rocket3p.html#tintin here]]. The plot is only slightly similar to the American film of the same name.

** This is an interesting case as it includes a [[ShownTheirWork frighteningly prescient]] depiction of the ColdWar space program, only European. Blueprints and launchpad shown [[http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/rocket3p.html#tintin here]]. The plot is only slightly similar to the American film of the same name.

** This is an interesting case as it's combined with a [[ShownTheirWork frighteningly prescient]] depiction of the ColdWar space program, only European. Blueprints and launchpad shown [[http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/rocket3p.html#tintin here]]. The plot is only slightly similar to the American film of the same name.

* In ''WallaceAndGrommit: A Grand Day Out'', the duo build an orange rocket of this design. Some later episodes feature smaller versions of this rocket as decorations in their house.

* Though ''FrauinMond'' got there first back in 1929.

* The Planet Express spaceship from {{Futurama}}, though it's horizontally oriented with extendible landing gear. Note the various late Fifties-ish elements in the show: In a show named after a 1939 & 1964 World Fair exhibit, a man who dresses like James Dean is impressed by a RetroRocket.

While once the definitive spaceship image, nowadays you generally only see these as parody or homage, and the [[FreudWasRight phallic resemblance]] of these ships may be {{Lampshaded}}.

* The Planet Express spaceship from {{Futurama}}, though it's horizontally oriented with extendible landing gear.

While once the definitive spaceship image, nowadays you generally only see these as parody or homage.

* The Planet Express spaceship from {{Futurama}}.