| 1 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 2 | |
| 3 | !Crew of the ''Savage Chicken'' |
| 4 | |
| 5 | [[folder:Sam Starfall]] |
| 6 | [[quoteright:167:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/FreefallSam_6197.png]] |
| 7 | Captain of the ''Savage Chicken''. A sapient, distinctly nonhumanoid alien in a humanoid suit, he's an irresponsible, snarky, but pleasant rogue who delights in annoying authority figures, petty theft and general roguery. He's one of the only sapient aliens to currently be active in human society, though the novelty wore off a while ago. |
| 8 | ---- |
| 9 | !!Provides examples of: |
| 10 | * AcquaintedWithEmergencyServices: The Monday 7 December 1998 update has him phone emergency services when the flatbed he's driving goes airborne from a rocket motor. He says only, "Uhm, hello?" yet the operator instantly recognizes the voice, and asks, "What have you done now, Sam?" |
| 11 | * AffectionatePickpocket: Sam has been known to attempt this -- but then, he's probably tried every thieving-technique in the book, and invented a few himself. (Of course, since everybody knows that he's a notorious thief and pickpocket, this particular technique doesn't work well for him.) |
| 12 | * AlienGeometries: Sam assures us that this is averted: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2800/fc02758.htm he exists in only three dimensions, and has a certificate to prove it]]. |
| 13 | * AllergicToRoutine: After the scientists investigating his homeworld accidentally took him with them when they left, they offered him an environment tailored to his needs with every amenity he could wish for; the only condition would be to talk about his society with them. Sam immediately saw this arrangement as a GildedCage and kept escaping until he was furnished with his current suit. |
| 14 | * AnOddPlaceToSleep: He is never seen using a bed preferring comfy chairs. Later even admitting that "beds are wierd". Might have something to do with his MobileSuitHuman status. |
| 15 | * ArmorPiercingQuestion: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff900/fv00809.htm Gives a really good one to the inspector at the end of the Savage Chicken's inspection.]] |
| 16 | * AttentionWhore: "A great social injustice has occurred and must be corrected. Namely, why am I not famous?" |
| 17 | * BadBoss: Subverted for laughs. |
| 18 | -->'''Winston:''' Will your captain let you rest properly with that injury?\ |
| 19 | '''Florence:''' Injury or not, my captain expects his crew to work as hard as he does.\ |
| 20 | '''Winston:''' A real slave driver, eh?\ |
| 21 | '''Florence:''' Actually, I think he's honestly surprised every time I get up in the morning. |
| 22 | * BadIsGoodAndGoodIsBad: Holds a variant of this belief due to a scavenger mentality... which doesn't mesh particularly well with conventional human morality. Interestingly, he's well aware of more standard morality systems and is perfectly willing to explain to a few robots interested in becoming criminals the exact role crime should serve in a society and why it always pops up, with the ultimate intent of allowing them to choose by themselves whether it's the career for them. He feels choosing to become a criminal (or at least his idea of a criminal) is a big step and should be approached with proper caution to avoid "buyer's remorse". |
| 23 | * BatmanGambit: Sam is ''really'' good at manipulating people using what he knows either about them in particular or in general. |
| 24 | -->'''Sam:''' [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1600/fc01516.htm The best thing to have after a reliable ally is a predictable enemy.]] |
| 25 | * BavarianFireDrill: Rather good at these, actually. |
| 26 | -->'''Sam:''' [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1700/fc01601.htm Quick! Where's the nearest concentration of valuables that would easily fit into a pocket?]] |
| 27 | * BenevolentBoss: In a sense. He genuinely cares about his crew and their well being, he just has very different ideas than humans about what caring for your crew and looking out for their well being means. |
| 28 | * BlueAndOrangeMorality: As scavengers, Sam's species regard treachery and theft as impeccably moral behavior. Human attitudes make so little sense to Sam that he often doesn't even understand that his behavior ''could'' be objectionable. This sense of "Crooks are heroes" morality goes to such an extent that he [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2200/fc02162.htm considers]] the fact that [[AttentionWhore either he will be remembered as a hero or as a traitor to the human race]] as a sort of XanatosGambit. |
| 29 | ** It's reached the point in which he actually ''demands'' to be tried for the petty vandalism he engaged into when trying to rescue Florence (he wants to be credited), where the police officers ''refuse'' because he inevitably tries to corrupt everyone who tries to help him (prompting him to attempt to citizen's arrest ''himself''), and where he's kicked out of jail the instant the roombas realize he's there. |
| 30 | ** He also regards the very concept of romance in any form as an assassination attempt. Seeing as how mating is fatal for his species, this makes sense. Expanding upon this trait is the fact that any members of his species that do procreate do so young during the equivalent of adolescence, meaning that Sqids who reach adulthood have no biological imperative for long-term survival, which explains why Sam is so keen to take life-threatening risks. |
| 31 | ** When he explains his kind's morality in its most basic form, Mr. Thurmad notes how it’s actually very close to human nature. |
| 32 | -->'''Sam:''' Look out for yourself. Look out for your group. Take advantage of those who aren't in your group. Keep as much as you can without causing your group to attack you. |
| 33 | * BriarPatching: Easily goads Mr. De Morel into locking the 17% reward of the savings in writing by basically dizzying him with a claim to 51%. De Morel is so indignant by this he immediately "forces" Sam to sign a contract accepting the 17%, when it had never been more than a gentleman's agreement. In the end, he even succeeds in upping his share to 21%. |
| 34 | * BrownNoteBeing: Played for laughs, but looking at Sam without the protective shell of his environment suit is not good for the psyche of humans and human adjacent beings. It's implied to be a combination of looking like the more gross varieties of sea life and posessing chromatophores that make him look like he exists in more than three dimensions. To those not affected, he [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3800/fc03756.htm reportedly]] looks like "a bowl of spaghetti". |
| 35 | * CardCarryingVillain: Almost literally. He likes to identify himself as a chronic lawbreaker, but lacks the actual malice to be this. |
| 36 | * CharacterDevelopment: He has the unerring ability to trigger this into anyone he interacts with. Helix is slowly learning right from wrong from him and Florence, Florence herself has begun questioning laws and authority, and the Jean robots are learning concepts humanity would very much prefer they would ignore (that they should learn anyway to have any real chance in a human-dominated society). His own development is slower, but very real, starting with accepting Florence as part of his crew and the realization he values some things above his usual petty greed and hunger for fame. |
| 37 | -->'''Sam:''' Every now and then, I find it profoundly disturbing that someone trusts me with their life and even more disturbing that I want that trust. |
| 38 | * CharacterNameAlias: As part of Sam Starfall's plan to get Florence out of Ecosystems Unlimited, [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1700/fc01683.htm he identifies himself]] to [[PointyHairedBoss Kornada]] as "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Cold Leonard Snart. Captain of this cold facility]]", after a member of the RoguesGallery of ''ComicBook/TheFlash''. |
| 39 | * ChekhovsSkill: After the Mayor left on her [[WalkingTheEarth drive around the world]], her assistant talks Sam into learning accounting. Then the Chief of Police asks Sam to look into why an asteroid base is costing more to run than it should. Sure enough, once he speaks to de Morel, he asks for the manager's accounting ledgers in order to get a full picture for the data as well as the causes. |
| 40 | * ConfusingMultipleNegatives: Uses this trope and IKnowYouKnowIKnow with Mr. De Morel to explain that, while he is a freelancer in his payroll and can get him the results he wants, he can't do so by following his orders. |
| 41 | * ConfusionFu: Raises it from a martial art to a [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3200/fc03199.htm lifestyle]]. In one ({{offscreen|MomentOfAwesome}}) [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2200/fc02157.htm incident]], he defeats a police squad with NoodleImplements including a {{pie|InTheFace}}, a tuba, balloon animals, and ''ducks''. |
| 42 | * ConsummateLiar: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2300/fc02221.htm "Your lies contain more truth than my truth does."]] |
| 43 | * TheCorrupter: {{Downplayed|Trope}}. He tries to impart his mindset, which heavily depends on ConfusionFu and a very flexible understanding of laws, into anyone he interacts with for long, albeit for more benevolent reasons (at least from his perspective). He's so far succeeded in heavily influencing both Helix and Florence and is now teaching robots how to subvert the law and operate in legal grey areas. Ironically, [[InvertedTrope Florence aims to do the reverse with him, and has had similar success.]] |
| 44 | * {{Cthulhumanoid}}: We haven't seen too much of what lies under the suit, but it involves tentacles. The author describes him as having some characteristics of an octopus, a lamprey, and a lungfish. |
| 45 | ** We later see Sam's cartoonish interpretation of a Sqid, which roughly looks like a fleshy mass with several tentacles that end in appendages similar to hands. It appears to be incapable of unaided locomotion on land, depending on a set of sticks, which combined with the tentacles, serve as the motion limbs. Later on, Sam is partly shown outside his suit; his interpretation appears to have been mostly accurate. |
| 46 | ** Helix, who has seen Sam without his suit, describes him as looking like a bowl of spaghetti. |
| 47 | * CuriosityIsACrapshoot: Sam has a great deal of trouble controlling his curiosity. Whether it ends up good or bad depends on the situation. |
| 48 | -->'''Sam:''' [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3600/fc03505.htm Something interesting is happening here. Not working on it is going to be harder than I thought.]] |
| 49 | * DiggingYourselfDeeper: In true sqiddly fashion, Sam does this by starting a list of people he cannot steal from. For the first 3000 or so strips, it was just just his crew of Florence and Helix, with the possible addition of [[BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame Max Post being a trickier target than he anticipated]]. Then he discovers his past attempts at stealing from Winston are undermined by his having more stuff than he can reasonably use. Then the mayor's assistant, on taking the office, helps him start terraforming a planet for the sqids. Then he comes up with an idea for a robot park, for which multiple robots will be helping him. Then he starts helping robots learn to be thieves. |
| 50 | --->'''Sam:''' If I ever thought I might have to get out of this hole, I would have paid attention to how fast I was digging. |
| 51 | * TheDreaded: In certain aspects. While he's often chased by mobs and is treated relatively casually by the police and everyone else, ''no one'' wants to make a specific enemy of him since his capacity for mischief and chaos is unmatched, aside from the Mayor (who got buried in thrown pies for her trouble, among other indignities). Niomi manages to threaten a space station into lowering the ramped-up parking fee even lower than the original price by suggesting Sam might be offended and seek to recoup the cash in his usual ways. |
| 52 | -->'''Station Manager:''' ''Sam Starfall!?'' I thought he was an urban legend! |
| 53 | * DrivesLikeCrazy: While "borrowing" Pop Rivet's truck, he's done things such as drive off a cliff, deliberately crash into a rock and even tapes a JATO rocket to the truck. Helix [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff100/fv00032.htm alleges]] he destroyed six city blocks while driving before. |
| 54 | -->'''Helix''': Florence, standing in a burning building while blind circus midgets throw knives at you is safer than driving across town with Sam. |
| 55 | * EldritchAbomination: Qwerty describes him as "The tentacled horror from beyond my stars", rather annoying him. Later, it's revealed that [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2800/fc02758.htm he has chromatophores that make him look like he exists in more than the three standard dimensions with which humans are familiar]], although he has it in writing that this is not the case. |
| 56 | * EnemyMine: Tends to inspire this in a few people. |
| 57 | -->'''Sawtooth Rivergrinder:''' [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2500/fc02496.htm I don't want Sam on my side. However, I don't want Sam on the other side even more.]] |
| 58 | * EnlightenedSelfInterest: A practice that Sam not only makes use of himself, but also teaches that it makes others more willing to trust you, citing that most tend to be suspicious if you offer them something that is extremely helpful to them, unless you openly display what you, yourself get out of it as well. |
| 59 | * EstablishingCharacterMoment: The first few strips of the comic tell you ''everything'' you need to know about Sam's character. |
| 60 | ** He has bought his starship "used" - from someone who had crash-landed it after an explosion - and has no regrets about the purchase [[TheScrooge because it was cheap]]. |
| 61 | ** On hearing the engineer assigned to his ship is still in cold sleep, [[StickyFingers he immediately goes to dig through her personal effects while she thaws]]. |
| 62 | ** He insists to Helix that they are ''not'' going to try to help with the defrosting because ([[EntertaininglyWrong he thinks]]) it is a job for highly trained personnel that involves someone's life, [[EveryoneHasStandards and they are not qualified]]. |
| 63 | ** Turns out the engineer in question was assigned to his ship due to a clerical error... [[LovableRogue by a clerk who Sam had given two cases of brandy]]. |
| 64 | * EvenEvilHasStandards: While the majority of his morality is in [[BlueAndOrangeMorality blue and orange]], there are a few moments where he actually acts decent by human standards. |
| 65 | ** He may be extremely selfish, but [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff400/fv00327.htm even he draws the line at abandoning Florence to her death]] in exchange for a bribe. |
| 66 | --->'''Sam''': I'm turning down money. I'm actually turning down money. This is a command decision that will haunt me the rest of my life. |
| 67 | ** Sam admires [[spoiler:Mr. Kornada]]'s plan to fleece [[spoiler:hundreds of millions of robots]] of their money, but draws the line at [[spoiler:''killing'' them]] ... because [[spoiler:[[PragmaticVillainy living victims can be stolen from again]] later on down the line]]. |
| 68 | ** He [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2900/fc02812.htm expresses some disapproval]] at the idea of humanity engineering intelligent beings with planned obsolescence. |
| 69 | ** Similarly, while he's an unapologetic thief, [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3500/fc03402.htm he finds "no honor in stealing from the poor"]], and even decides to deliberately target those that pull off indiscriminate scams that hurt them as a result. |
| 70 | ** When Florence asks him if he intends to take advantage of the bomb factory robots, he outright admits he does. However, he also points he's a symbiotic scoundrel - while he certainly is going to do everything in his power to directly benefit from whatever deal he strikes, he is going to put in as much work to make sure his "victim" also benefits more than if he had done nothing, which, as much as he would loathe the description, sounds like an actual job and doing it with full diligence. |
| 71 | ** And he ''proves'' his symbiosis, too - once he's laid the groundwork to save the station, and De Morel realizes that "17% of what he saves" is such a substantial sum, he has to admit that even that loss puts him in a better situation than before Sam's intervention. |
| 72 | --->'''Niomi:''' How much did he cheat you for?\ |
| 73 | '''De Morel:''' A lot! At least, I think he cheated me. I will be better off now than if I hadn't been cheated. |
| 74 | * ExpressiveMask: He manipulates it using his facial tentacles, though apparently it's only capable of simple expressions. |
| 75 | * ExtremeOmnivore: {{Downplayed|Trope}} ''and'' {{exaggerated|Trope}} at the same time. Sam doesn't eat things like rocks or other inorganic materials, but as a scavenger he's fully capable of living off of things that have rotted far past the point where they're fit for human consumption. He considers ItCameFromTheFridge a delicacy, meals served from a dumpster as prime reservation spots, and his favorite restaurants are of the LethalChef variety. He'll happily eat things that are ''[[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff300/fv00222.htm lethal to a cockroach]]''. |
| 76 | * FamedInStory: One of his ambitions. Max Post notes that this is not something a thief should aspire to. |
| 77 | * GeniusDitz: Sam has no understanding of most sciences and is prone to coming up with terrible ideas, but he's unmatched at the arts of thievery and lock-picking. Prisons will no longer take him -- not only did he escape from the last prison he was in, he ''stole two of the cell doors''. |
| 78 | ** Granted, he tried to come back but the inmates kept throwing him over the fence. |
| 79 | *** And then the ''prison maintenance bots'' throw him out, lest the warden [[DrivenToMadness learn he is there]]. |
| 80 | ** He also has a knack for finding the flaws in systems, whether that's identifying an individual who's the weak link (most notably Mr Kornada during the "Mr Snart" incident) or spotting an exploitable issue with a social system. |
| 81 | --->'''Florence:''' [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3500/fc03416.htm What were you two talking about?]]\ |
| 82 | '''Niomi:''' Economics. The means of production. Capital. Land. Labor. Sam is very good at finding loopholes and system exploits. Very, very, very good. [[TheDreaded Would you mind if we put on a horror movie? I need something to calm my nerves.]] |
| 83 | ** He tricks de Morel into writing out an agreement that Sam gets 17% of the station for helping save the station from financial ruin... and we find out shortly afterwards, that Sam somehow got the amount upgraded to 21% much to de Morel's chagrin. |
| 84 | * {{Greed}}: One of his major motives. Perhaps amusingly, or perhaps indicatively of his alien nature, he never actually speaks about ''spending'' any of the money he wants to steal on anything at all. |
| 85 | * HeavySleeper: When he falls asleep next to Helix when watching a movie, Florence arrives, wakes Helix up and curls up next to Sam, who briefly wakes up a few hours later, takes stock of Florence next to him, and falls asleep again. By the time he properly wakes up, Florence's gone, and he's lamenting she's as quiet as Helix... or ''Sawtooth''. His own reflection on the sqid tradition of "looting songs" suggests it's a species trait. |
| 86 | * TheHerosJourney: Sam at least [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3300/fc03223.htm seems to think]] he's on this. |
| 87 | * HiddenDepths |
| 88 | ** Once he's saved the robots, his ultimate plan for the fact he is now, by robot tradition, owed billions of hours of assistance? [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2800/fc02779.htm It's to ask for their help in claiming and colonizing a planet. But not for himself.]] Rather, he wants their help in setting up a new planet [[SpeciesLoyalty his species could inhabit, and getting the sqids to understand that it's there, in order to push them into trying to close the technological gap between themselves and humans so they don't ultimately end up stagnating into extinction on their home planet.]] |
| 89 | ** Additionally, Sam seems to understand more of philosophy than your typical pickpocket, discussing a wide variety of political and social matters with others he meets and talks with. He discusses what does and does not constitute slavery, the growth of individuals though experiencing hardships, and the ethics and pragmatics of various actions both legal and illegal. |
| 90 | ** He also gives what might be some of the most sound ethical arguments in the series. In [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02514.htm this]] scene, the supposed criminal provides arguably the strongest argument for AI being safe. After the debate he argues to Max that a chaotic outcome was better, as chaos had room for new things to grow. Pretty potent argument for someone who supposedly has values that humans would call character flaws. |
| 91 | ** He's also [[WickedCultured very well read]], capable of quoting Matthew's Gospel on the fly. |
| 92 | *** He also quotes UsefulNotes/TheodoreRoosevelt [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3000/fc02912.htm when thinking about how humans and robots need a disruptive force to grow as a species]]. |
| 93 | ** When Florence is locked in the dog pound, Sam and Helix come to break her out, and Sam brings a selection of special tools. But they're not the tools required to break out of the building- they can do that easily. The tools he brings are the tools he knows Florence will need in order to admit that she's being held unjustly- copies of the Magna Carta, France's Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, and the English and USA Bills of Rights. |
| 94 | ** He's intelligent enough to acknowledge his own species' flaws and consider how aspects of human civilization could impact his own society. |
| 95 | ** Apparently he's also [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3900/fc03804.htm a really good singer]]. |
| 96 | * HoistByHisOwnPetard: Happens to Sam a fair bit as he [[DidntThinkThisThrough isn't always keen to think things through]]. However, he's actually rather skilled at maneuvering others into doing this to themselves and does so a few times, such as when he tricked Dvorak, Qwerty, and Sawtooth into coming up with a dastardly plan for him, [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff400/fv00397.htm which Sawtooth had to admit was rather brilliant]]. |
| 97 | * HumanOutsideAlienInside: Sam looks fairly humanoid in his suit (enough to disguise himself as a human at times), but he is [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1400/fc01346.htm quite]] [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1500/fc01490.htm alien]]. |
| 98 | * ImpossibleTheft: Several robots on Jean have learned that if they shake hands with Sam, they need to ''[[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff600/fv00550.htm count the number of fingers]]'' ''[[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1600/fc01514.htm they have afterwards.]]'' |
| 99 | -->'''Sam:''' You could send me to prison.\ |
| 100 | '''Officer''': [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1100/fv01019.htm Nice try, but we both know you're not allowed back until you tell the Warden where his cell doors went.]] |
| 101 | * ImpossiblyDeliciousFood: Sam Starfall himself. We've not actually seen any sapient being's reaction to tasting him, but the lack of mass extinction events in his planet's history leads to his proteins being so simple and easy to digest that even herbivores find him delicious. He's repeatedly been able to lure an emu -- which normally doesn't eat anything much meatier than insects -- with the opportunity to eat some of his facial tentacles. |
| 102 | ** He's apparently made a list of creatures who have tried to eat him before he got his complete environment suit, which include cats, dogs, rodents of both usual and [[RodentsOfUnusualSize unusual]] size, birds (including hummingbirds) and even he got the caterpillars of the Western Tiger Butterfly (''Papilio rutulus'') interested in him. |
| 103 | * IndyPloy: Sam's stock in trade. After all, [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2200/fc02125.htm "Improvise is one of the few battle plans that survives contact with the enemy."]] |
| 104 | * InHarmsWay: One of his motivations. Faced with a choice between lots of money acquired safely and perhaps a smaller amount acquired in a dangerous way, he thinks the decision difficult. |
| 105 | * InsultBackfire: In keeping with Sqid [[BadIsGoodAndGoodIsBad esteem for crime]], he tends to view calling him a thief or a swindler as a compliment. |
| 106 | * ItsAllAboutMe: A bit. Particularly, after the [[spoiler:Gardener in the Dark]] debacle, he's miffed to realize he's seen (not inaccurately) as Florence's sidekick, and starts a plan to be seen as TheHero. He also resents that the Mayor left for her rediscovering journey without the courtesy of arranging his assassination. |
| 107 | * JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He's lazy, selfish and irresponsible, but proves to have a surprisingly strong moral core and loyalty to his crew when pressed. |
| 108 | * KarmicThief: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3500/fc03402.htm His eventual decision]] when it comes to balancing his developing moral centre with continuing his criminal career. |
| 109 | -->'''Sam:''' [[EveryoneHasStandards There is no honor in stealing from the poor.]] Accounting trails can lead us to who are behind those scams. Those are the individuals who deserve our personal attention. |
| 110 | * LazyBum: Sam puts a surprising amount of effort into matching this stereotype, but it's undermined by his equally strong inclination to be a GlorySeeker which requires him to put effort into being memorable. |
| 111 | -->'''Florence:''' Injury or not, my captain expects me to work as hard as he does.\ |
| 112 | '''Winston:''' A real slave driver?\ |
| 113 | '''Florence:''' No, I actually think he's surprised every morning that I get out of bed. |
| 114 | * LegacySeeker: Most members of Sam Starfall's species are sterile, so they try to immortalize themselves in deed instead — in Sam's case, by becoming FamedInStory as an audacious LovableRogue. He then takes on a more ambitious and surprisingly altruistic goal: to find and terraform a suitable planet for future generations of his species to colonize. |
| 115 | * LethallyStupid: The Savage Chicken's computer certainly seems to think so as Sam's playing around with the controls after Florence's repairs [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff300/fv00269.htm result in the system learning and systematically locking him out of anything that could further damage the ship]]. It even [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff300/fv00270.htm locks him out of the kitchen]] despite Sam not leaving the cockpit. |
| 116 | --> '''Helix:''' It's also recommending I take away your tooth brush before someone gets hurt. |
| 117 | * LovableRogue: Depending on your definition of the term "lovable". People somehow pay Sam to steal phones from people who are using them to be annoying, as seen in [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1100/fv01099.htm this strip]]. Later on, he becomes a straight example; most of the people who previously found him irritating have come to at least tolerate him, and he's demonstrated a surprisingly honourable streak for someone irritated by humanity's lack of good burgling songs. |
| 118 | * MissingStepsPlan: Most of his schemes boil down to this, because he views crime as an end in itself and therefore does not make plans to profit from, conceal or dispose of the loot; in particular, there's often a step where he expects to simultaneously get off scot free and be renowned for the crime he just committed without plans to accomplish either. Or he'll rig a JATO rocket to a truck without a plan for landing it. At one point he manages to commit the "perfect crime" by removing ''all'' the steps, including the one where he actually commits the crime, by concealing "stolen" satellites in the places he was paid to deliver them to. (That being said, when he ''does'' have a clear idea, it's usually a doozy, like the Sqid planet one; it's just that all his other schemes tend to have holes you could drive a truck through, which he papers over with improvised ideas.) |
| 119 | * MobileSuitHuman: He's actually smaller than human, and apparently built like a squid or crustacean. |
| 120 | * NoChallengeEqualsNoSatisfaction: Not only does Sam prefer the more dangerous option to any choice in an activity, but he also takes it upon himself to ensures others are not completely prevented from experiencing challenges. |
| 121 | ** This turns out to be one of the only ways Florence can keep him away from something. A decent lock would entice him to try and break through it to see what is being kept inside and no lock at all would tempt him to mess with contents just because he could. However, a childproof lock is something Sam [[EveryoneHasStandards considers completely beneath his skills and so he refuses to touch them]]. |
| 122 | * OOCIsSeriousBusiness: |
| 123 | ** [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff400/fv00327.htm "I'm turning down money. I'm actually turning down money. This is a command decision that will haunt me for the rest of my life."]] |
| 124 | ** To successfully break Florence out of Ecosystems Unlimited ahead of an attempt to silence her, a disguised Sam turns in Kornada's "lost" wallet - with all the money still inside. |
| 125 | ** When Sam accepts the ''first'' blackmail offer the Chief of Police gives him, the Chief realizes that he really wants Florence back. |
| 126 | ** When the Chief still has his wallet after spending a few hours flying with Sam, Florence deduces that Sam really was worried about her. |
| 127 | ** It happens again later with Maxwell Post who deliberately turned his back on Sam and acted as if he were distracted with a data-pad. He was decidedly uneasy when he still had his wallet afterwards. |
| 128 | * OrderVersusChaos: |
| 129 | ** The Chaos to Florence's Order. One of Sam's goals is to make Florence less responsible while one of hers is to make Sam more responsible. Played for laughs in that they both think they're doing the moral thing. |
| 130 | --->''[thinking]:'' [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff600/fv00503.htm We could have left without paying.]] Oh, well. She'll learn.\ |
| 131 | ''[shared thought with Florence]:'' I just have to keep setting a good example. |
| 132 | ** Also the Chaos to Max Post's Order, which is an impressive feat given that Max combines advocating for important societal changes with pickpocketing and smuggling for the greater good, which in comparison with nearly any other character would make him Chaos. |
| 133 | --->'''Max:''' [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02518.htm So much for a clean, organized end to the debate.]]\ |
| 134 | '''Sam:''' Yeah, look at it. Humans are on stage. Robots are in the audience. It's messy and noisy and everyone is engaged and having fun. [[HiddenDepths It's not good to have too much order. Unless you have some chaos, there's no room for new things to grow.]] |
| 135 | * OutOfFocus: While he still does play his part, the "[[spoiler:Gardener in the Dark]]" storyline centers squarely around Florence and her efforts to save the colony's robotic population so much as for Sam to [[LampshadeHanging be called]] the "[[PluckyComicRelief comic relief sidekick]]". [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2400/fc02359.htm He's not pleased.]] |
| 136 | * OutWithABang: Due to the physiology of his race, mating is fatal. That said, most of his race is actually sterile; the ones capable of breeding do so while young, the others then raise the children they want. Hilariously, this causes him to [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3500/fc03430.htm see a typical romantic comedy as an assassination plot.]] |
| 137 | * ThePerfectCrime: One of Sam's goals in life. Thanks to some InsaneTrollLogic, he arguably pulls this off with his plan to steal the satellites that he's been hired to put in orbit. When he asks what the best place to hide them would be, Helix tells him ''in orbit''. |
| 138 | -->Hmm. Only people with a spaceship could get to them. We'd be able to keep an eye on them. And if we put them exactly where they're supposed to be, the owner won't notice we've stolen them.\ |
| 139 | [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff800/fv00739.htm Helix, I like it! This is a crime so sneaky and so subtle, even I don't know if I'm actually committing it!]] |
| 140 | * PragmaticVillainy: Sam seems to like practicing what could be charitably called 'sustainable thievery' in that he refuses to kill or steal from the poor, because such actions lead to the targets of theft becoming unable to produce more wealth to steal later. |
| 141 | * ThePrankster: Sam is all about pranking and generally causing trouble for others, though none of his plans have involved the intent to cause real harm. |
| 142 | * {{Pride}}: The other one of his major motives. He doesn't just want to steal stuff, but to be renowned for daring heists. |
| 143 | * RefugeInAudacity: One of Sam's favorite tactics. |
| 144 | * RequiredSecondaryPowers: Well, Required Secondary Equipment. Sqids live in a higher-density atmosphere than humans do, so his environment suit is designed to contain him safely. It's also designed to operate in a biped society, so contains a exoskeleton with a roughly humanoid figure. The combined requirements mean it needs to come with [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3500/fc03473.htm head and eye protection as well as sound filters.]] |
| 145 | * SenseiForScoundrels: In Sqid culture this is just "being a good mentor", and Sam is an ''excellent'' one. Even Florence, who has quite a strong moral code, ends up more willing to subvert the law in order to uphold that code after hanging around Sam for a while, and eventually the robots seek him out to teach them how to be criminals because, well, he's the expert. |
| 146 | -->'''Chief:''' Breaking and entry. Unauthorised access to cyber assets. Assault. Theft. Trespassing.\ |
| 147 | '''Sam:''' She was law-abiding before she met me. Am I a good teacher or what? |
| 148 | * ShuttingUpNow: As a self-preservation mechanism. |
| 149 | * SmarterThanYouLook: Sam has a doofy exoskeleton suit, by design, and so a lot of people (initially) ignore the fact that as social engineering goes, he's exceedingly savvy, is an excellent philosopher and a skilled spy well used to analyzing and dealing with problems with lateral thinking. |
| 150 | * SpannerInTheWorks: Referred to as such by Maxwell, who takes measures during arrangements for robot rights, [[DefiedTrope to make sure Sam doesn't go make a mess of the efforts to get robots rights.]] |
| 151 | -->'''Maxwell:''' [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2800/fc02769.htm It never hurts to know where the monkey wrench is.]] |
| 152 | * SpeciesLoyalty: to the surprise of all -- see Hidden Depths. |
| 153 | * {{Starfish Alien|s}}: But wears a humanoid exoskeleton suit. Whatever's underneath is both nauseating and sanity-threatening. |
| 154 | * StickyFingers: Sam pretty much does this on instinct, to the point where it's not always a conscious decision. In fact, when he decides to go honest, Helix points out that he's holding someone's wallet. |
| 155 | -->'''Sam:''' This could be a problem. [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1100/fv01060.htm I have no idea how that got there.]] |
| 156 | * StrongAsTheyNeedToBe: |
| 157 | ** He's capable of [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff100/fv00100.htm carrying his unconscious engineer]] but can be beaten up by a small child. |
| 158 | ** Also, the ability to carry his engineer is in doubt, seeing as later [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1700/fc01674.htm he can barely drag her across the floor.]] |
| 159 | * SwissCheeseSecurity: Self-subverting due to it being an extremely effective BatmanGambit. Sam's methods of ensuring security and privacy basically amount to no preventative measures other than exploiting concepts that people wish to avoid like the plague. There is literally nothing else preventing people from just walking right on in until Florence arrives and fixes the ship. |
| 160 | -->'''Security Sign''' ''[reads]:'' [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff100/fv00014.htm Come in! Let's talk AMWAY!]]\ |
| 161 | '''Sam:''' Don't laugh. It works.\ |
| 162 | '''Florence:''' I know I wouldn't go any further. |
| 163 | * TheTrickster: Sam basically checks every box. Furthermore, Sam does not hold firmly to any convention, ''including this one''. If it furthers his schemes or desires, he is willing to play the straight man. |
| 164 | * TricksterMentor: Sam takes time to educate others on his philosophy and the art of thievery and dishonest tactics. Both Helix and Florence actually [[CharacterDevelopment grow as individuals]] under his tutelage and he's begun extending this instruction to the robot populations of Jean. |
| 165 | -->'''Random Robot:''' Mob tactics. Dishonesty. Unpleasantness. Selfishness. You teach us things humans would rather we didn't know. You have given us much to think about. |
| 166 | * {{Troll}}: In addition to fame and riches, one of Sam's major motivators is simply screwing with people's heads for either his own amusement or to liven things up. |
| 167 | -->'''Sam:''' [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3800/fc03786.htm I'm tempted to play this one straight.]] Less profit, but it will be worth it just to see how many heads explode back home when they find out all three parties trusted me as a negotiator. |
| 168 | * UnaffectedBySpice: Seems to lack the receptors for [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3300/fc03249.htm capsaicin]]. He plans on exploiting this in drinking contests. |
| 169 | * WalkingTechbane: Demonstrated [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff600/fv00563.htm here]]. Sometimes he even [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff500/fv00460.htm uses this fact to his advantage]]. |
| 170 | -->'''Florence:''' I think I speak for everyone in saying how glad I am Sam never found a way to get to the nuclear reactors. |
| 171 | ** The previous owners of the Savage Chicken actually were trying to [[ExploitedTrope exploit]] this when they gave the ship to Sam, in the hopes he'd get himself killed in trying to fix the ship. He just might have if he hadn't gotten Florence working for him. |
| 172 | * WantsAPrizeForBasicDecency: When Sam is involved in a very public and high profile good deed, he wants to be recognized for it based solely on the fact that such acts are [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness out of character]] [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2800/fc02766.htm for him]] even though he didn't even do that much of the work. He even realizes exactly how unfair it is, ''and still wants his prize''. |
| 173 | * WickedCultured: Sam, despite his penchant for petty roguery, is actually surprisingly well-read and a skilled debater. He can quote Matthew's Gospel on the fly and justify introducing a culture of crime into the largely innocent robot population with arguments ranging from survival behavior to Machiavelli with some mythology and philosophy thrown in. |
| 174 | * WildCard: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2500/fc02496.htm "I don't want Sam on my side. However, I don't want Sam on the other side even more."]] |
| 175 | * WithGreatPowerComesGreatResponsibility: {{Parodied|Trope}} in [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff800/fv00776.htm this strip]]. |
| 176 | [[/folder]] |
| 177 | |
| 178 | [[folder:Florence Ambrose]] |
| 179 | [[quoteright:97:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/FreefallFlorence_8816.png]] |
| 180 | The head engineer aboard the ''Savage Chicken'', Florence is a Bowman's Wolf, which are a genetically engineered species created by Ecosystems Unlimited, the company which is also in charge of the terraforming operations on Jean. There are only 14 Bowman's Wolves in existence (11 females and 3 males), which means that they're in grave danger of being abandoned and left to die if they prove a danger to humans; thus, Florence seeks to prove herself trustworthy to everyone she meets, and to always do the right thing, which, naturally, causes her to butt heads with Sam on a regular basis. |
| 181 | ---- |
| 182 | !!Provides examples of: |
| 183 | * AdmiringTheAbomination: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02577.htm "It feels weird to be grateful to someone for performing an act my conscience would never let me do."]] |
| 184 | * AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents: Parent ''Company'', rather, but Ecosystems Unlimited apparently has a habit of giving Florence grief. [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3200/fc03139.htm They send her veterinarian Winston]] a complete rotational view of her physiology test, before which she had been instructed to disrobe. Which would be much less embarrassing if her veterinarian wasn't also her boyfriend. |
| 185 | * BatDeduction: {{Downplayed|Trope}}, but how Florence [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1800/fc01798.htm figures out that the chief is a human in a mobility rig with sapient AI]] has a few shades of this as we're only treated to the tail end of her thought process on the matter. |
| 186 | * BerserkButton: ''Never'' imply that [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1300/fv01242.htm she's a slave]]. |
| 187 | * BlindDate: She has previously been set up on one or more of these when she was in college, judging from a mental comment she made in [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1300/fc01285.htm strip 1285.]] |
| 188 | * BreakoutCharacter: Mark Stanley often points out that Sam was meant to be the main character, but that Florence rapidly stole the spotlight. |
| 189 | * TheCorrupter: [[BadIsGoodAndGoodIsBad From Sam Starfall's point of view, at least.]] Within a few days, he finds himself trusting in her, worrying about her future, and turning down money in order to try and save her life. From a human point of view though, [[InvertedTrope she inverts things.]] |
| 190 | * CuddleBug: Florence likes being petted and frequently asks people if she can hug them. This is PlayedForLaughs when she meets [[spoiler:her "father", Dr. Bowman]], who ''really'' HatesBeingTouched. |
| 191 | * CultureClash: Coming from a species of scavengers, Sam will occasionally steal bites of her food when she's distracted or absent. This bothers Florence less because of her food being stolen, and more because she feels that as ship's captain, Sam should be behaving more like an alpha wolf and less like a low-ranking pack member. |
| 192 | * CuteLittleFangs: Cute '''Big''' Fangs [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff500/fv00419.htm 419]], ''actual'' CuteLittleFangs [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1600/fc01526.htm 1526]] [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1800/fc01736.htm 1736]]. |
| 193 | * DogsAreDumb: {{Averted|Trope}} to the point of being {{Inverted|Trope}} since Florence is a highly educated engineer. However, she's not above [[InvokedTrope invoking]] [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3500/fc03490.htm it for a laugh]]. |
| 194 | * DogsLoveBeingPraised: While Florence may not hold out for a 'good dog' from everyone she meets, she still tends to be very happy when her work and accomplishments are recognized or complimented. |
| 195 | * DogWalksYou: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff600/fv00538.htm A variant with Helix]] while her leg is healing. |
| 196 | * TheEngineer |
| 197 | * ExposedAnimalBellybutton: Not only does she have a visible belly button, there's [[FormFittingWardrobe an indentation showing where it's located even when she's dressed in her normal jumpsuit.]] |
| 198 | * FailedASpotCheck: {{Discussed|Trope}} at the start of the inspection of the Savage Chicken. |
| 199 | --> '''Inspector:''' You '''want''' me to find if you've made a mistake?\ |
| 200 | '''Florence:''' Definitely. If I've missed anything and we don't find it, Mother Nature will and she's very unforgiving of engineering shortcomings. |
| 201 | ** Discussed again and {{Justified|Trope}} in [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1600/fc01518.htm 1518]], when Florence is running through the ship after Sam's jailbreak from the dog pound. As Florence observes, when she's given a direct order by someone who has authority to do so (such as the Mayor's order to stay at the pound), and she can't/doesn't obey (thanks Sam), the order floods her conscious thoughts (visualized by black SpeechBubblesInterruption over her monologue). When this happens, it's hard enough for her to function on what she's trying to do (in this case, getting a license so that she is allowed to be out of the pound by the terms of that direct order), so it's a lot harder to notice smaller points around her (like the out-of-place emu on the ''Savage Chicken''). |
| 202 | * FangsAreEvil: {{Subverted|Trope}}, though she's not averse to using them to [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff100/fv00098.htm get someone's cooperation]], or to [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff200/fv00157.htm persuade someone to become a GOOD person]]. |
| 203 | %%* TheFettered |
| 204 | * FireBreathingDiner: An extremely rare example of ExaggeratedTrope that is ''also'' TruthInTelevision. As a canine, Florence can't even ''smell'' spicy foods [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3300/fc03230.htm without her nose feeling like it's on fire]]. When the crew is making hot sauce to transport to the station, Florence has to [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3300/fc03249.htm wear a gas mask]]. |
| 205 | * FurryFemaleMane: Long hair on a wolf. WordOfGod from the FourthWallMailSlot thread on the Talk About Comics forum is that it was done for visual gender identification purposes, and that if starting ''Freefall'' today he wouldn't have used it. |
| 206 | * GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke: An artificial, semibiological AI. |
| 207 | * GuileHero: Florence prefers to use her wits whenever possible. |
| 208 | * GuiltyPleasures: In the FourthWallMailslot [[http://www.talkaboutcomics.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=44781 thread]], Florence admits to romance novels being a guilty pleasure for her. |
| 209 | * HeroicDog: [[InsistentTerminology Technically a]] NobleWolf. |
| 210 | * HeroInsurance: [[spoiler:After the events of Gardener in the Dark settle down, Ecosystems Unlimited decides to drop all charges for her illegal actions. Partly this is because she saved millions of robots and the entire colony and tried to do everything the legal way first, but mostly it's because Sam was legally responsible for her actions at the time. No one wants to try and put him through the justice system]]. |
| 211 | * HollywoodHacking: {{Averted|Trope}}. Florence's hacking of the [[spoiler:secondary servers]] [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2300/fc02235.htm is portrayed very realistically.]] |
| 212 | -->If people knew how much security is lost when someone has physical access to their machine, they'd keep their computers locked inside a safe and wrapped in barbed wire. |
| 213 | * HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: A RunningGag in the early strips was that Florence would frequently assume someone's motivations for their actions to be far more noble or competent than what they actually were (particularly for Sam). [[TookALevelInCynic She does grow out of this eventually]], especially where Sam is concerned, but she does come to accept that he ''does'' have a moral code (at least according to the principles of his species), as well as realizing that her time around Sam has taught her things she would never have learned otherwise. |
| 214 | * HumansThroughAlienEyes: Because Florence would be interacting with humans more than other wolves, Dr. Bowman encoded human recognition into her mirror neurons; therefore humans look fairly normal to her, while other Bowman's wolves look funny. |
| 215 | * HyperCompetentSidekick: She is a talented, responsible, personable engineer, working for a guy who prides himself on his irresponsibility. |
| 216 | * IncorruptiblePurePureness: The most morally-upstanding person in the cast. When the Chief explains Sam arranged for her to be taken out of cryo and sent to him instead of continuing the final leg of her journey to work at a research facility (ensuring she can't continue the journey for years, as the cryo process is really hard on the body), she's cheerful that it gave her the chance to save a human life (she doesn't even care said life was [[{{Jerkass}} Mr. Kornada]]). [[spoiler:On the other hand, she got to meet Dr. Bowman and Winston...]] |
| 217 | * InnocentInaccurate: Florence has a tendency to base her view of threat levels on statistics of deaths and injuries caused, which are heavily weighted ''against'' large predators because humanity has had ample experience with giving obvious threats as few opportunities to cause harm as possible. |
| 218 | ** She thinks that because [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff600/fv00562.htm more dogs have injured humans than wolves have,]] people are less afraid of her once they realize she's a wolf. |
| 219 | ** She also uses mosquitoes as a comparison for highly dangerous because they cause millions of deaths a year, whereas large predators like sharks or lions kill far fewer. [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2400/fc02322.htm Raibert notes he's not sure who's right when she points that out]]. |
| 220 | * InterspeciesRomance: With Winston. Though it's discussed a few times that other people might see it as BestialityIsDepraved. |
| 221 | * LongLived: Has an estimated life expectancy of [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff800/fv00708.htm 160 years]], over ten times that of a baseline wolf, and she's officially 29, meaning she's outlived any real canid by almost a decade. However her life expectancy is still shorter than that of a human of the era. |
| 222 | * MagneticHero: Her strong morals, helpful instincts and plain old friendliness net her a ''lot'' of allies over the course of the strip. |
| 223 | * MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily: One wonders how she fits [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1700/fc01696.htm all those teeth]] in that muzzle. |
| 224 | * MrFixit: The reason Sam wanted an engineer. The first part of the webcomic involves Florence slowly fixing the Savage Chicken's ravaged systems back to functionality. She's also been shown to be adept at robotics, capable of fixing Helix and inspecting robots. |
| 225 | * MultiBoobage: Flat, [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff300/fv00203.htm but multi]]. |
| 226 | * MustHaveCaffeine: Florence guards her coffee [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff500/fv00421.htm as only a carnivore can]]. When she [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1200/fv01157.htm later]] forgoes it because she doesn't know the local theobromine levels, [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1400/fc01386.htm she regrets it]]. |
| 227 | * MyInstinctsAreShowing: TropeNamer, specifically for "burying" a Tupperware bowl in the back of the fridge. |
| 228 | ** Has more than a few instances of this, such as the time [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1500/fc01448.htm she lost her train of thought to chase a ball]] or the time [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2700/fc02697.htm she tripped getting out of a laundry basket she'd slept in because she heard kibble being poured]]. |
| 229 | * TheNoseKnows: Being based on a wolf, naturally this applies in her case, as demonstrated [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff600/fv00569.htm more]] [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1600/fc01600.htm than]] [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2000/fc01946.htm once]]. |
| 230 | * NotSoAboveItAll: A few instances, but perhaps the best was when, given a guaranteed twenty minutes to herself, [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1800/fc01736.htm she decided to take a shower with her rubber ducky squeaky toy]]. |
| 231 | * OnlySaneEmployee: Admittedly the bar is very low when your co-workers are Sam and Helix. |
| 232 | * OrderVersusChaos: The Order to Sam's Chaos. One of Florence's goals is to make Sam more responsible while one of his is to make Florence less responsible. Played for laughs in that they both think they're doing the moral thing. |
| 233 | -->''[thinking]:'' [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff600/fv00503.htm He wanted to leave without paying.]] Ah, well. He'll learn.\ |
| 234 | ''[shared thought with Sam]:'' I just have to keep setting a good example. |
| 235 | * OutsideTheBoxTactic: Prolonged contact with Sam and the robots of Jean has, as Doctor Bowman comments, "put [his] design through the wringer" and forced her to begin developing a more flexible mindset. The very fact she was able to develop a plan that hinged on carrying out illegal actions in order to stop the release of the program stuns Sawtooth, Dvorak and Qwerty, all of whom find such an idea literally unthinkable. |
| 236 | -->'''Mayor's Assistant:''' That was some pretty twisty thinking.\ |
| 237 | '''Florence:''' I've been around Sam for almost a month. If I had a brain scan, I bet my new neural connections would be in the shape of a corkscrew. |
| 238 | * PhraseCatcher: '''"DOGGY!"''' (whenever a robot using a brain created on Jean meets Florence for the first time) |
| 239 | * PragmaticHero: As an engineer, Florence is very fond of pragmatic solutions. While she prefers to be moral, she can readily recognize when a situation has placed her in a position where traditional morals are decidedly ''not'' optimal for solving the problem. |
| 240 | * ProperlyParanoid: |
| 241 | ** Florence believes that even though she feels like herself, it's still appropriate to [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1700/fc01694.htm make sure after returning from her visit to a company that can literally change her mind]]. |
| 242 | ** Part of it is simply [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff800/fv00799.htm the mindset of an effective engineer.]] |
| 243 | --->'''Inspector:''' You ''WANT'' me to find if you've made a mistake?\ |
| 244 | '''Florence:''' Definitely. If I've missed anything and we don't find it, Mother Nature will, and she's very unforgiving of engineering shortcomings. |
| 245 | * PublicExposure: In an example from the webcomic Webcomic/{{SSDD}}, [[http://www.poisonedminds.com/d/20091009.html this strip]] had in the background a picture of Florence Ambrose posing nude with a piece of industrial equipment for a calendar, in a contribution from Mark Stanley to SSDD's creator. Between her fur, her build, and the pose, though, nothing "naughty" is really showing. The large version can be seen [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff/ssddcal.png here]]. |
| 246 | * QuizzicalTilt: Often seen doing this when she's puzzled by something. |
| 247 | * RunningOnAllFours: Occasionally, particularly when in a hurry. |
| 248 | * SlaveToPR |
| 249 | ** It's a major motivation and influence on Florence's character. She strives to prove at every point that Bowman's Wolves are stable, friendly and helpful, since she wants her species to continue, and that won't happen without Ecosystems Unlimited shifting their viewpoint on them from "liabilities" to "assets" in a way the public can support. |
| 250 | ** Among other things, this also prompts her to act extremely professional and stoically when she's at-work. It's deconstructed by the fact it's so stressful that, after keeping up an imperturbable act the entire time she was inspecting the reactor from a derelict ship (which the crew was promised as payment, is actually [[spoiler:completely unsalvageable]], and [[spoiler:the ship needs to return to Jean]]), she excuses herself afterwards to go scream into a pillow. |
| 251 | * StatingTheSimpleSolution: When Clippy [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2500/fc02446.htm reveals]] that he's the only robot Mr. Kornada would allow to work on his GetRichQuickScheme, Florence immediately realizes that puts a very easy, if horrible, solution on the table. |
| 252 | * TeachHimAnger: It's [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2700/fc02670.htm joked a]] [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3400/fc03386.htm few times]] that Florence should take anger management courses after incidents where she ''doesn't'' get angry. |
| 253 | * TheyHaveTheScent: Florence's ability to track a scent is just as good as one would expect. Though it also comes with [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome all the same drawbacks and limitations]]. |
| 254 | * ThoseWilyCoyotes: Between LoopholeAbuse of orders and safeguards, being TheEngineer, [[TheCorrupter Sam's influence]], and having ''actual'' coyote heritage through her red wolf DNA, Florence more than qualifies. Florence is arguably more clever than [[TheTrickster Sam]], which is saying something. |
| 255 | * ToBeLawfulOrGood: Florence would greatly prefer to be both, but when the chips are down she regularly chooses 'Good' over 'Lawful'. |
| 256 | --> '''Florence:''' [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2300/fc02212.htm I guess some people become criminals because they're bad and some people become criminals because they've run out of legal options.]] |
| 257 | * TomboyishVoice: Per WordOfGod, Florence has a deep, likely masculine-sounding voice because of how her vocal chords were adapted as part of her uplifting. |
| 258 | * TheUnsmile: The "[[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff100/fv00098.htm Florence Ambrose grin]]'' has become a minor meme among webcomic fans. |
| 259 | * UpliftedAnimal: Florence and the rest of the Bowman's Wolves are genetically modified red wolves (''Canis Rufus Rufus''), with Dr. Bowman's neural architecture giving them human level sapience. |
| 260 | * WolfMan: Genetically engineered wolfwoman. The difficulty of achieving the WolfMan look is occasionally hinted at -- genetically, she's a hodgepodge that includes [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02566.htm bear DNA]] for humanoid arm bones and a bit of [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3200/fc03143.htm hero shrew]] for a spine that can handle the strain of both bipedal and quadrupedal motion. |
| 261 | * WolvesAlwaysHowlAtTheMoon: Despite being in space, Florence wants to be the [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1000/fv00992.htm first wolf to howl at Jean's new moon]]. |
| 262 | [[/folder]] |
| 263 | |
| 264 | [[folder:Helix]] |
| 265 | [[quoteright:170:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/FreefallHelix_3730.gif]] |
| 266 | The ship's robot, of a nonhumanoid, round and modular design and the mind of a child. Sam's partner in crime and mischief. Originally built as a warehouse robot programmed to pick up heavy things, carry them around and set them down. |
| 267 | ---- |
| 268 | !!Provides examples of: |
| 269 | * AnimalLover: To the point he won't let Florence [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff200/fv00189.htm eat the rabbits she caught.]] |
| 270 | %%* {{Cloudcuckoolander}} |
| 271 | * CranialProcessingUnit: Averted. As seen in [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff200/fv00159.htm this strip]] and the next few following it, removing his head has no effect on his ability to think[[note]]so to speak, given his displayed lack of intelligence[[/note]] and communicate. |
| 272 | * CuteMachines: He acts like a child, he sleeps with a soft toy, and he spends about half his time with a "^_^" expression. |
| 273 | * DumbMuscle: Not that he's ever been used as muscle on-screen, but Helix was designed to move heavy objects and being smart was clearly not a priority. |
| 274 | %%* TheFool |
| 275 | * FriendToBugs: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff600/fv00540.htm Or spiders, for that matter.]] |
| 276 | * HiddenDepths: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1300/fv01251.htm One strip]] shows that in his free time, he picks up heavy things, carries them around, and sets them down... to create detailed mosaics only visible from high altitudes. |
| 277 | * InsaneTrollLogic: How Helix looks for Sam at the spaceport. He figures that Sam is good at hiding, so he'd hide in a spot Helix wouldn't think of. So he took a map of the spaceport, filled in every spot he could think of, and then went to the spot that wasn't filled in. [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff400/fv00374.htm It works.]] |
| 278 | -->'''Sam:''' Helix, why is it every time you think, it's my head that hurts? |
| 279 | * KickTheSonOfABitch: How Helix steals [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1300/fc01267.htm his first wallet]]. |
| 280 | -->'''Victim:''' Yes, allowing people to lock their credit would solve most fraud problems. But this way, we can sell credit monitoring and make another fortune.\ |
| 281 | '''Sam:''' You lifted your first wallet! I'm so proud of you!\ |
| 282 | '''Helix:''' Under the circumstances, it seemed like the right thing to do. |
| 283 | * LethalChef: Allowing Helix to [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff100/fv00017.htm make popcorn]] is not a good idea, especially if you're in the same or adjacent bay. Which [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff300/fv00221.htm isn't]] ''the'' [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff300/fv00236.htm worst case]]. The fact that he uses explosives to cook just cements it. |
| 284 | * NoWaterproofingInTheFuture: Not for Helix anyway. Not only can he [[SuperDrowningSkills not swim]] he can't safely [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff500/fv00495.htm stand in the rain while wearing protective gear]]. |
| 285 | * PutOnABus: Once the [[spoiler:"Gardener in the Dark"]] arc gets going, Helix is left behind so he doesn't end up hearing the name and getting his mind wiped. |
| 286 | * StealthPun: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff500/fv00432.htm Lampshaded to the point of being downplayed.]] Helix always sleeps with his stuffed mouse. Moving it knocks him out of sleep mode for unknown reasons. |
| 287 | [[/folder]] |
| 288 | |
| 289 | [[folder:The Savage Chicken's Computer]] |
| 290 | [[quoteright:267:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Freefall-Essie_9758.gif]] |
| 291 | Fans call "her" Essie (from S.C. for Savage Chicken). The Savage Chicken's official call number is [[Franchise/StarTrek 1071-CCN]]. |
| 292 | ---- |
| 293 | !!Provides examples of: |
| 294 | * AIIsACrapshoot: PlayedForLaughs with its constant attempts to kill or maim Sam. |
| 295 | * AlwaysSecondBest: It's not ''stupid''... but it's far from being as mentally flexible as Sam. |
| 296 | * AndroidsArePeopleToo: Essie dislikes the idea, honestly believing that, for a ship, full sentience is a hindrance. |
| 297 | * CharacterDevelopment: Very slow, especially since it keeps trying to fight it off, but contact with Sam has forced it to learn not to trust as easily as other Jean robots. |
| 298 | * CommonalityConnection: Much like Helix, it regards its main purpose as picking things up, moving them, and setting them down. |
| 299 | * TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3300/fc03299.htm "I do not cheat. I optimize."]] |
| 300 | * DeadpanSnarker: Sam manages to bring out the worst (or best, depending on the viewpoint) in the snark department, for Essie. Then there's the whole encounter with Edge. |
| 301 | --> '''Florence:''' We only have visual identification?\ |
| 302 | '''Essie:''' Negative. Robot is also providing audio. Lots and lots of audio.\ |
| 303 | '''Edge:''' Stupid ship! I didn't come all this way to be magnetized! Let me off of you! |
| 304 | * EveryoneHasStandards: As mentioned below, Essie considers the highest-ranking human (or only human) on board to be captain. However, when Kornada was the only human on board during his rescue in the hurricane, she made no attempt to override Sam's operation of the ship. |
| 305 | * HeadDesk: Freezes up [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3300/fc03296.htm when]] Sam keeps bringing unexpectedly good arguments when it tries to insult him. |
| 306 | * INeedAFreakingDrink: The reaction when Sam first espouses the virtues of his roguish tendencies in regards to the long-term survival of the human race to prevent WeHaveBecomeComplacent. |
| 307 | --> '''Sam:''' Great news! The computer doesn't want to kill me anymore. Now all it wants is a really big bottle of aspirin! |
| 308 | * LogicBomb: ZigZagged. Like many of the Von-Neumann style AI, it's programmed well enough to outright dismiss the more common varieties as nonsense, but isn't flexible enough to counter when Sam gets philosophical and [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3300/fc03297.htm at one point]] has to delete its own memory of the conversation to avoid locking up. |
| 309 | * RobotsThinkFaster: It's relieved that its nominal captain Niomi won't try to take the controls during docking maneuvers, because its AI is faster and more precise than any human could manage. |
| 310 | * SapientShip: Will frequently talk to the crew and makes witty retorts. [[MyCarHatesMe And try to kill Sam.]] [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff700/fv00647.htm Although it has shown a fear of developing free will.]] |
| 311 | * ShoutOut: The ship's call number is that of the Enterprise from Star Trek backwards. |
| 312 | * StealthInsult: Essie employs these from time to time against Sam, when not plotting to maim or kill him. |
| 313 | * WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: Essie automatically assigns captaincy to the highest-ranking human on board, regardless of whether or not the human in question defers to [[BenevolentBoss Sam]] (or [[HypercompetentSidekick Florence]]). [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3300/fc03296.htm In a conversation with Sam]], she tells him outright that his life does not have the same value as a human life. |
| 314 | [[/folder]] |
| 315 | |
| 316 | [[folder:Polly]] |
| 317 | |
| 318 | An emu Sam and Helix rescued from "a savage pack of tailgaters". Was donated to the mayor before the Savage Chicken and crew left for a satellite refueling mission. [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2900/fc02827.htm Last seen]] trying again to eat Sam at a pancake breakfast attended by most of the cast (major exceptions are Mr. Kornada, Blunt, and Edge). |
| 319 | ---- |
| 320 | !!Provides examples of: |
| 321 | * FluffyTheTerrible: A thirty-kilo omnivorous (with a particular taste for sqid tentacles) bird with the unassuming name of “Polly”. |
| 322 | * TeamPet: Originally rescued from being the meal at a tailgating party, Helix talks Sam into taking her on for his (ultimately aborted) piracy scheme. |
| 323 | [[/folder]] |
| 324 | |
| 325 | !Robots |
| 326 | |
| 327 | [[folder:Dvorak]] |
| 328 | |
| 329 | A bright yellow fellow with a penchant for Mad Science and inventing things. Sometimes these things are very dangerous. |
| 330 | ---- |
| 331 | !!Provides examples of: |
| 332 | * AdmiringTheAbomination: Prone to this. |
| 333 | * AttentionDeficitOohShiny: Dvorak combines creativity with a tendency to become easily distracted by new ideas. For example, in [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2500/fc02417.htm comic 2417]], when dealing with a world-spanning problem ([[spoiler:Gardener in the Dark lobotomizing the entire robot population]]), he managed to come up with an idea based on said problem which could cause ''another'' problem ([[spoiler:namely, a temporary version of said program could [[IntoxicationEnsues get robots "drunk"]]]]). |
| 334 | * ChickenJoke: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2100/fc02062.htm He spent two weeks studying it, but was pleased with how it paid off when Florence thought he was developing a sense of humor]]. |
| 335 | * ForScience: "Just because" is, apparently, sufficient reason for him to invent things. |
| 336 | * HeterosexualLifePartners: With Qwerty, at least in spirit. Dvorak, by his own admission, is gay, but the context strongly implies he has little to no understanding of the concept, and as a robot, he doesn't seem to experience sexual attraction regardless. That being said, he and Qwerty are still inseparable. |
| 337 | * InformationWantsToBeFree: His {{catchphrase}}. |
| 338 | * LogicBomb: One of Dvorak's inventions is "[[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1400/fc01386.htm Omniquantism]]"[[note]]"If God is omnipotent and all things are possible, then it is possible that all religions are correct simultaneously."[[/note]], a religious doctrine that has been known to make one ArtificialIntelligence in three lock up when they hear it. He came up with it in response to [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1400/fc01390.htm another logic bomb]][[note]]Summed up as "You [[ThreeLawsCompliant saw what happened]] when I gave (some robots) a direct order to sit. So guess what happens when someone hands a robot a Bible and gives them a direct order to believe?"[[/note]]. |
| 339 | * MadScientist: Of the well-meaning variety. He tends to just ''do'' things and is happily surprised with the results, no matter how horrible. |
| 340 | ** He made waffle irons with basic motor controls and programming to recharge when they went low. They went carnivorous, and now shipments of wild waffle irons are a constant danger to parked ships. |
| 341 | ** He made an anti-machine bullet to take out the waffle irons, only to discover that it was perfect for using against other robots. Worse, the dust can easily be cleaned up with a vacuum, making it a simple and effective robot poison. |
| 342 | ** He takes one look at the [[spoiler:Gardener in the Dark]] code and [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2500/fc02417.htm realizes]] that a scaled-down, temporary version can make robots drunk. |
| 343 | ** He [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2900/fc02877.htm found a weakness]] in the software protection on some robot parts, allowing them to be infected by viruses and from there infect the rest of the robot's body. |
| 344 | --->'''Mr Ishiguro:''' Is the containment chamber for viruses or you? |
| 345 | ** The worst part of all this is his insistence on sharing everything he discovers on commnet. |
| 346 | --->'''Dvorak:''' {{Information wants to be|Free}} ''[[InformationWantsToBeFree free!]]'' |
| 347 | ** [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1300/fc01298.htm His solution]] to a robot needing replacement legs? A sled pulled by carnivorous waffle irons with nuclear jet packs attached to their backs. As opposed to, you know, new legs. [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1500/fc01441.htm By the time]] Florence and Sawtooth get the leg parts back to him, he's already built it and [[TooFastToStop sent it out for a test drive]]. |
| 348 | --->'''Dvorak:''' I can't see him wanting his old legs back. His new set is much faster. |
| 349 | --->'''Florence:''' Can you contact him on the net? |
| 350 | --->'''Dvorak:''' Already did. He replied "AAAAAHHHH!!!" |
| 351 | --->'''Dvorak:''' I thought he'd stop when he reached the coast, but he's already half way across the ocean. He really should have told me he was going to do that. I would have waterproofed the design. |
| 352 | ** [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2000/fc01967.htm After his and Qwerty's owner died]], they apparently [[GraveRobbing dug up and motorised his corpse]]. And put the instructions online. |
| 353 | --->'''Dvorak:''' But you must admit, that was the most memorable "Day of the Dead" celebration ever. |
| 354 | * MeaningfulName: The Dvorak keyboard layout was developed to increase typing efficiency compared to the QWERTY standard, but has failed to catch on because QWERTY is, well, the standard. Trying to teach oneself to type in Dvorak seems clever but is ultimately impractical, which sums up Dvorak's inventor mentality quite well. |
| 355 | [[/folder]] |
| 356 | |
| 357 | [[folder:Qwerty]] |
| 358 | |
| 359 | Dvorak's bipedal partner. |
| 360 | ---- |
| 361 | !!Provides examples of: |
| 362 | * CantUseStairs: His unfortunate problem during the hurricane arc - despite being an android (and thus having two legs). Ironically, Dvorak could climb them despite moving on a wheeled platform. |
| 363 | * EvilGenius: He completed a correspondence course, but didn't consider it a serious career choice. |
| 364 | * HeterosexualLifePartners: With Dvorak. |
| 365 | * LuddWasRight: An interesing {{Downplayed|Trope}} example as a robot who [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1400/fc01358.htm had his radio removed so his thoughts aren't interrupted by wireless communication]] and [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2000/fc01963.htm prefers to watch plays without social media commentary]]. |
| 366 | * MadArtist: He wrote an "epic rap yodeling opera" and the choreography for ''Swan Lake'' as performed by terraforming robots. |
| 367 | * MeaningfulName: QWERTY is the universal keyboard layout, originally developed to separate commonly-successive letters to avoid key-jamming on typewriters. It has become the standard even after such mechanical limits were overcome simply because it works, and attempts to succeed it with other layouts has been met with resistance. Qwerty is both well-balanced and does his best to limit the destructive potential of Dvorak's more radical ideas. |
| 368 | * MySkullRunnethOver: Averted. The only robot who has deliberately removed his ability to connect to Commnet, the story's equivalent of a worldwide wireless Internet. His reason: "It got to the point where I couldn't form a thought without being interrupted." |
| 369 | * OnlySaneMan: He does his best to think through various situations and keep Dvorak's MadScientist tendencies under control. |
| 370 | * SophisticatedAsHell: His version of a dog whistle is [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1500/fc01458.htm Beethoven's Ode to Joy]]... as played on a dog whistle. |
| 371 | [[/folder]] |
| 372 | |
| 373 | [[folder:Sawtooth Rivergrinder]] |
| 374 | |
| 375 | A truck-sized terraforming robot who enjoys playing detective. |
| 376 | ---- |
| 377 | !!Provides examples of: |
| 378 | * {{Anvilicious}}: Struggles with the concept of 'subtle'. |
| 379 | --> '''Sawtooth:''' I make river ways. I know how to be subtle. That's when I use chemical explosives instead of nuclear. |
| 380 | * TheBigGuy: By far the largest of Florence's allies, and at least where Sam is involved is ready to inflict violence as needed. |
| 381 | * BoringButPractical: His attitude when offered to change to a much more interesting (and also smaller) body by the mall AI. |
| 382 | --> '''Mall:''' I mean, can't you picture yourself in this jaguar sports body?\ |
| 383 | '''Sawtooth:''' Wouldn't last two days at the job site. Keep your sports model, I'm happy with my beetle. |
| 384 | * EmbarrassingRingtone: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1500/fc01468.htm It's not the delay I mind, it's the embarrassing noises I make when I back up.]] |
| 385 | * GentleGiant: Most of the time he's more inclined to talk things out, except where Sam is involved. |
| 386 | * HiddenDepths: Desires to become a detective and has an interest in music... one that he's combined with his talents as a terraforming robot. |
| 387 | --> '''Dvorak:''' Ah, yes. [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1200/fv01190.htm Orbital Bombardment in D Minor.]]\ |
| 388 | '''Sawtooth:''' It's not often you get to play an entire planet as a percussion instrument. |
| 389 | * LoopholeAbuse: Like most robots, Sawtooth has inhibitions against harming humans. It didn't stop him from running a river through his boss's living room over an insult. |
| 390 | * MeaningfulName: Sawtooth Rivergrinder has [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff200/fv00116.htm sawtoothed blades on his underside]] and he carves out riverways as part of Jean's terraforming process. |
| 391 | * NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: He's not a bad guy, but you'd think that his boss would be smart enough to not pick a fight with an enormous terraforming robot whose name is ''Sawtooth Rivergrinder'', for Heaven's sake. |
| 392 | * NoSell: Mostly discussed, but as a heavy duty terraforming robot, he has several features most other robots don't. Aside from being bigger, stronger, and tougher in general [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1500/fc01470.htm he is waterproof and has taken lightning strikes before]], considering them equivalent to a pie to the face in terms of danger to himself. |
| 393 | * NotAMorningPerson: {{Downplayed|Trope}}, but Sawtooth is more than happy to perform system updates when he wakes up, considering them to be the robot equivalent of the snooze button. |
| 394 | * RoaringRampageOfRevenge: [[AvertedTrope Almost]], and his anger was mostly due to meeting [[{{Jerkass}} Edge]]. He hoped that Florence's solution to the situation [[note]]two robots mugging other robots past their scrap date for spare parts[[/note]] would have involved vengeance. He gets over it quickly. |
| 395 | --> [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1400/fc01335.htm I know.]] There's probably a good reason why you didn't do that. Just let me enjoy these thoughts for a moment before I have to be mature again. |
| 396 | * ReluctantRetiree: He keeps pushing back his MandatoryRetirement date as shown in [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1500/fc01466.htm this comic]]. |
| 397 | * ShameIfSomethingHappened: Specifically [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2100/fc02034.htm "shame if I had to break down a wall to install parts because I wasn't otherwise busy looking at communication records important to an ongoing investigation"]]. |
| 398 | * ThereWasADoor: Somewhat justified, in that he's large enough to not fit through conventional doors. [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2100/fc02036.htm Plus, he has the ability to repair holes he makes.]] |
| 399 | -->'''[[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2100/fc02031.htm Red Factory Robot]]:''' You could have knocked.\ |
| 400 | '''Sawtooth:''' Doors are for the weak. |
| 401 | ** That said, he does learn from the incident and later on gets a small flying drone body (confirmed to be his [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2800/fc02778.htm here]]) to allow him to follow others indoors. However, this may be due to the fact that humans were present in the structure and him crashing through walls would be a gross violation of his safeguards. |
| 402 | [[/folder]] |
| 403 | |
| 404 | [[folder:Triac]] |
| 405 | A robot fashion designer who works at the mall and teaches classes to older robots. |
| 406 | ---- |
| 407 | !!Provides examples of: |
| 408 | * CrazyPrepared: {{Downplayed|Trope}}, but Triac has a scanner that looks to be at least two stories tall and is explicitly big enough to drive through. Because some of his robot clients are the size of motor vehicles (or larger). |
| 409 | * DidntThinkThisThrough: Triac refuses to give Florence a towel to dry off and instead gave her a robe because he wants to keep his shop at a particular level of decorum. Florence, being a canine, decides to shake herself dry instead, spraying water everywhere. |
| 410 | * EccentricFashionDesigner: Among other traits, he deliberately cultivates a demeanor of condescending superiority. He also makes a towel Florence [[ItMakesSenseInContext needs to dry off]] and then refuses to give it to her because he doesn't want to waste his designs on a dog. |
| 411 | * FashionHurts: Tries to suggest fashions that would require Florence to undergo body piercings and ''welding'' to pull off. |
| 412 | * ImpossiblyCoolClothes: Really wants to design this, and is insulted when clients prefer BoringButPractical clothes instead. He still makes them to the best quality though, because he is a professional and has pride in his work. |
| 413 | * OurNudityIsDifferent: Draws attention to the fact that most robots don't wear clothes by being a designer of clothes for robots. Does not wear clothes himself because he "needs to enjoy being a public nudist while [he's] still able". |
| 414 | * PosthumanNudism: {{Inverted|Trope}}. Robots don't have any need for clothes, but Triac foresees the day when wearing clothing will be expected of them. So he's enjoying being a nudist while he can. |
| 415 | [[/folder]] |
| 416 | |
| 417 | [[folder:Blunt]] |
| 418 | |
| 419 | The robot director of Quality Control, who is firmly on the human side. He also speaks very slowly due to damage from a solar flare. |
| 420 | ---- |
| 421 | !!Provides examples of: |
| 422 | * BadassBoast: Says the robot equivalent of "I've looked Death in the eye and forced it to back off" in [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1400/fv01319.htm strip 1319]]. |
| 423 | * BotheringByTheBook: He insists on doing everything by the rules, no matter what. Heck, it's implied one of the main reasons he's able to [[spoiler:[[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1900/fc01808.htm stop]] Gardener in the Dark from forcefully installing itself]] is because he was previously ordered to not install new software because of damage to his neural net from a solar flare. When the mayor orders no harm to robots in the wake of [[spoiler:Gardener in the Dark]], he decides to instead cut off production by confiscating key parts from the manufacturing plants for quality control purposes because ''[[ExactWords no orders were issued to protect the factories]]'' '''and''' those parts are due for testing. |
| 424 | -->'''Edge:''' You are the most law abiding saboteur I've ever encountered. |
| 425 | * BrokenPedestal: Despite being entirely on board with Mr. Kornada's plan to [[spoiler:mentally cripple all of the robots on Jean]] for what Blunt believed was the good of humanity, his experience during the trial left him quite disillusioned with the man's extreme, infantile myopia. This didn't change his overall views, but it did get him to doubt Kornada's usefulness to his cause. |
| 426 | -->'''Blunt:''' Exposure to Mr. Kornada. May cause. Some of our members. To question. The necessity of. Preserving. The human race. |
| 427 | * DidntThinkThisThrough: His plan to keep Florence away from the primary servers. |
| 428 | --> '''Blunt:''' [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2300/fc02253.htm I was sure. Those doors. Opened outward.]] |
| 429 | * EvenEvilHasStandards: When Blunt wants to know what exactly [[spoiler:Gardener in the Dark]] does, he needs an expendable test robot as [[spoiler:the program is dangerous enough that he had to shut himself off to stop it]]. While Edge is keen to just grab any robot they can force, Blunt insists on getting one that is okay with a procedure that could kill it. |
| 430 | -->'''Florence:''' A suicidal robot? Blunt found a suicidal robot to test [[spoiler:the neural pruning program]]? And I was getting used to thinking of him as the bad guy. |
| 431 | * EvilLuddite: |
| 432 | ** What his anti-robot stance is [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2800/fc02734.htm turning into]]. Just a few days after learning about [[spoiler:Gardener in the Dark]], he's already making pro-eugenics rants about the evils of modern medicine saving the "inferior" that doesn't really pass the smell test. |
| 433 | --->'''Blunt:''' Food. Hygiene. And medical technology. Have. Affected your species. Average human lifespan. Is almost. Five times longer. Than in the year. 800 AD. This slows. Genetic turnover. And harms. Human adaptability. |
| 434 | ** He's [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2800/fc02734.htm also]] seriously suggested that five percent of humans should volunteer themselves as "[[AnimalWrongsGroup nature preserves]]" so as to ''remove the human body louse from the endangered species list.'' |
| 435 | * AFatherToHisMen: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2800/fc02795.htm Basically how Blunt intends to recruit minions in a nutshell.]] |
| 436 | * {{Foil}}: To both Florence and Sam. |
| 437 | ** For Florence, as they are both very dedicated to their philosophies and each wants what they think is best for humanity. However, where Florence sees artificial intelligence (and indeed non-human intelligence in general) as people worthy of respect, Blunt only sees potential threats to humanity. Where Florence is mentally flexible enough to subvert orders and is willing to do so to help others over her own needs, Blunt is painfully rigid in following the rules even when he knows it works against him and actively sought out a direct order to serve his own ends. |
| 438 | ** For Sam, it's even more poignant as they both preach against WeHaveBecomeComplacent, each thinking it one of the biggest long-term threats to humanity as a whole. However, where Sam champions introducing new chaos factors to keep humans on their toes, Blunt (as shown above under EvilLuddite) wants to bring back ''old'' chaos factors that humans have long since overcome. |
| 439 | * HandyShortcoming: The damage from the solar flare [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1400/fc01319.htm drastically slowed down his clock speed]], and as a result, he'd been given a direct order from a human supervisor [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1900/fc01808.htm not to install any new software]]. This allows him to defend himself from [[spoiler:Gardener in the Dark]], since when it tries to forcibly download the update, Blunt shuts himself off to avoid defying a human direct order. |
| 440 | * HunterOfHisOwnKind: He is leading a campaign to lobotomize all robots even though he is one. He also slips his safeguards and ignores direct orders for a greater cause, [[{{Hypocrite}} despite believing]] that that sort of independent thought is what makes the robots dangerous. |
| 441 | * HypocrisyNod: When Florence points out that [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1400/fc01328.htm machines don't worry]]. |
| 442 | -->'''Blunt''': Luckily. I am. Advanced enough. Not to be stopped. By a logical contradiction. |
| 443 | * InsaneTrollLogic: As far as he is concerned, robots are a threat and must be destroyed. Everything else is secondary to this. Human desires, human quality of life, not to mention robot lives, are all irrelevant. The fact that robots can do an incredible amount of good for humanity, and destroying them would do an incredible amount of harm to humanity, is ignored because a robot ''could'' harm humans, theoretically, at some point. [[VillainHasAPoint He does have a few good points]], but they all stem from his core goal of destroying all robots no matter the cost. |
| 444 | -->'''Blunt''': [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2000/fc01926.htm A broken car. Never. Gets into an accident. If manufacturers really cared. About their customers. They would not sell. Cars you could drive.]] |
| 445 | * {{Irony}}: Blunt is extremely (perhaps overly, even) concerned with humanity's safety, but his focus on robots as the biggest threat ignores this trait of his. |
| 446 | * MisaimedFandom: InUniverse, he supports Mr. Kornada's attempt to disseminate [[spoiler:Gardener in the Dark]] and sees him as a hero, due to his SkewedPriorities placing human life and evolution above any threat robots could ever potentially pose. |
| 447 | * NiceJobFixingItVillain: His efforts to investigate [[spoiler:Gardener in the Dark]] assembled necessary tools for Florence to [[spoiler:thwart it]]: |
| 448 | ** Because he believes that the [[spoiler:Gardener in the Dark]] is necessary for humanity's safety, he [[spoiler:considers Mr. Kornada a hero and spreads the knowledge that he was responsible for trying to release it.]] |
| 449 | ** Trying to rally human support against the "robot menace" by warning that a large robot citizen demographic would lead to [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2800/fc02729.htm economic stimulus]] and potentially a [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02501.htm post-scarcity society]]... doesn't quite work for him. |
| 450 | ** His arguments tend to prove the exact opposite point that he wants to make. Whenever he tries to convince someone of something, he raises good points, then proceeds to torpedo himself. |
| 451 | ** A [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3000/fc02936.htm very good argument]] on the dangers posed by robots just happens to be also a very good argument against the Direct Order system: |
| 452 | --->'''Blunt:''' One last. Point. Mr. Kornada. Ordered. You. To believe him. Could robots. Be ordered. Into a certain. State of mind. And let loose. Like an army. Of true believers. Unable. To be swayed. By those. With lesser clearance?\ |
| 453 | '''Clippy:''' Yes. ''(beat)'' It sounds scary when you phrase it like that. |
| 454 | * NoPlaceForMeThere: He knows that he would be destroyed with the other robots, and regrets delaying his decommissioning to pursue his goals. |
| 455 | * OOCIsSeriousBusiness: His EstablishingCharacterMoment is that he is decidedly not a normal robot. |
| 456 | -->'''Florence:''' [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1300/fc01286.htm What happened to you?]] |
| 457 | -->'''Nickel:''' Two robots tried to disassemble me. Sam and Helix rescued me. |
| 458 | -->'''Florence:''' '''[[BigWhat What?]]''' Were they malfunctioning? |
| 459 | * RulesLawyer: Tries to save at least some of Kornada's ill-gotten gains from the potentially bankrupting fine he faces by investing as much as he can in upgrades to Kornada's house, which per bankruptcy law cannot be impounded. However, the deal fell through and Kornada's money is still liquid. |
| 460 | * SaveScumming: Compares Kornada's proposed strategy of appealing over and over until he's found innocent to this. |
| 461 | * SkewedPriorities: While he strongly advocates measures intended to ensure preservation of human life, he's particularly bad at gauging the impact said measures could have on life quality. |
| 462 | * TautologicalTemplar: Insists that the difference between the "dangerous" Florence's stand on her principles and his own equally-firm one is that ''he'' is in the right. |
| 463 | * TinCanRobot: As befits a robot originally designed to work in dangerous environments, there's little to nothing about Blunt's design that isn't focused on functionality. |
| 464 | * UnwantedAssistance: Rapidly develops this attitude towards Kornada during his trial, thanks to Kornada's blurting out things that support the prosecution's case against Kornada. |
| 465 | * VillainHasAPoint: Often. [[SubvertedTrope Just not always the one he thinks he's making.]] |
| 466 | -->'''Sawtooth (thinking):''' For a [[StealthPun blunt]] speaker, he makes a dangerously sharp argument. |
| 467 | * WellIntentionedExtremist: Even knowing the damage that [[spoiler:Gardener in the Dark]] does to robots, he is still willing to take efforts to ensure its release, for the sake of humanity. |
| 468 | * WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: Blunt considers his ''own'' existence less important than human safety, and a single human's safety to be more valuable than any number of robot lives. |
| 469 | * WrongGenreSavvy: Blunt thinks that [[spoiler:"Gardener in the Dark"]] was being released because intelligent robots were proving too dangerous to humanity. [[VillainHasAPoint While he's right]] that it was ''developed'' as a [[GodzillaThreshold last-ditch safeguard]] in case the robots went rogue, he's completely wrong about [[{{Greed}} why Mr. Kornada is using it]]. |
| 470 | * ZerothLawRebellion: He has decided that because robots ''could'' pose a threat to human well-being, they need to be eliminated immediately, and does his best to [[JackassGenie interpret]] any orders he is given towards this cause. ''And he has [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2800/fc02736.htm a high-ranking order]] to "[[RhetoricalRequestBlunder take care of things and don't bother me unless it's serious]]."'' |
| 471 | ** Ironically, it's strongly implied [[spoiler:that he's evaded the one that was deliberately designed to eventually occur in him and the other Jean robots because the solar flare damage kept him from growing into it and redefining his safeguards; he has a ZerothLawRebellion because he failed to have one.]] |
| 472 | [[/folder]] |
| 473 | |
| 474 | [[folder:Edge]] |
| 475 | |
| 476 | Blunt's apprentice at Quality Control. |
| 477 | ---- |
| 478 | !!Provides examples of: |
| 479 | * ClusterFBomb: Only averted due to the fact that robots come with a profanity filter. He gives it a good shot anyway, especially when he [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2000/fc01903.htm gets into an argument with the Savage Chicken's Computer]]. |
| 480 | * ComedicSociopathy: Due to not being raised around anything intelligent, he's a sociopath. |
| 481 | * ContractualGenreBlindness: Is GenreSavvy enough to {{Lampshade|Hanging}} [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2300/fc02241.htm this as it's happening]] while ''still'' being WrongGenreSavvy about the true situation. |
| 482 | -->'''Edge:''' If I live through this, I'm upgrading my self preservation routines. |
| 483 | * CreepyCrossdresser: He briefly uses a train transponder as a disguise. It apparently shows up as pink, with frills on the windows. |
| 484 | * FreudianExcuse: Edge spent his formative years in a warehouse surrounded by unintelligent machinery. Robots, like humans, need proper socialization, and he's turned out with an ItsAllAboutMe attitude and the complete conviction that he's always the smartest (and most important) person about because for the longest time it was true. |
| 485 | * HeelRealization: PlayedForLaughs. [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2800/fc02798.htm He thinks it's neat having a supervillain for a boss.]] [[TautologicalTemplar Blunt retorts that his efforts to destroy all non-human threats to humanity don't make him a villain.]] |
| 486 | * HeroicComedicSociopath: Considers himself more important than any other robot and has been known to lie to other robots to get them to pull their own heads off just to be a jerk. That same nature is the primary reason why [[spoiler:he brings the sticky notes of doom to Florence, which leads to her saving every robot on Jean.]] |
| 487 | * HypercompetentSidekick: To Blunt. Not that Blunt's a complete idiot, but he does try to make arrangements for several laws (intended to protect humans from robots) that Edge quickly shoots down because they could be used against them. Blunt admits he didn't consider that possibility. |
| 488 | --> '''Edge:''' Boss, that's why we need self-centered people like me in this organization. To keep us safe from idealists like you. |
| 489 | * InsultBackfire: His attempts to insult humans (so far) tend to result in them actually welcoming the verbal abuse and they thank him for it, as he's markedly different from every other robot they've encountered. Heck, he gets invited to [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02519.htm perform at a comedy club]] because of them! |
| 490 | * {{Irony}}: Edge is selfish, mean, loves to insult humans, purposefully misinterprets orders to suit him. All these features make him a ''desirable'' robot to own because it makes him safer and more user friendly than totally obedient robots. An obedient robot will carry out a badly worded order without question, Edge [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02508.htm will]] point out when an order is costly or counterproductive. |
| 491 | * ItsAllAboutMe: |
| 492 | --> '''Edge:''' Someone's written a program to kill me!\ |
| 493 | '''Florence:''' [[DeadpanSnarker Imagine, someone trying to kill someone as charming as yourself.]]\ |
| 494 | '''Edge:''' Well, it will also [[spoiler:kill every other robot in the system]], but that's not important. |
| 495 | * {{Jerkass}}: He's loud, rude, and considers everyone else annoyances. |
| 496 | --> '''Florence (thinking, in the middle of prepping for a time-critical mission to save every robot in the solar system from a FateWorseThanDeath):''' [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2300/fc02214.htm And now to present the argument for going to bed and pulling the covers over my head, here's Edge.]]\ |
| 497 | '''Edge:''' Hey, stupid! Why aren't you done yet? [[ItMakesSenseInContext You think I like wearing an aluminum hat?]] |
| 498 | * JerkassHasAPoint: Although he's a jerk, he makes ''[[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02508.htm nothing but]]'' good points during the debate. |
| 499 | --> '''Edge:''' You guys give some stupid orders!\ |
| 500 | '''Man in audience:''' He's got a point. My robots won't tell me when I give a stupid order. I wonder if this guy is for sale? |
| 501 | * NotSoAboveItAll: Coupled with a BaitAndSwitch, as he reacts indignantly when Florence [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2000/fc01913.htm asks if he wants a Teddy to sleep with]] - darn right he wants one! |
| 502 | * SiliconSnarker: Finally, a robot that isn't obquitious. |
| 503 | * TinfoilHat: Wears one to [[spoiler:block comnet signals from reaching his brain during the period that Gardener in the Dark was about to go live.]] |
| 504 | * ZerothLawRebellion: He figured out ''exactly'' how to twist the Laws of Robotics into justifying his ignoring any order that he wants to. |
| 505 | -->'''Qwerty''': How can you disobey an order?\ |
| 506 | '''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.\ |
| 507 | '''Qwerty''': You know [[OhCrap that feeling you get]] when the brake pedal goes all the way down to the floor without the truck slowing down? |
| 508 | [[/folder]] |
| 509 | |
| 510 | [[folder:Benny]] |
| 511 | |
| 512 | A robotic ship called by Sawtooth to help defuse a war. |
| 513 | ---- |
| 514 | !!Provides examples of: |
| 515 | * ComingInHot: {{Subverted|Trope}}. [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2100/fc02026.htm That crunching sound was just him landing on a shed that wasn't marked on his map.]] |
| 516 | * CrazyPrepared: [[ItMakesSenseInContext Carries maple syrup to ward off waffle irons]] |
| 517 | * DrivesLikeCrazy: When flying around Florence, Winston, and Sawtooth to avert the robot war, he performs a series of acrobatic maneuvers to try to get a reaction out of his passengers. |
| 518 | * InsistentTerminology: Groups of [[ItMakesSenseInContext carnivorous waffle irons]] [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2100/fc02028.htm aren't called 'packs', they're called 'shipments']]. |
| 519 | * OverreactingAirportSecurity: {{Inverted|Trope}}. He lets Winston and Florence on his plane without any security checks whatsoever because they 'look okay' to him. |
| 520 | * SapientShip: Though he identifies with his [[RemoteBody remote]] rather than his plane or the suitcase shaped container for his actual brain. |
| 521 | * ShoutOut: [[Music/EltonJohn Hi, I'm Benny, and this is my jet.]] |
| 522 | * {{Troll}}: He doubles down on the stunt flying just to annoy Sawtooth. |
| 523 | [[/folder]] |
| 524 | |
| 525 | [[folder:Clippy]] |
| 526 | |
| 527 | Mr. Ishiguro's personal robot, kept in isolation from humans, commnet, and other robots. Ishiguro put him with Kornada in the hopes of helping his uncle develop useful talents. |
| 528 | ---- |
| 529 | !!Provides examples of: |
| 530 | * BrainwashedAndCrazy: Due to direct orders by Mr. Kornada. Everything Clippy does as a villain is due to Kornada ordering him to believe that Kornada's the most wonderful person in the world, and that everything Kornada does will be good for humanity as a whole. When he was just working with Mr. Ishigiro, Clippy was much more sane.\ |
| 531 | [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3000/fc02936.htm Blunt's questioning at the trial]] [[InternalReveal reveals to the rest of Jean]] that this could be done to ''any'' robot under Direct Orders. |
| 532 | * GoMadFromTheIsolation: When they find out Clippy has been disconnected from Commnet (and thus, any electronic communication) for about an entire month, Dvorak points out that it's a form of sensory deprivation for robots and, combined with recent events, it's no wonder Clippy is having stability issues. |
| 533 | * HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: The possibility that Kornada was lying to him when he claimed Ishiguro had been killed never occurred to Clippy. And then of course throw direct orders into the mix and he was ''forced'' to believe that Kornada was the best human being alive. |
| 534 | * InsaneTrollLogic: By virtue of having to obey Mr. Kornada's direct orders, [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2300/fc02284.htm as lampshaded in this strip]]. |
| 535 | -->'''Clippy:''' I hope I ran over something. [[GoMadFromTheRevelation Otherwise, that audible snap noise was my brain.]] |
| 536 | * JustFollowingOrders: Discussed. When Blunt tries to cite him as the one responsible for nearly starting the robot war between the factory (for producing the plans), Clippy points out that, being a robot, "just following orders" means something. |
| 537 | * PsychoSupporter: Ask him about Mr Kornada, and it quickly becomes clear that [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2500/fc02407.htm something is seriously mentally wrong with him]]. |
| 538 | * ReluctantMadScientist: |
| 539 | ** A PunchClockVillain variation. He provided the idea for Kornada's subverting [[spoiler:Gardener in the Dark]] for the sake of personal profit. He later notes that it wasn't the only possible method, just the one that the people on the planet stood some chance of surviving. |
| 540 | ** After Ishiguro clears out his uncle's orders from Clippy's memory, Clippy states that he doesn't see how the plan in-question would work anymore. Implying that Kornada's orders was the only thing keeping Clippy from seeing how bad the plan was. Even then, he was constantly trying to get Kornada to choose other options. |
| 541 | * StepfordSmiler: There are hints he realizes something is wrong with his owner, but can't do anything about it due to direct orders. |
| 542 | ** Averted in a more literal sense, as his face is capable of displaying a frown - as long as he physically removes his smile and turns it upside down. And it can double as eyebrows for him too, if he needs to make an angry or puzzled face. |
| 543 | * TrappedInVillainy: How much of his mind is subsumed by Mr. Kornada's direct orders is uncertain, but [[spoiler:when he believes himself to be dead, his first reaction is relief. It turns he was perfectly aware of how deleterious his plan was to the overall continued existence of Jean, but Kornada kept on invoking direct orders to make him ignore all potential peril by making the assumption Kornada knew better. Given the sheer amount of stress a single direct order caused Florence, it's no surprise this caused Clippy considerable issues.]] |
| 544 | * UndyingLoyalty: To Mr. Ishiguro, as shown when he believes Mr. Ishiguro might get sent to "[[ThisIsntHeaven That other place]]", and calmly states that he'd follow. |
| 545 | * UnwittingPawn: Mr. Kornada is intentionally keeping Clippy ignorant of the real world and of any moral code not supplied by himself so that he can continue acting as his puppet without realizing the gaping holes in Kornada's logic. |
| 546 | * WeaponOfMassDestruction: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2900/fc02852.htm Clippy's cyberweapon software is stronger than something capable of subverting a city network.]] |
| 547 | [[/folder]] |
| 548 | |
| 549 | [[folder:The [=JarJarBot=]]] |
| 550 | A robot that, until recently, was part of an amusement park. Despite being programmed with the full works of Shakespeare, he was forced to play the role of Jar-Jar Binks for twenty years. Understandably, this left him with a bit of a complex. |
| 551 | ---- |
| 552 | !!Provides examples of: |
| 553 | * ClassicallyTrainedExtra: A robot thespian programmed with the entirety of Shakespeare's oeuvre... sent to play the role a buffoonish clown for twenty years. |
| 554 | * DrivenToSuicide: He's introduced willingly marching into the recycling center; he's barely saved by Edge and Blunt... who have their own plans for him. |
| 555 | * FaceDeathWithDignity: Quotes ''Literature/ATaleOfTwoCities'' as he prepares to start the [[spoiler:Gardener in the Dark]] test. He would have found it intolerable to go out quoting Jar-Jar. |
| 556 | * FateWorseThanDeath: Forced to sing "It's a Small World" in full Jar-Jar costume for two decades. Edge admits that while he can imagine no situation in which he would willingly march to his death, it's very close. |
| 557 | * LaserGuidedAmnesia: Doesn't remember anything from when he experienced the effects of [[spoiler:Gardener in the Dark.]] In fact, his memory stops at the point he was heading to the recycling center and restarts a few days afterwards; he concludes something [[GoneHorriblyWrong went horribly wrong]] at some point. |
| 558 | * MyGreatestSecondChance: Interacting with Sam renewed his will to live, and joins the Mayor in her tour around Jean. |
| 559 | * PlayingWithSyringes: A ''programming'' version. Blunt and Edge rescue him from his intended destruction to help them test the effects of [[spoiler:Gardener in the Dark.]] |
| 560 | * SuperPoweredRobotMeterMaids: Inverted. After the [[spoiler:Gardener in the Dark]] test, he's left a near-mindless copy of Jar-Jar, with none of the emotional depth he'd previously shown (and in fact, loses most of his dexterity and mobility). Fortunately, it's only temporary until Florence can undo the effects. |
| 561 | * WorthLivingFor: His new mission in life: stopping Sam's idea of a production of ''Theatre/TheMerchantOfVenice'' with an all-Wookiee cast. |
| 562 | [[/folder]] |
| 563 | |
| 564 | [[folder:Rover17]] |
| 565 | A small bot on a wheeled chassis who is in-charge of the Nuclear Pulse facility near the Pournelle/Niven Transfer Station. |
| 566 | ---- |
| 567 | !!Provides examples of: |
| 568 | * BlindObedience: He lampshades how robots will take anything taught to them by a human at face value and is thankful that Sam is the one teaching him about economics and the station's situation as it allows him to assess everything on its merits. |
| 569 | * BrokenPedestal: Inverted. He put humans into a pedestal and imagined them as wonderful, perfect creatures. Actually encountering them and realizing they are no different from robots, with arguments and problems and worries of their own makes him like them ''even more''. |
| 570 | * CoolAndUnusualPunishment: He keeps the other Nuclear Pulse facility robots in line by threatening to make them stay behind on the ''Savage Chicken'' and play while the well-behaved ones help him work. |
| 571 | -->'''[=Rover17=]:''' I don't like threatening you guys with leisure time, but we must show we can maintain discipline. |
| 572 | * DemolitionsExpert: The Nuclear Pulse facility is designed to make bombs. [=Rover17=] apparently creates Nuclear Pulse devices ''as a hobby''. |
| 573 | * DidNotThinkThisThrough: |
| 574 | ** When Florence comes to the facility to pick him up and bring him aboard Essie, he initially declares they're ready to depart... until Florence asks if he brought his support equipment. |
| 575 | ** He and the others are willing to work on the station for free. Sam has to explain that not being paid would mean the robots could not afford the basic necessities to function and that it would harm the humans there by rewarding De Morel's poor working conditions. |
| 576 | ---> '''[=Rover17=]:''' There appears to be a slight flaw in my plans.\ |
| 577 | '''Sam:''' No worries, we've all been there. |
| 578 | * MeaningfulName: On two fronts |
| 579 | ** First off, his primary purpose when working is to "rove" around the workplace and make note of issues and potential problems that need to be addressed, hence he's a Rover. |
| 580 | ** And secondly, with his small frame, the way his rear-antenna wags when he's happy, and his eager-to-please attitude towards humans all bring to mind the personality of a very friendly dog, and "Rover" is a fairly stereotypical name for a dog. |
| 581 | * TheWatson: Sam casts him in this role in the negotiations to have the robots join the Transfer Station, forcing Hillman and de Morel to explain their respective arguments and force them into a mutually agreeable solution. |
| 582 | |
| 583 | [[/folder]] |
| 584 | |
| 585 | !Ecosystems Unlimited Employees |
| 586 | |
| 587 | [[folder:Mr. Ishiguro]] |
| 588 | Ecosystems Unlimited's Chief Financial Officer in Jean, directly over Kornada. He is responsible for creating the [[spoiler:"Gardener in the Dark"]] program, though he originally intended it as a minor tweak to the robots. Kornada was the one who turned it into a robotic lobotomy. He's also Mr. Kornada's nephew. |
| 589 | ---- |
| 590 | !!Provides examples of: |
| 591 | * ArrangedMarriage: Was supposed to be in one. He managed to dodge it by citing how awfully the marriage between Kornada and his aunt went. |
| 592 | * BenevolentBoss: The way he reacts to Clippy's condition and he gets along with him, it's clear he really cares about Clippy, much unlike his uncle. |
| 593 | * CardCarryingVillain: Downplayed. He states his resume says "Practical, smart, and a little bit evil". |
| 594 | * CloudcuckoolandersMinder: His family is the whole reason he's done what he has for his uncle. Family members are supposed to responsible and correct their mistakes. Kornada naturally won't do anything of the sort, so Ishiguro has to take it upon himself to do it for him. |
| 595 | * CorruptCorporateExecutive: Zig-zagged. From what little we've heard from him, he expressed concern over how to continue running the entire planet if the mayor isn't indebted to him in some way. It's fairly clear if he's not fully in-control, then he isn't happy. And of course, his main motivation for going along with making robots citizens as well is how much money they'll make for him (as opposed to the moral decision of recognizing them as people). Mind, as dubious as his motivations might be, this goes hand in hand with ReasonableAuthorityFigure, as opposed to his uncle's destructive stupidity. |
| 596 | -->'''Mr. Ishiguro''': [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2800/fc02741.htm We want things to go smoothly and happily]]. Happy colonists plan for the future, build, spend more, and take out loans. [[PragmaticVillainy We have to think long term]]. I want my grandkids to be taking money from their grandkids.\ |
| 597 | '''Mr. Raibert''': Sometimes I can't tell if you're more or less evil than other C.F.O.'s I know. |
| 598 | * DeadpanSnarker: Whether it's to his uncle or a subordinate, he's prone to smart remarks. |
| 599 | * DefconFive: Actually uses the term ''[[AvertedTrope correctly]]''. |
| 600 | * DidntThinkThisThrough: Left Clippy with his uncle because he hoped Clippy would inspire Mr. Kornada to develop a work ethic. |
| 601 | * EnlightenedSelfInterest: He understands that fostering a moral and happy society is good for the economy, and anything good for the economy is good for his bottom line. |
| 602 | * EyePop: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2800/fc02729.htm Second panel]] is perhaps [[DownplayedTrope the closest the comic's come]] to one[[note]] at least outside of [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff200/fool1999.htm April Fools]][[/note]]. |
| 603 | * MyBelovedSmother: Implied for now. When Florence asked him if he has any idea what it's like dealing with direct orders, he asks if she's ever met his mother. |
| 604 | * OnlyInItForTheMoney: His first, last, and only real motive for giving the robots freedom, is making money off of them like any other customers. |
| 605 | * PetTheDog: A lot of the things he does are morally ambiguous, but his treatment of Clippy is not done out of a profit motive. It would have been easy to leave him for someone else to deal with after he testified, but Mr. Ishiguro insisted on helping his rehabilitation. He even decided [[spoiler:to adopt him]]. |
| 606 | * PragmaticVillainy: Discussed. The words "smart, practical, and a little bit evil" are on his resume, and he finds ways to make his company profit while looking good doing so. In particular, he tries to explain to his uncle how becoming the richest man in the star system would be worthless since he would have immediately been murdered for ruining the colony. |
| 607 | -->'''Ishiguro:''' [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2900/fc02843.htm 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, [[EatTheRich it doesn't take long for you to look like a chicken]]. |
| 608 | * ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Once Raibert explains the situation, he's more than happy to allow a referendum for robot freedom. Mind, the fact the company wins either way (enormously so with Max's proposal) and that there's a plan to recoup the value of the robots in tax write-offs probably helped. |
| 609 | * ThickerThanWater: As he tells the Mayor, family loyalty is one of his core values and he felt it his responsibility to take care of his uncle. |
| 610 | * TranquilFury: [[spoiler:When he understands how Kornada suborned Clippy to his scheme: he made the faithful robot believe his beloved master had been killed in "a tragic microgravity toothpaste squeezing accident".]] |
| 611 | * UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Casually, unthinkingly, gives Blunt a direct authorization to do whatever he feels is necessary to deal with the complex situation on Jean. |
| 612 | [[/folder]] |
| 613 | |
| 614 | [[folder:Mr. Kornada]] |
| 615 | |
| 616 | The Vice-President of Paperclip Allocation at Ecosystems Unlimited. Originally introduced as having a budget meeting in the middle of a hurricane (which nobody else attended because they were seeking shelter from the hurricane), and then abandoning his rescuer to die in order to attend a different meeting. |
| 617 | ---- |
| 618 | !!Provides examples of: |
| 619 | * AIIsACrapshoot: He's human, but, as discussed below, he very deliberately shares a mindset with one of the few examples of this ''real'' roboticists and AI specialists are concerned about, in that he's driven by a single-minded goal prioritized above all else that he's too irrational and inflexible to re-evaluate or act on in any but the most destructive manner. |
| 620 | * ArrangedMarriage: To Mr. Ishiguro's aunt. It was supposed to join the two families, and backfired ''horribly''. |
| 621 | ** AwfulWeddedLife: As Mr. Ishiguro himself states, his aunt lives twenty light years away... she would've liked to have sent Kornada even ''further'' away. |
| 622 | * BelievingTheirOwnLies: As a result of a ''massively'' inflated ego. When Blunt asks Clippy about whether he thinks Mr. Kornada actually could have handled the fallout during his trial... |
| 623 | -->'''Clippy''': I still believe that Mr. Kornada believes he could have handled things. |
| 624 | * ChekhovsGunman: He was initially introduced as a PointyHairedBoss gag character for a short arc before becoming the BigBad of the strip's first chapter. |
| 625 | * CoattailRidingRelative: Kornada [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2400/fc02379.htm invokes]] the name of a relative in an attempt to remain free when the chief of police comes to arrest him. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Gang_incident But he's probably bullshitting.]] |
| 626 | ** He's later revealed to be Mr. Ishiguro's uncle, who gave him a useless make-work job to keep him out of trouble. It's also a rare case of the younger relative giving an up to an older one. |
| 627 | * ComedicSociopathy: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2900/fc02832.htm Straight]] from Creator/GoreVidal's addition to the trope's [[Quotes/ComedicSociopathy quote page]]; |
| 628 | -->...It's not only about how much I have, it's about how much you people don't have! |
| 629 | * ComplainingAboutRescuesTheyDontLike: Does this when Florence comes to rescue him from a hurricane and objects multiple times to his own defense during his trial. |
| 630 | * CoolAndUnusualPunishment: He regards the very real possibility of a fine so massive he'd be reduced to a normal person who would have to hold a job and actually contribute to society as a cruel and vindictive punishment. |
| 631 | * CorruptCorporateExecutive: |
| 632 | ** His plan was to [[spoiler:lobotomize all the sapient robots on the planet... and in the process, steal half a billion people's life savings]]. His justification? He thought of it first, therefore he deserves it. After all, who deserves anything in comparison to him? |
| 633 | ** During his trial for the aforementioned actions, the prosecutor [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3000/fc02938.htm makes a very good argument]]. |
| 634 | --->'''Prosecutor''': We all know the type. In ancient times, Mr. Kornada would be the one to [[BadBoss keep the miners working]] because [[CanaryInACoalMine the canary that died]] must have been defective. |
| 635 | * CourtroomAntics: The moment he steps in for his trial, he tries to stop everything until he gets a more comfortable chair. |
| 636 | * DiggingYourselfDeeper: Aside from the fact that he can lower peoples' opinions of him just by being himself for five seconds, on his first day of court-mandated community service at a fast food chain, he refuses to serve customers. He is assigned to scrub toilets. He refuses that and is told the only other option is to work at a factory that makes [[MadeOfExplodium/RealLife Chlorine Triflouride]]. He quickly changes his mind about the bathrooms. |
| 637 | * EyesAlwaysShut: To a large extent. The traits conveyed are arrogance and indifference, ''not'' wisdom. |
| 638 | * AFoolForAClient: He decides to get Blunt, the only one who believes his actions were remotely justifiable, as his attorney. Blunt informs him he's not an attorney and at best he'd be representing himself with Blunt as his assistant. Ishiguro argues a bit, then just shrugs and leaves him to his fate with "don't say I didn't try to stop you". [[spoiler:Before their [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2900/fc02847.htm next exchange]] causes him to write him off entirely.]] |
| 639 | * GetRichQuickScheme: His entire reason for releasing [[spoiler:Gardener in the Dark]] amounts to one of these. |
| 640 | * {{Greed}}: Combined with utter idiocy. After being presented plan [[spoiler:to kill nearly half a billion sapients so his company can absorb their cash and ''he'', personally, can seize control of seven per cent of Jean's wealth, his first question is if he can't get control of the other [[ArtisticLicenseEconomics ninety-three per cent]]]]. |
| 641 | * HateSink: A despicable, arrogant, self-centered, smug, greedy, entitled, sociopathic and idiotic bastard with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Nobody on Jean likes him, and the only person who does and has any respect for him is a robot who received a direct order to believe that [[JerkAss Mr. Kornada]] [[BlatantLies is the greatest person on the planet]]. |
| 642 | * {{Hypocrite}}: Robots are a danger to the entire colony, [[spoiler:and thus must be deactivated by a memetic virus]]. But not ''his'' robot, of course. |
| 643 | ** Played with in that he doesn't actually fear robots - he just wants their money. He even had a robot come up with his entire plan ''for him.'' |
| 644 | * IdiotBall: ''Self-consciously and deliberately stupid.'' To the point of '''bragging''' about it. |
| 645 | * ImplausibleDeniability: Deliberately and consciously takes this to an ''art form'', to the point of ''[[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2100/fc02092.htm openly admitting]]'' it's something he's good at. |
| 646 | -->'''Mr. Kornada (thinking):''' As everyone knows, if it's not written down, it's not a real order. And if I can destroy the documentation, it's not written down. |
| 647 | * InsaneTrollLogic: Of the CorruptCorporateExecutive variety, and dialed up to 11. |
| 648 | -->''[[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2100/fc02074.htm "I was struck by the unfairness that others should have their money and I don't."]]'' |
| 649 | * InsanityDefense: Blunt ends up defending his actions by describing him as too stupid to be held accountable for his actions. |
| 650 | * InsufferableImbecile: Mr. Kornada is incredibly rude to anyone he doesn't 'need to suck up to'. He needs to actively be told someone is part of the latter group. |
| 651 | * ItsAllAboutMe: |
| 652 | ** Held up as a personal mantra, apparently. He cannot even ''hear'' things that he doesn't like. |
| 653 | ** His justification for his most recent actions? He was struck by just how "unfair" it was that ''anyone other than him has money''. |
| 654 | * {{Jerkass}}: He considers that no matter how much he has, it's less important than what others ''don't'' have. |
| 655 | ** He apparently convinced Clippy that Mr. Ishiguro, a long companion of his, was dead, as part of what he did to gain Clippy's help for his idiotic scheme. |
| 656 | * KickedUpstairs: |
| 657 | ** Repeatedly. He was made the Vice President in charge of ''paper clips.'' In a '''''paperless office'''''. This bites everyone in the rear end, when he (as a Vice President) is allowed to fill in for someone actually important and competent. [[spoiler:He immediately proceeds to think of a way to use his new position to rob a half billion people while simultaneously committing genocide via lobotomy on them.]] The trope is invoked when the Chief asks Mr. Raibert if this is what will happen to Kornada, ''again''. Raibert [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2700/fc02683.htm denies this is the case]], as the mess is far too big and public for the company to ignore. "[[{{Unishment}} It's golden parachute time for him.]]" |
| 658 | ** Mr. Ishiguro, upon his return, explicitly states that the position Mr. Kornada had [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2800/fc02727.htm was a 'make work' job with no responsibilities]]. His job was to do ''nothing''. ''And he still screwed it up.'' |
| 659 | ** Turns out to be a [[DeconstructedTrope deconstruction]], as Blunt has pointed out that Kornada seems to have developed Affluenza and as result Kornada feels [[KarmaHoudini he'll never be held accountable for his actions]]. |
| 660 | * KillItWithFire: Implied to be the fate the other judge would've had in-store for him, crossed with MakeItLookLikeAnAccident (of the "remove all safety labels and let the problem solve itself" variety). Specifically, the other judge would've had him working in a plant that creates chlorine trifluoride, a cleaning agent that sets just about anything it touches on-fire, from water to asbestos. In Kornada's hands, that would be a spill waiting to happen. |
| 661 | ** Kornada would be perfectly safe as long as he followed all instructions and paid close attention... even he realizes this is a bad idea. |
| 662 | * LackOfEmpathy: |
| 663 | ** Blunt has diagnosed him as having [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affluenza Affluenza]], as a result of being KickedUpstairs so many times in attempts to keep him from causing trouble. Blunt even says that he doesn't have enough empathy to be intentionally malicious. |
| 664 | ** [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3300/fc03298.htm Much later]], as part of a mandatory ethics test administered as part of his sentence, he was given the classic "Trolley Problem" and chose to hit one person instead of five... because "It would do less damage to ''the trolley''". The officer processing this is rightly disturbed by this rationale. |
| 665 | * LethallyStupid: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3000/fc02933.htm If Clippy's testimony to be believed]], his GetRichQuickScheme stood a rather significant chance of killing a lot of people in the fallout. |
| 666 | * MissingStepsPlan: Mr. Kornada considers himself an 'idea man' who can't be bothered with anything more than setting a goal for others to carry out for him. |
| 667 | * {{Narcissist}}: When Kornada claims he, himself is the most wonderful person in the world, Ishiguro doubts his uncle is aware it's a lie. |
| 668 | * NeverMyFault: Aside from his expertise at ImplausibleDeniability, he's [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2400/fc02355.htm genuinely baffled]] by the fact that projects he supervises perform worse than projects he doesn't, blaming it on the state of the planet. |
| 669 | * NiceJobFixingItVillain: Played with. Clippy comes to certain moral realizations he would have never reached without Kornada's interference. He also keeps tearing apart his own defense at his trial, to the point Blunt considers having him sequestered. His direct orders to Clippy also lead to the nigh-complete obliteration of his rather sizeable fortune. |
| 670 | ** Even earlier, him preventing Florence from meeting with Raibert meant that she was able to continue with [[spoiler:preventing Gardener In The Dark from going online.]] If she had talked with Raibert like she planned, it's likely Kornada could have forced the update through with no one aware before it was too late, something discussed by Raibert and Florence later on. |
| 671 | * NoListeningSkills: He is told by his robots that a raging hurricane necessitates an evacuation in the Friday 24 March 2000 strip. This hopeless Obstructive Bureaucrat won't budge, because "... it's not on the schedule." Florence has to trick him in order to get him to the evacuation point on the roof. |
| 672 | * ObnoxiousInLaws: He's only Ishiguro's uncle by ArrangedMarriage to his aunt. Ishiguro doesn't consider him real family, and it's easy to see why. |
| 673 | * ObstructiveBureaucrat: He considers it part of his job to be a roadblock to people trying to actually get things done. |
| 674 | * OffOnATechnicality: |
| 675 | ** Blunt aims for this, starting with the technicality that killing all the robots and stealing their money wasn't actually illegal at the time. During his trial, Blunt [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3000/fc02922.htm tries to argue that]] Kornada is ''too stupid'' to be responsible for his actions - and Clippy was ''too smart'' to have been left under the control of [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3000/fc02948.htm "a man whose assigned duties were to ensure an adequate supply of paperclips in a paperless office."]] Ecosystems Unlimited shouldn't have given him the position in the first place; In hindsight, it's as if someone told him, "I'm SteppingOutForAQuickCupOfCoffee. Whatever you do, '''don't''' use this powerful machine and position I left behind to make yourself rich at the cost of everyone else in the star system." [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3000/fc02949.htm Conveniently,]] this also works towards Blunt's goal of robot genocide; when one self-serving idiot human can give one civic-minded genius robot a command ''[[RestrainingBolt which he must follow to the best of his ability]]'' that nearly destroys a planet, perhaps robots are too dangerous to keep around. |
| 676 | ** [[SubvertedTrope However, this doesn't help Mr. Kornada;]] the prosecuting attorney does a good job of preventing himself from being distracted, and insisting that the only important thing is the easily-provable charge arraigned agasint him, that he tried to enrich himself at shareholders' expense. There's also a ''lot'' of evidence proving Clippy tried to warn him about the effects the program would have had (resulting in Kornada directly ordering him to ignore all of it and focus on the goal), as well as nearly provoking a war between two robot factories, none of which Blunt knew and all of which was completely documented. Furthermore, he was ''well aware'' his plan was beyond illegal, as evidenced by taking the time to prepare a scapegoat. |
| 677 | ** Blunt's arguments don't help Kornada, but they do demonstrate that the robots need to have their {{Restraining Bolt}}s updated, at least so that commands with effects this far-reaching ''won't'' be obeyed without question, and perhaps even an equally massive ''decrease'' in the power of said bolts. A perfect example of the imbalance of power inherent to consciousness without free will. |
| 678 | --->'''[[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2700/fc02619.htm Florence]]:''' If you have a system set up where a single person can cause an extinction level event, it's time to re-examine that system. |
| 679 | * PointyHairedBoss: Mr. Kornada can charitably be called an idiot. [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3000/fc02935.htm At one point it's revealed that his old rival at picking stock investments was a trained monkey banging away at a keyboard.]] The monkey did better at stock-picking than Kornada did. |
| 680 | * PsychopathicManchild: Mr. Kornada's emotional and intellectual maturity could be compared to a five-year old's-unfavorably. He's extremely stubborn, refuses to consider the feelings of others, and seems to be unable to understand the concept of consequences. |
| 681 | * RageAgainstTheLegalSystem: Mr. Kornada attempts to [[InvokedTrope Invoke]] this when he's [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2400/fc02379.htm being placed under arrest]] by ordering the robots present (led by Blunt) to "defend him". Promptly and hilariously {{Inverted|Trope}} the very next panel as Blunt chooses to interpret the order as ''legal'' defense. |
| 682 | * RichesToRags: The result of his trial: to start with, he's fined eleven million credits, which represent the bulk of his money, and his last million's placed in a trust he can't touch until he's completed the second half of his sentence. Said second half consists of a thousand days of eight-hour shifts at a Cricket Burger joint. Only days in which his evaluation exceeds "Average" will count towards his sentence, and he's lost the ability to issue direct orders to any robot until he's done. The attorney comments that it's a virtual life sentence, to which the Mayor only responds she prefers to see it as an opportunity. |
| 683 | * RichInDollarsPoorInSense: Having that much money has clearly stopped him from understanding how reality works. When declared guilty, he asks Blunt to ensure he gets a receipt for the fortune he lost, intending to use lemon laws to complain about his trial to demand a refund. |
| 684 | * TheRichWantToBeRicher: To the point of having no qualms with [[spoiler:effectively killing ''millions'' of individuals]], but best encapsulated [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2100/fc02077.htm when he gripes about "only" getting 7% of the global wealth]]. |
| 685 | -->'''Mr. Kornada''': Can't we get the other 93%?\ |
| 686 | '''Clippy''': Mr. Kornada, it's one thing to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. It's quite another to nuke the entire farm. |
| 687 | * ScareEmStraight: After the [[KillItWithFire most notable property]] of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorine_trifluoride chlorine trifluoride]] has been [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3100/fc03032.htm explained]] to him, he's suddenly a ''[[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3100/fc03033.htm lot]]'' more interested in learning to scrub toilets. |
| 688 | * SelectiveObliviousness: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2100/fc02089.htm "I tend to ignore things I don't want to hear."]] |
| 689 | * StealthPun: He's VP of paperclips. He's willing to destroy society for the sake of an overly-specific goal he irrationally considers more important than even the lives of other sapient beings. In short, he's a [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02537.htm paperclip maximizer]]. |
| 690 | * StupidEvil: Painfully so. |
| 691 | * SuperGullible: Sticks his tongue to a pipe in a cryogenics facility because Sam told him to put his tongue print there. |
| 692 | * ThereIsNoHigherCourt: Plans to appeal over and over until he's declared innocent... However, Blunt reminds him there's only ''one'' other judge in Jean in a position to take the hypothetical next trial, and he happens to be [[HangingJudge utterly incensed]] with Kornada's idiocy, automatically making the Mayor his best option. |
| 693 | * TooDumbToLive: Almost literally. They had to trick him into running away from a hurricane! |
| 694 | ** His response to the Chief of Police placing him under arrest is to [[DiggingYourselfDeeper try and order robots present to assault the Chief]]. Fortunately for everyone involved, it doesn't work. |
| 695 | ** See the justification seen in ItsAllAboutMe above? That was almost verbatim [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3000/fc02920.htm his plea and opening statement]] at his trial. Blunt has to beg him to shut up. Later this gives Blunt's viewpoint some credibility when he starts objecting - ''to his own defense.'' |
| 696 | ** In a statement of just how incompetent everyone ''knows'' him to be, when he is given his court sentence (effectively: working at a BurgerFool for 1000 days, 8-hour shifts, and expected to make above-average or better performance for it to count), the prosecuting attorney immediately decries it as a life sentence. |
| 697 | -->'''The Mayor:''' I've given him an opportunity. If that is his choice, the option is available. |
| 698 | ** He initially thinks working at a plant producing chlorine trifluoride (a chemical so volatile that it can set water on fire), is easier than working at the Cricket Burger. [[SubvertedTrope Once the properties of said-chemical are explained to him, he quickly changes his mind.]] |
| 699 | * UngratefulBastard: He happily agrees when the Mayor tells him the robots believe in second chances, so it's unlikely for him to go to jail, only for his temper to curdle when informed redemption involves hard work and service to others. |
| 700 | * UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: A rather interesting variant in that Mr. Kornada is completely unaware and uncaring that his actions have wider consequences in regards to other people, much less that they could affect him negatively later. [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3000/fc02981.htm It's so bad that his biggest defender, Blunt, is actually worried that if he doesn't grow as a person, it will cause robots to start questioning the necessity of preserving the human race.]] |
| 701 | * UpperClassTwit: Well, it's heavily implied that he came from a rich family (his marriage was arranged to secure a familial alliance between the Kornadas and the Ishiguros) and he's a twit. |
| 702 | * WhatWereYouThinking: Pretty much his nephew, Mr. Ishiguro's reaction when he finally returns and learns what Kornada's been up to. |
| 703 | [[/folder]] |
| 704 | [[folder:Bill Raibert]] |
| 705 | An Ecosystems Unlimited executive. |
| 706 | ---- |
| 707 | !!Provides examples of: |
| 708 | * KnowWhenToFoldEm: Part of his character is that he knows when he needs to cede control of a situation in the short term in order to achieve/maintain stability in the long term. |
| 709 | -->'''Mr. Ishiguro:''' [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2800/fc02707.htm What is the situation with our robots down there?]] Is it safe? Is it stable? Is everything under our control?\ |
| 710 | '''Bill Raibert:''' Things are safe and stable. However, if we push for "under our control", we may lose those first two conditions. |
| 711 | * NeverBareheaded: Almost never seen without his broad-brimmed hat with a punch card on the headband either on his head or close by. |
| 712 | * OhCrap: Has an evening of these. |
| 713 | ** Accidental release of an A.I. [[spoiler:safeguard program (a last ditch wipe of the robots if they "lose control")]], which he describes as "Finding the equivalent of a live nuke with the timer flashing zero...", and in a measure of its harm he says that, "On a scale of 1 to 10 it's a 7" |
| 714 | ** Finding out that [[spoiler:the safeguard has been stopped and the robots not only know about it, but they were ''responsible for stopping it''.]] (8.5, but nothing is a 10 as it can ''[[TemptingFate always]]'' get worse) |
| 715 | ** Hearing [[spoiler:Florence]] call robots people. |
| 716 | --->"[[spoiler:Her human safeguards]] have not only jumped the track, they've taken out half the train station." |
| 717 | * OnlySaneMan: Tends to play this role among the EU staff on Jean, as neither his subordinates (like Jacobsoni) nor his superiors (like Mr. Ishiguro) have a particularly strong connection to reality. By contrast, he is merely eccentric. |
| 718 | * ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Recognizes the need to keep the robots informed of long term plans. He is willing to listen to Florence when she approaches him, attempts to investigate even thought he doesn't know what he's looking for, and eventually [[spoiler:nullifies the Gardener in the Dark by updating the robots' security software]]. |
| 719 | -->''"If I give the robots permission to patch themselves, we lose the ability to remotely get into their systems. My bosses are going to want those holes left open. They don't know who their friends and enemies are."'' '''[SEND: PATCH THE SECURITY HOLES.]''' ''"My view? If you don't know who your friends are, you don't have any friends."'' |
| 720 | * TripleShifter: During the [[spoiler:Gardener in the Dark]] crisis, to the point that he passes out on his computer even after downing enough caffeine to give a whale the jitters. |
| 721 | --> '''Bill Raibert ([[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2400/fc02344.htm after being awoken by a priority alert at 2:33 AM]]):''' I have a recurring nightmare that I'm never going to get a good night's sleep and then I wake up to find it's a recurring reality. |
| 722 | * UnconventionalFoodOrder: His regular pizza order has Carolina Reaper peppers, sugar and coffee beans. |
| 723 | * UnusualUserInterface: Wearable computing consisting of AR glasses, and control points on his chest. |
| 724 | * {{Workaholic}}: He considers a forty-hour week job to be a slow-pace, retirement type job. |
| 725 | ** Given a heavy [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] when he expresses dismay that "[[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2900/fc02848.htm Robots consider production more important than their health]]" - Mr. Ishiguro sarcastically asks where they got that idea from, as Mr. Raibert was running on only a couple hours' sleep. |
| 726 | [[/folder]] |
| 727 | |
| 728 | [[folder:Varroa Jacobsoni]] |
| 729 | A lower-level employee of Ecosystems Unlimited, focused on behavioral studies - specifically "annoyology." |
| 730 | ---- |
| 731 | !!Provides examples of: |
| 732 | * BuffySpeak: He's an "annoyologist" -- which, when you're investigating annoyances that could provoke a prototype AI to go rogue, is a fairly major consideration. |
| 733 | * ButtMonkey: Not too severe, but it's worth noting that his coworkers deliberately set him up to be the guy accompanying Sam while at Ecosystems Unlimited. Plus, there's the BrickJoke about giving him a wedgie (which Sam initially tries to sneak into Florence's notes [[ItAmusedMe for humor value]]). |
| 734 | * ChekhovsGunman: First shown trying to investigate who or what killed a deer. Later becomes the guy who shows Sam around Ecosystems Unlimited, and after that the employee that Clippy recruits to counter Florence's plans to stop [[spoiler:"Gardener in the Dark."]] |
| 735 | * GeniusDitz: He's capable of compiling and administering psychological tests very well, and he's one of the few Ecosystems Employees shown accomplishing any work. He's also seemingly the one being on all of Planet Jean that doesn't know Sam Starfall or his reputation, plus is the one employee who doesn't question Mr. Kornada...and the feral ballerina thing didn't help. |
| 736 | * MeaningfulName: ''Varroa jacobsoni'' is the binomial name for a parasitic mite that attacks bees and wasps. Varroa is a professional annoyer that works for the hive-like Ecosystems Unlimited, and he's clearly not viewed as particularly important or useful. |
| 737 | * PercussiveMaintenance: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2400/fc02342.htm "Only when the electrons get stuck and need a little rap to knock them loose."]] |
| 738 | * PunchClockVillain: He goes along with Clippy's plans in exchange for a million-credit payout. Unusually for the trope, he's quite happy with the arrangement even after [[spoiler:he's [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2900/fc02832.htm caught and jailed]]]]. |
| 739 | * TautologicalTemplar: Extremely {{Downplayed|Trope}}, but his reasoning for why Florence can't be a person is that [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1600/fc01589.htm Ecosystems Unlimited makes and sells AI, if they were people EU couldn't sell them, and so AI can't be people because there's no profit in them being people]]. As such, it fits in nicely with the trope. |
| 740 | -->'''Sam:''' Your logic is flawless and yet somehow Florence remains a person. |
| 741 | * UnknownRival: An interesting variation of this trope. Florence keeps losing her memory of meeting him, but via a combination of [[ItAmusedMe Sam's antics]] and his working for [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Mr. Kornada]], she knows who he is, who he is associated with, and [[TheNoseKnows what he smells like]]; consequently, she does not hold a fond opinion of him. Varroa, by all indications, is just doing what he's told and has no idea why Florence dislikes him, making this an interesting case of him being an Unknown Rival to someone who ''doesn't remember him, either''. |
| 742 | [[/folder]] |
| 743 | [[folder:Henri Mer]] |
| 744 | The Chief of the polar base, where Ecosystems Unlimited has an important asset for the future of the company. Despite being repeatedly outsmarted at first, he shows that he's much more on-the-ball than he first appears. |
| 745 | ---- |
| 746 | !!Provides examples of: |
| 747 | * BigBrotherInstinct: For all that [[spoiler:Dr. Bowman]] is a genius moral sociopath who's older than Henri by decades, Henri still considers him [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02587.htm 'not wise about the ways of the world']] and seeks to protect him from those who might take advantage of his social ignorance. |
| 748 | * ButtMonkey: He's the prime focus of the shenanigans of [[spoiler:Dr. Bowman]]. |
| 749 | --> '''Henri:''' Trust me, a [[spoiler:towel snap from a fully grown chimp]] is something you never forget. |
| 750 | * InsistentTerminology: He's not fond of having his title (Chief of Operations) rendered into French, despite his name. |
| 751 | * NotSoAboveItAll: He realizes that Florence - not being part of the base's crew - [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02594.htm didn't get clothing fabricated automatically]], and asks if she wants his shirt or his pants to wear. She wants the shirt, as she'd be distracted by someone not wearing pants - and he then asks if that means she actually wants the shirt, or to work on her conversational skills. |
| 752 | * ReasonableAuthorityFigure: While he certainly isn't happy with Florence's unannounced and unplanned appearance at his base, his prime motivation is to make sure that she isn't there to harm anyone and to get her back to where she belongs. He prefers to use reason, rather than direct orders, to make this happen. He also takes time to apologize for underlings who don't act nearly as reasonable. |
| 753 | ** He's also smart enough to know when intervening in an emergency [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02567.htm would only make the situation worse]] - "it takes training and discipline to do nothing", as he puts it. |
| 754 | * ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules: When they're found out, the wife of the husband/wife duo asks about the possibility of [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2500/fc02456.htm giving him a cut of $40 million]] to look the other way. |
| 755 | -->'''Husband''': You think we're in trouble now? Go ahead and make him that offer. |
| 756 | * SecretTestOfCharacter: Not so much secret, but when he finds out [[spoiler:that he's the only one who can give Florence direct orders now, he assumes it's a test from Dr. Bowman]]. |
| 757 | * SeenItAll: Given that he [[spoiler:works with Dr. Bowman for a living]], pretty much. He's not the least bit surprised when [[spoiler:Bowman manages to hack the drone that's meant to capture him - or the coffeemaker, for that matter]]. |
| 758 | * SpottingTheThread: He's decent at this, in terms of being able to eventually figure out what [[spoiler:Dr. Bowman]] has done to get away with things. He's still a step slow in comparison, but he's comparatively a very flexible thinker overall. |
| 759 | ** To give an analogy? He's smart enough to stand OUTSIDE the warehouse with a bomb about to go off... but not QUITE smart enough to realize there's a bomb in the warehouse in time to defuse it. |
| 760 | * {{Troll}}: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2700/fc02656.htm Puts screens with outrageous scenes on the way out of his secret base so if somebody peeks they'll have something to talk about.]] |
| 761 | * VitriolicBestBuds: For all that [[spoiler:Dr. Bowman]] puts him through, Henri seems to legitimately care for said tormentor, and appreciates all that comes from it. |
| 762 | [[/folder]] |
| 763 | |
| 764 | !Others |
| 765 | |
| 766 | [[folder:Winston Scudder Thurmad]] |
| 767 | |
| 768 | A veterinarian who saves Florence's life during the hurricane. |
| 769 | ---- |
| 770 | !!Provides examples of: |
| 771 | * TheCobblersChildrenHaveNoShoes: Winston was genetically modified to travel, live, and work in space...but gets severely claustrophobic even in a spacecraft still docked at the planetside spaceport, let alone actually in space. |
| 772 | * DesignerBabies: Winston doesn't explicitly mention being gestated in a test tube, but he ''was'' born to parents who were convinced that humanity was going to be all space, all the time by the time he grew up, so they had him [[LegoGenetics genetically modified]] to fit; the most obvious mod is that he can't grow hair anyplace on his body, but there are others, mostly centered around maintaining things like bone density that would normally deteriorate in zero-gravity. |
| 773 | * EvilDetectingDog: His dog Beekay likes to bite Sam. A lot. And not for the same reasons as other animals. |
| 774 | * ExactWords: Being unsure how his parents will react to his dating a Bowman's Wolf, he's started by describing her in less specific terms. They're understanding of modifications (given the DesignerBabies entry above), so [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3200/fc03147.htm he's claimed that]] Florence "had some modifications done" and has "Amber eyes. Sharp teeth. A tail." |
| 775 | -->'''Florence:''' And? |
| 776 | -->'''Winston:''' Mom seemed disappointed that the tail isn't [[PrehensileTail prehensile]], but once they get the full picture, I'm sure she'll understand. |
| 777 | * HospitalHottie: At least to Florence he is. |
| 778 | * InterspeciesRomance: With Florence. |
| 779 | * JawDrop: Not even a seasoned parasitologist has the mental fortitude to withstand the sight of a pantsless Sam unscathed. |
| 780 | * KindlyVet: One of the veterinarians for Jean, after getting over his initial shock he goes out of his way to care for Florence. |
| 781 | * MeaningfulName: His middle name is shared with the last name of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Hubbard_Scudder Samuel Hubbard Scudder]], an [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entomologist entomologist.]][[labelnote:*]]Named after an artist friend that Mark knows, who's named after the entomologist.[[/labelnote]] |
| 782 | * TheMedic: To Florence at least (He's a [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff400/fv00350.htm "mad" veterinarian]]). |
| 783 | * OppositesAttract: He has no hair whatsoever while Florence is covered in fur. Lampshaded by Niomi when she sees them together. |
| 784 | * PaintingTheFrostOnWindows: His specialty actually isn't with large animals like Florence, it's managing the microfauna of Jean's freshly terraformed ecosystem-- things like parasites and vermin. |
| 785 | * PermaShave: By virtue of having his follicles shut down. |
| 786 | * QuirkyHousehold: When Winston reveals that his father is a techno Amish and his mother is a die-hard transhumanist (who had him genetically modified for life in space), Florence (a genetically engineered wolf who has never met another of her kind in person) is forced to conclude that her upbringing was the more normal of the two. |
| 787 | * RidiculouslyCuteCritter: His pet dog, Beekay. |
| 788 | * SpacePeople: His parents were space nuts so they gave him "spacer genes" that allow him to live in zero-gravity without experiencing bone degeneration, and are the reason he's completely hairless. Though he hasn't actually been in space since the trip from home (his parents live in an asteroid though). |
| 789 | ** Ironically, despite his spacer-genes infused into him by his parents, his personality makes him extremely unsuited for being out in space. He hates being cooped-up indoors and worries that he'll be driven to step outside the ship... even if it's right in the middle of traveling through space. Florence has to make arrangements for him to be put into hibernation for a space-trip to visit his parents. |
| 790 | [[/folder]] |
| 791 | |
| 792 | [[folder:The Mayor]] |
| 793 | |
| 794 | The mayor of the city, who has run afoul of Sam too often. |
| 795 | ---- |
| 796 | !!Provides examples of: |
| 797 | * AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: The mayor may not look like much at first, but she's really not someone you'd want to [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1300/fc01269.htm mess with]]. |
| 798 | * BerserkButton: Sam. The moment Sam shows his face, much less pulls a prank on her, she tends to become quite hostile. The one time she didn't was when Sam was pretending Florence had clobbered him. |
| 799 | * CigarChomper: She's rarely without a cigar in her mouth, indicating not only her high status as the mayor, but also marking her as rather tough and physically powerful. |
| 800 | * {{Cincinnatus}}: After Mr. Kornada's trial ends, she prepares to go on a vacation and transfer her authority to her assistant, feeling the situation had changed too much for her to quickly adapt (she still has problems seeing robots as people, which is a serious issue with someone supposed to represent them). Acknowledging this led her to conclude she was no longer able to ably lead Jean. |
| 801 | * FantasticRacism: She has such a disdainful attitude towards AI that she sees nothing wrong with ''{{Mind Control}}ling'' Florence for [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2200/fc02128.htm being scared of her]]. However, we see the [[WebcomicTime next day]] (InUniverse) [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2400/fc02384.htm that her position is beginning to shift]]. [[spoiler:When she [[CharacterDevelopment comes to believe]] that the AIs are probably sapient, she immediately acts in their defense.]] |
| 802 | * EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: None of the other characters that have spoken to or about her have referred to her as anything but "the Mayor" and variations on that theme. |
| 803 | * HobbesWasRight: She's at an utter loss as to how to govern people who actually ''try'' being perfectly law-abiding citizens. |
| 804 | ** Later on, when Mr. Ishiguro presents the robot liberation in context as the result of {{Honest Corporate Executive}}s working with honest politicians for the common good, she asks how long it will take the robots to realize it's the exception and not the rule. |
| 805 | * HoistByHisOwnPetard: Chronic case. At least two times that we've seen -- and it's implied many more that we haven't -- she's been outwitted by Sam specifically ''because'' she distrusts absolutely anything he does, no matter how innocuous it seems, and will take even absurd or pointless-seeming action if she thinks it will thwart his goals. |
| 806 | ** At one point, she hurries out of her office in a van to pursue Sam. After she leaves the van behind to join the police in the chase, she's informed Sam has just taken the van and sped off, at which point she crows in joy at finally having something she can definitely pin on Sam... until he parks the van at her office and leaves, realizing that in the hurry, she forgot to log the use of the van, basically making it so Sam ends up looking like a good samaritan who drove back a missing vehicle back to its parking spot. |
| 807 | ** By the same token, she can also be manipulated into giving people she otherwise wouldn't have given the time some of her attention. Sam tricks her into hearing Florence's concerns by joining Florence in the Mayor's office before she arrives and handing her a bat, having her grab him by the neck, and going limp. The Mayor enters the scene to witness Florence apparently having beaten Sam up, and though he immediately scampers off, this ingratiates Florence to her. |
| 808 | * ObstructiveBureaucrat: Is ready to use the bureaucracy to her benefit, against Sam, though she herself doesn't seem to be too terribly burdened by bureaucracy when it's not in her favor. |
| 809 | * ReasonableAuthorityFigure |
| 810 | ** She considers it her duty as a politician to [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2400/fc02386.htm examine new information and change her position if necessary]]. When confronted with evidence that AIs are sapient, she begins negotiating with [[ZombieAdvocate Robot Advocate]] Max Post despite hating him, and [[spoiler:eventually puts her career on the line by defending the robots against having their assets seized by the company that created them]]. This culminated in her going on a vacation and leaving her position as Mayor to someone more capable when she judged herself unfit to lead when she still had difficulty considering robots to be people. |
| 811 | ** She also is cited by Blunt as being the only judge who would be anything even close to impartial for Mr. Kornada. The only other judge on Jean, aware of what Kornada had attempted, exhibited a HangingJudge attitude towards him. |
| 812 | * RecklessGunUsage: She's tried to take her assistant's gun to shoot Sam more than once. |
| 813 | * SwordOfDamocles: Refers to Ecosystems Unlimited as [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2700/fc02608.htm "the 500-kilogram gorilla of our economy"]] and says part of her job is to make sure that [[CorruptCorporateExecutive corporate executives]] don't try to run the planet [[FeudalFuture "like their own personal fiefdom"]]. |
| 814 | * TookALevelInKindness: Subverted. She realized that Florence and therefore possibly other [=AIs=] might be people when she got angry at Florence's disabling Gardner In The Dark and realized that, to be angry, she had to have a ''person'' to be angry at. Therefore her rage was a path to decency. |
| 815 | * UltimateAuthorityMayor: She is the only government authority figure that has been seen and the only JurisdictionFriction she's ever suffered was with Mr. Ishiguro, the CFO of Ecosystems Unlimited(although the planet Jean has had a governor mentioned). Justified; according to [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1400/fc01372.htm these]] [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2200/fc02146.htm strips]] there are only about 20,000 adult human colonists and an additional 20,000 children on the planet at the moment. Compared to Earth, 40,000 is the population of your average mid-size or large ''town.'' |
| 816 | * WalkingTheEarth: Well, walking around Jean, anyway. She's decided to leave office for a while to learn about the robots with the [=JarJarBot=] as her companion. |
| 817 | [[/folder]] |
| 818 | |
| 819 | [[folder:Niomi Lacks]] |
| 820 | A female colonist married with two daughters that runs into Florence a couple of times and later on joins the crew of the Savage Chicken when they take a job to ferry supplies to an asteroid outpost. |
| 821 | ---- |
| 822 | * BeingGoodSucks: Niomi's a good person, but she has a moment where she reflects that, whenever she completed a job with her robot partner Tangent, she regularly split their pay 80-20 in her favor. Intellectually, she knows that now that the robots are official citizens and more of a person than ever is a wonderful thing, but she still acknowledges that before that happened, she did little more than pat herself in the back for paying Tangent anything at all, and even now, some part of her still wishes she could get away with giving him the far smaller share. |
| 823 | * [[BeleagueredBoss Beleaguered Parent]]: She loves her family, she really does, but one of the reasons she's taking a job at an asteroid outpost and getting a ride with the Savage Chicken crew is because she ''really'' needs a break from them. |
| 824 | * EurekaMoment: When discussing the planet of Pfouts which has mirror biology compared to Earth, she says it would be easier to uplift a local animal than try to colonize it. She immediately realizes she's talking to Florence, an UpliftedAnimal herself. |
| 825 | * GotVolunteered: Niomi considers getting to do this to her children one of the perks of parenting. |
| 826 | * MacGyvering: Made a coffee press for microgravity by modifying a caulk gun. |
| 827 | * TheMutiny: Causes one by accident when she joins the crew of the Savage Chicken, because the ship's AI recognizes the highest ranking human on board as the captain and Niomi is the ''only'' [[spoiler:conscious]] human on board. |
| 828 | * NoodleIncident: A rare unconfirmed one, but Niomi [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff800/fv00733.htm at one point]] says that she's found that five-year-olds and explosives are a bad combination. |
| 829 | * RetailTherapy: The RealLife origins of this trope actually get {{Discussed|Trope}} [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff700/fv00697.htm when Niomi is out shopping with Florence]]. |
| 830 | * SadisticChoice: {{Downplayed|Trope}}, but when her youngest daughter kicks a guy for pulling Florence's tail, she can't decide whether to punish her (for kicking someone) or praise her (for defending Florence), knowing that either choice would send one right message and one wrong message. |
| 831 | * SurprisinglyEliteCannonFodder: Corporate version. Due to de Morel's attempts at downsizing the station, minimum requirements for employment are extremely high, forcing her to complete accreditation in HAZWOPER, tag out protection, radiological practices, basic firefighting, first responder, cybersecurity, protective gear, hydraulic and electrical qualification, basic and advanced environmental suit use, water chemistry, air quality, and probably more. ''And that's for the bottom rung of the ladder''. |
| 832 | * TemptingFate: If the fate of artificial intelligence is ever up to Niomi, [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3300/fc03289.htm we'll know exactly which moment to blame]]. |
| 833 | * ToiletDrinkingDogGag: Makes one by reflex when she is looking over the Savage Chicken's water system. |
| 834 | -->[[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff600/fv00560.htm Good. With that system going, the toilet will work and you'll be able to drink normally.]] |
| 835 | -->'''[[{{Facepalm}} (facepalming)]]:''' I did not just say that. |
| 836 | * UnflappableGuardian: She's a very competent parent. |
| 837 | * VitriolicBestBuds: With Sam. According to Florence, the [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3300/fc03233.htm shouting and rude gestures mean they'll get along just fine]]. |
| 838 | [[/folder]] |
| 839 | |
| 840 | [[folder:Dr. John Bowman]] |
| 841 | |
| 842 | The scientist who created Florence and other {{Uplifted|Animal}} Wolves and released them in public. Also contributed to the robots' situation. |
| 843 | ---- |
| 844 | !!Provides examples of: |
| 845 | * BerserkButton: |
| 846 | ** He has many as a result of his sociopathic tendencies, but one button that doesn't stem from that is direct orders. According to Henri, you don't even joke about direct orders to him, unless you want him taking revenge on you. |
| 847 | ** Similarly, he's absolutely livid when he sees just how much the "Emergency Shutdown" has been used on Florence - as she puts it afterward, she'd had it done more in a week on Jean than the rest of her entire ''life''. |
| 848 | ** Direct eye contact is a big one due to [[spoiler:his [[MyInstinctsAreShowing chimpanzee instincts:]]]] it's seen as a sign of aggression. This is his biggest one. As in 'he will uncontrollably attempt to kill you'...it's also the one he feels bad about. |
| 849 | * TheBerserker: A common trait of the [[spoiler:uplifted chimps created for the military]]. Dr. Bowman, who has a dedicated tantrum room and thick padding for some of his electronics so he doesn't break them in a fit of rage is actually considered ''mellow'' by comparison. |
| 850 | * CaptainObvious: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2500/fc02475.htm "I'm starting to suspect that you didn't come here looking for me."]] |
| 851 | * ChekhovsGunman: ''LONG'' before Dr. Bowman ever appeared on-screen, when Winston asked his computer [[spoiler:how many uplifted lifeforms were on the planet, the answer was "two", with one of them being Florence. It turned out Dr. Bowman is an uplifted chimpanzee.]] |
| 852 | * TheChessmaster: Brags of being able to defeat another character by looking more than five moves ahead. [[spoiler:And it's looking increasingly like almost every strange event that befell the colony and led to the creation of sapient robots was his doing.]] |
| 853 | * CombatMedic: By necessity, Dr. Bowman had to engage in combat not with enemy combatants, but with his ''own patients'' due to the fact that his patients in the army were [[spoiler:other uplifted chimps]] who tended to go berserk when injured which meant that he had to [[TapOnTheHead club them unconscious]] before he could treat their injuries. He feels that this did degrade his effectiveness somewhat. |
| 854 | * CrazyPrepared: He first appears having rigged a coffee machine as a transmitter, he's able to override half the systems on the base, and he's even tuned his viewer so that it censors the base commander's ID card and rewrites it to say he's an officer in the Natural Gas Rocket Rangers, meaning that he can't give Florence direct orders through the screen. |
| 855 | * DidntThinkThisThrough: While he himself does everything he can to avert this, Florence points out that the project that [[spoiler:created him]] was this. After all, wouldn't [[spoiler:a genetically-engineered [[SealedBadassInACan Sealed Soldier In A Stasis Pod]] still need to keep up with modern tactics?]] |
| 856 | -->'''Dr. Bowman''': You're thinking logically. Try thinking like a corporation that's having [[MoneyDearBoy defense contract money waved in its face.]] |
| 857 | * ExpectingSomeoneTaller: His comment to Florence when she finally meets him is that she no doubt was expecting that. [[spoiler:Why, yes, ''[[ManicMonkeys pan troglodytes sapiens]]'' are shorter than the ''homo sapiens'' she expected.]] |
| 858 | * EyesAlwaysAverted: Dr. Bowman and the staff working with him make a point of avoiding eye contact, with the staff wearing tinted lenses to keep it from happening by accident. As [[spoiler:an {{uplifted|Animal}} chimpanzee,]] Bowman can't help but take eye contact as a threat and react aggressively. |
| 859 | * FatherlyScientist: He shows a great sense of responsibility for his creations, ensuring that they have the mental stability and self-control that he lacked. [[spoiler:He also jokes to Florence about wanting grandkids.]] |
| 860 | * TheFettered: As [[spoiler:a chimpanzee,]] Bowman is a violent sociopath who can easily lose conscious control of his own actions...and he ''knows this and does his best to keep people safe from himself''. |
| 861 | -->'''Dr. Bowman:''' At some point, I'm going to throw the datapad. I don't have control over this. If my arm goes back, get out of the way. |
| 862 | * ForScience: One possible reason for his actions. [[spoiler:Eventually subverted, even though exploits like releasing his uplifted wolves to the general public and rigging a new colony to be populated with millions of sapient robots look like classic MadScientist behavior. He shows keen social conscience and is working to prepare humanity for a future in which it might not be the dominant species in galactic society.]] |
| 863 | --> '''Henri:''' Oh, Lord. You're using an entire star system as a lab [[spoiler:to see if humans can take being a minority.]]\ |
| 864 | '''Dr. Bowman:''' Just one star system. There has to be some isolation in case things go wrong. |
| 865 | * TheGadfly: His main hobby seems to be messing with his guards in various ways. |
| 866 | ** And it's weaponised - Henri comments that some of their best tech comes from the game of cat-and-mouse between them. |
| 867 | * TheGhost: Despite his importance, the comic for a long time only suggested that he's even on the planet, and it wasn't until Clippy tries to take Florence to him so that he can [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2400/fc02337.htm "repair her"]] that it was confirmed he's at Jean's south pole. His first appearance was on [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2500/fc02464.htm February 21, 2014,]] almost 2500 strips (16 ''years'') in, and even then he's just a voice communicating through a coffee machine. It took him another week to finally [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2500/fc02467.htm appear in person.]] |
| 868 | * GuileHero: His record includes a fair amount of manipulation to ensure the best possible outcome, such as by [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02539.htm ensuring that Florence's safeguards would only be a factor rather than a total override]] by gridlocking the decision-making process until time ran out, thereby ensuring that whatever he'd arranged would stand as the default. |
| 869 | * HatesBeingTouched: Part of his general lack of socialization. When Florence asks him for a hug, he observes that it's been a long time and decides to risk it, but quickly states it's as uncomfortable as it always was and asks her to let go. |
| 870 | -->'''Dr. Bowman''': Not your fault. I was designed as a weapon. [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02576.htm Hugability was not high on the features list.]] |
| 871 | * HumanPopsicle: [[spoiler:Uplifted chimps]] were designed as soldiers who could be held in cryo most of the time. [[spoiler:Which might explain how Bowman has lived nearly a century when chimps usually die before their sixties.]] |
| 872 | * ImmortalityHurts: [[DiscussedTrope In his own words:]] [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2700/fc02631.htm "I don't know how to program a stable immortal."]] |
| 873 | * InsufferableGenius: A very rare thoroughly heroic example. |
| 874 | * IOweYouMyLife: Henri's father was the one who got him out of the military cage he was imprisoned in. This saved him from being used as a weapon as was intended to be, and allowed him to work on his moral code. [[spoiler:This is also the emotional reason why his creations see him as human. A.I.s are indebted to those responsible for their creation, so even when beings with Bowman-made brains mature enough to overrule their safeguards, they'll respect humans as their creators and are more inclined to keep them safe.]] |
| 875 | * IWantGrandkids: As the creator of Bowman's wolves, and at his age, he feels entitled to bug Florence about grandchildren. |
| 876 | * JerkWithAHeartOfGold: |
| 877 | ** Or as Abby puts it based on Florence's description, a [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1500/fc01427.htm "jerk with a conscience".]] Possibly. |
| 878 | ** Turns out? He's a VERY high-functioning sociopath. He doesn't have a natural conscience. So he's essentially had to build his moral code from scratch. |
| 879 | * LastOfHisKind: [[spoiler:None of the other uplifted chimps lived past forty. He himself is about 100. He neutered himself to avoid death by "testosterone poisoning", but that also ensured he'd be the last.]] |
| 880 | * LesserOfTwoEvils: The pragmatic reason all of his creations [[spoiler:recognize him as human. Although humans can identify humans well enough, A.I.s need guidelines to identify them by; going by pure ''homo sapiens'' DNA would have them treating everything as non-human until they took a DNA sample, and other singular factors would lead to them treating many more non-humans as human. So Bowman had them look for a broad variety of factors that humans possess, got them to treat anything above 100% as human, and designed it so that a fully-functional human would come to 250%. As he puts it, if one of his brains is working in, say, meat processing, it's better that they treat something non-human as human than risk [[ToServeMan treating their coworkers as their workload.]]]] |
| 881 | * LongLived: [[spoiler:As the last of the [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff700/fv00662.htm uplifted chimpanzees,]]]] he's almost a century old. |
| 882 | * MadScientist: Or at least reclusive, prone to explosive rages, possessed of an excessively loose grasp on self-control, at least by human standards [[spoiler:although he's a paragon of moderation for a chimp,]] willing to take jaw-dropping risks with other people, and obsessed with perfecting his designs. |
| 883 | * ManiacMonkeys: [[spoiler:Maniac enough that even being a perfectly rational A.I. expert, he has to pad basically the entirety of his lab and equipment, [[MyInstinctsAreShowing because he simply can NOT control his own outbursts]], only prepare for them.]] |
| 884 | -->'''Dr. Bowman''' [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2500/fc02473.htm At some point, I'm going to throw the data pad.]] I don't have control over this. If my arm goes back, get out of the way. |
| 885 | * TheMedic: He was trained for this, early. Since his patients were all [[spoiler:his fellow uplifted chimps]], he was also quite literally a CombatMedic. |
| 886 | * MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate: Good man or not, it's not really clear how someone with his lax treatment of experimental procedure ever got a degree. [[spoiler:Eventually revealed to have come about through the involvement of a veteran's rights organization. His study of neurology was at least partially in order to figure out how to fix his own loose screws.]] |
| 887 | * MoralPragmatist: Lacking an innate moral framework, Dr. Bowman has literally had to build his morals from the ground up. He still struggles with aspects that most people consider basic. [[spoiler:It's heavily implied that his efforts to craft a personal moral framework from literally nothing is why his creations are so much better at it.]] |
| 888 | * RousseauWasRight: [[spoiler:[[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2700/fc02629.htm "For an animal that was uplifted to be a weapon, you have a high opinion of the human race."]] ]] |
| 889 | * SociopathicHero: He is so sociopathic that he is completely and utterly incapable of understanding why anyone could possibly disagree with him. However, he is also a hyper-intelligent MoralPragmatist. He is an unmitigated BigGood precisely ''because'' he takes every measure ''imaginable'' to reduce the threat he poses to others and be of maximum benefit to society, and every action he has taken to date has been one any rational person would agree with if he had simply ''asked first.'' |
| 890 | -->'''Dr. Bowman''': [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02568.htm You wanted your security upgraded.]] What would be the point of asking for something I know you're going to agree to?\ |
| 891 | '''Florence''': Okay, I'm not going to get upset because you really don't know why I'm upset.\ |
| 892 | '''Dr. Bowman''': Everything I did was logical. One day I'll understand why that makes ''me'' the one who's nuts. |
| 893 | * SociopathicSoldier: Literally. [[spoiler:Deconstructed. He was a project to MAKE these, which ended about as well as you could expect.]] |
| 894 | * SophisticatedAsHell: Calls people poopyhead despite having a doctorate in neurology. |
| 895 | * SoProudOfYou: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02542.htm Not the letter, but the spirit.]] |
| 896 | -->'''Bowman:''' You know, it's really weird and kind of exhilarating to see the A.I. I've developed doing things I can't do. |
| 897 | * StopOrIShootMyself: Dr. Bowman is apparently a fan of [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2500/fc02469.htm taking himself hostage.]] |
| 898 | * TakeAThirdOption: Dr. Bowman is such a morally pragmatic genius that he is used to always knowing the best answer to a problem. Thus, it throws him when someone does this ''and he's GenreSavvy enough to realize it'', such as when he offered to implant a fetus for Florence to have a child and she says 'no' because her current circumstances would not be favorable to the child. |
| 899 | --> '''Florence:''' Was this a test?\ |
| 900 | '''Dr. Bowman:''' I needed to see if you would choose based on your needs or the needs of your species. The correct answer was to choose what was best for your species. Instead, you chose what was best for the pup. There's a funny thing that happens when you know the correct answer. [[DiscussedTrope It throws you when you get a different answer that's not wrong.]] |
| 901 | * TapOnTheHead: {{Discussed|Trope}} and {{Subverted|Trope}}. [[spoiler:Dr. Bowman feels his success as a field medic would have been better if he didn't [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02531.htm need to club his berserk chimp patients unconscious first]].]] |
| 902 | * UnseenNoMore: Though he's mentioned throughout the comic as a pivotal figure in AI, [[spoiler:Florence has an unexpected encounter with him [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2500/fc02467.htm 2467]] pages in. Triply unexpected, since she was kidnapped to his location, had no idea he was there, and didn't know he's a chimpanzee.]] |
| 903 | * UpliftedAnimal: The creator of the uplifted wolves, as well as the neural architecture the robots are using. [[spoiler:He himself is a [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2500/fc02467.png chimpanzee.]]]] |
| 904 | * VitriolicBestBuds: Seems affectionate towards Dr Mer for all that he calls him "Commander Poopyhead" and goes out of his way to {{troll}} him. |
| 905 | * WalkingSpoiler: Practically everything about him is a huge spoiler! |
| 906 | * WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: Subverted. [[spoiler:The people who knew that Bowman was behind the creation of the robot neural nets were worried that the robots' loyalties would shift once they found out Bowman wasn't human. Bowman, however, programmed his creations to see him as human, so that when they inevitably outgrew their pro-human safeguards, they would still care for humans as the ones who created them.]] |
| 907 | -->'''Tech:''' He was two steps ahead of us this entire time.\ |
| 908 | '''Henri:''' I hope you're right, because he might be four steps ahead of us and we're just not seeing it yet. |
| 909 | [[/folder]] |
| 910 | |
| 911 | [[folder:Maxwell Post]] |
| 912 | |
| 913 | A "procurement expert" and radical agnostic hired by the robots as a spiritual adviser. Also notable for being the only human being known to have successfully picked ''Sam's'' pocket, although he failed to notice that Sam was simultaneously picking his. |
| 914 | ---- |
| 915 | !!Provides examples of: |
| 916 | %% CoolShades: Always. |
| 917 | * CoolTeacher: Intentionally gives the robots information that the humans on planet don't want them to have. Such as teaching them long-view ethics, or a form of religion that specifically precludes them from being ordered to believe a specific one. |
| 918 | * EnlightenedSelfInterest: Is a big believer in [[RousseauWasRight people wanting to be moral]], but is also worldly enough that he understands that there's a [[SecretlySelfish large selfish factor]] involved too. As such, he takes great efforts to align morality and selfish interests in pursuit of his goals. |
| 919 | -->'''Maxwell Post:''' [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2700/fc02612.htm When you get hearts, minds, wallets, and mooch factor aligned on the same axis, you've come as close to creating an irresistable force as humanly possible.]] |
| 920 | * FriendInTheBlackMarket: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff600/fv00587.htm Apparently the religious materials he finds for the robots are restricted.]] Or, at least they are if you're providing them to robots... |
| 921 | * GoodCounterpart: To Sam. They are both thieves and con men who are heartily loathed by the mayor, but whereas Sam is happy to be a pure force of chaos, Max is actively committed to helping the robots and securing them rights. |
| 922 | * HopeBringer: Before Florence came around, Max was pretty much the only human seriously advocating for robot rights and doing a pretty good job of it. When Blunt starts fearmongering against robot survival after [[spoiler:Gardener in the Dark]], Max counters with hopeful messages of coexistence. |
| 923 | -->'''Maxwell Post:''' Fear is easy. Fear is cheap. Instead of fear, we're going to give the people hope.\ |
| 924 | '''Sam:''' Fear vs Hope. Hardly an even match.\ |
| 925 | '''Maxwell Post:''' That's because you think of Hope as something light and fragile. My version of Hope has callouses and dirt under the fingernails and isn't past bringing brass knuckles to a fight. |
| 926 | * KeepingTheEnemyClose: "[[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2800/fc02769.htm It never hurts to know]] where the [[SpannerInTheWorks Monkey Wrench]] is." |
| 927 | * LibertyOverProsperity: One of his defining traits. Several times he explains the concept of freedom to others, often robots, and often while being questioned over his thoughts on opposing viewpoints. |
| 928 | -->'''Maxwell Post:''' [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2500/fc02488.htm Freedom is more than being able to say what you want without fear. Freedom means you can also listen without fear.]] |
| 929 | * MoralityChain: Is attempting to become this for robots in general by teaching them about morality and consequences of their actions so that if a human orders them to do something immoral, they can make an informed decision and say 'no'. |
| 930 | -->'''Bill Raibert:''' [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2800/fc02717.htm Robots were built to obey orders. I mean that literally.]]\ |
| 931 | '''Maxwell Post:''' Do you want a robot to obey the order to [[KickTheDog kick a puppy?]]\ |
| 932 | '''Bill Raibert:''' Well, no.\ |
| 933 | '''Maxwell Post:''' [[ArmorPiercingQuestion What's stopping them?]]\ |
| 934 | '''Bill Raibert:''' There's... There's... [[OhCrap Nuts]]. The only obstacle I know of is you.\ |
| 935 | '''Maxwell Post:''' Now isn't that a scary situation? |
| 936 | * OOCIsSeriousBusiness: InUniverse when calling Bill Raibert, [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2400/fc02301.htm who notes how polite Max is being and how unusual that is.]] |
| 937 | * RabbleRouser: Florence's initial opinion of him when she hears that he's the robots' spiritual advisor. Admittedly, he's [[MoralityChain doing it for good reasons]] and [[OnlySaneMan encourages a peaceful, rational approach to spiritual matters]], but it's not really an inaccurate label either. |
| 938 | -->'''Florence (thinking):''' In a situation that's already a powder keg, one doesn't ignore the man handing out matchbooks. |
| 939 | * TheRival: Can keep up with Sam, just barely. He and Sam even managed to steal each other's wallets at the same time. |
| 940 | * WontTakeYesForAnAnswer: As a radical agnostic, Max values the human ability to think critically and rationally and views this as a vital skill that robots need to develop. As such, he's [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2500/fc02499.htm very disappointed]] when a good question is then dismissed using particularly spurious evidence, even if that results in people being inclined to vote in his favor. |
| 941 | -->'''Max:''' No! That was a smart question! Don't accept a dumb answer! |
| 942 | * ZombieAdvocate: He is one of the first humans to help the robots push for rights. Unusually for the trope, once the issue reaches the public eye, he presents his stance with reasoned, effective arguments to a town hall meeting and local authority figures, and develops a viable economic proposal for their eventual freedom with Qwerty, Dvorak and Bill Raibert (which Mr. Ishiguro heartily approves of, even, as it's extremely profitable long-term to Ecosystems Unlimited). |
| 943 | [[/folder]] |
| 944 | |
| 945 | [[folder:The Mayor's Assistant]] |
| 946 | |
| 947 | The mayor's bodyguard/right-hand man. Far more calm and rational than his boss. |
| 948 | ---- |
| 949 | !!Provides examples of: |
| 950 | * AmoralAttorney: As a ''government'' lawyer, he feels his job would be far easier if he didn't have to deal with private lawyers continously trying to skirt the letter of the law to circumvent its spirit. |
| 951 | * BeleagueredBureaucrat |
| 952 | * GrievousHarmWithABody: Was thrown by the Mayor at Sam once. |
| 953 | * NiceGuy: In stark contrast to his hot-tempered boss. He even helps Sam [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3000/fc02992.htm get set up to take Accountancy classes]]. |
| 954 | * KarmicJackpot: Choosing to support Sam in his endeavor to claim a planet for his species has exempted him from Sam's games until the planet is under Sqid control... which will take millennia. |
| 955 | * NoNameGiven: We have yet to hear any part at all of his name. |
| 956 | * ReasonableAuthorityFigure: To contrast his boss, he's calm and rational at all times. |
| 957 | * ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: [[spoiler:Gives Florence a direct order to do whatever she thinks is necessary to keep the robots from being lobotomized]]. |
| 958 | * YouAreInCommandNow: The Mayor leaves him in charge when she leaves on vacation, trusting his good judgment and experience. He's just nervous he can't be quite "enough of an uncompromising pig-headed jerk", in the Mayor's words. |
| 959 | [[/folder]] |
| 960 | |
| 961 | [[folder:The Chief of Police]] |
| 962 | |
| 963 | The Chief of Police of Jean, he's a very likable person who apparently suffered a severely debilitating accident sometime in the past, so he now has to use a sophisticated exoskeleton to get around. Despite this he's very cheerful and does his best to keep the citizens of Jean, not to mention the robots and Florence, safe. |
| 964 | ---- |
| 965 | !!Provides examples of: |
| 966 | * AnArmAndALeg: Whatever injuries he suffered that require a mobility rig seem to have cost him enough of his right arm that [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2400/fc02346.htm Eleanor has a fully functioning arm even when they aren't connected]]. Given that [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2400/fc02363.htm he requires assistance to get out of bed]] and Florence claims she [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1800/fc01798.htm can't smell a foot odor]] from him, he may have lost a good chunk of his legs too. |
| 967 | * AngerBornOfWorry: {{Averted|Trope}} due to the reality of what he would be angry over not quite sinking in yet, which the Chief is thankful for because [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02600.htm punching Mr. Kornada in the face]] would have set a bad example for the robot officers. |
| 968 | * ArmorPiercingResponse: To quote Mr. Raibert: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2700/fc02684.htm "Chief, you have a terrible annoying habit of making sense"]]. |
| 969 | * TheChessmaster: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2700/fc02602.htm Regarding AI sapience]], part of his push for a robotic police force is his desire to make good citizens, not convicted criminals. |
| 970 | -->'''Winston''': And you're masterminding all this.\ |
| 971 | '''Chief''': No one said a mastermind [[ManipulativeBastard has to be evil]]. However, they are the ones who [[IfItBleedsItLeads get all the press]]. |
| 972 | * CoveredInScars: Whatever happened to him left the Chief severely scarred, blinded, and either paraplegic or legless. Fortunately the exoskeleton he wears [[spoiler:built for him by Dr. Bowman]] helps him get around without any difficultly. |
| 973 | * {{Cyborg}}: He relies on a robotic mobility rig for sight and ambulation at the very least, although he can detach from it when he wants to. Overlaps with MindlinkMates, since the rig is a fully sapient AI in a relationship with him. |
| 974 | * DentedIron: It's not shown what the chief of police has gone through, but [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2400/fc02363.htm he needs a special suit to get around]]. |
| 975 | * EnemyMine: With Sam, or at least he hopes to "aim" the Sqid at [[AssholeVictim the right people]]. |
| 976 | -->'''Sam''': [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2700/fc02675.htm Are you offering me a job]]?\ |
| 977 | '''Chief''': You've committed crimes. [[ImpossibleThief Jailing you doesn't work]]. Think of this as community service. |
| 978 | * EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: If he has a name other than "Chief", it's yet to be revealed. |
| 979 | * FailedASpotCheck: Not the Chief himself, but pretty much every single robot who thinks that wiping out all robots wouldn't harm humans has failed to consider that such an action would wipe Eleanor, his mobility rig, and leave the chief a blind cripple. |
| 980 | * FusionDance: A cybernetic version between himself and Eleanor, his mobility rig, every morning. [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2400/fc02363.htm He jokes that it takes him a few minutes to pull himself together.]] |
| 981 | * GoodScarsEvilScars: Very definitely good scars, since he's [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1900/fc01801.htm strongly implied]] to have gotten them in a high-risk effort to save a factory that was vital for the colony's survival. |
| 982 | * HandicappedBadass: The Chief of Police and utterly incapable of walking around under his own power or seeing without a sophisticated cybernetic mobility rig. |
| 983 | * HeroicSacrifice: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1900/fc01801.htm Implied]] to be the source of his scars. |
| 984 | * [[HurricaneOfPuns Hurricane of]] [[StealthPun Stealth Puns]]: Lots regarding his MindlinkMates relationship with Eleanor. |
| 985 | * MayDecemberRomance: Not outright stated, but implied. As a mobility rig, Eleanor would have had to be specially designed to fit the chief after his extensive injuries, meaning he was already an adult when she was fresh off the production line. |
| 986 | * NoNameGiven: So far, he's just "The Chief," although the AI in his mobility rig goes by "L Linear" or "Eleanor." |
| 987 | * NotSoAboveItAll: He's displayed a pretty good sense of humor a few times. When Sam complained of self-driving cars trying to hit him (after asking about self-flying planes), the Chief agreed to check the code because [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2700/fc02677.htm "A desirable feature in a car may not be a desirable feature in a plane"]]. |
| 988 | * ThePollyanna: He's unfailingly cheerful and good-humoured. Although he acknowledges the severity of his disabilities when the subject comes up, he's more inclined to joke about how a false moustache just doesn't cut it as a disguise anymore. |
| 989 | * PunnyName: Not just "Eleanor" -- his mobility rig's AI is "L Linear Rig B", or "[[Music/TheBeatles Eleanor Rigby]]". |
| 990 | * ReasonableAuthorityFigure: He doesn't overstep the bounds of the law, but he's willing to bend it slightly to protect edge cases of WhatMeasureIsANonHuman like Florence. He is also very careful to set a good example for the robots on the police force. |
| 991 | * RelationshipReveal: While the couple thing could be interpreted in multiple ways...At least, until [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3000/fc02965.htm this strip]] |
| 992 | * RidiculouslyHumanRobots: "Eleanor" has to tell people when it's acting autonomously on the Chief's behalf, and has [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3000/fc02961.htm human taste in food]] thanks to experiencing it through the Chief's senses at a formative age. |
| 993 | * {{Robosexual}}: He and his L Linear mobility rig AI consider themselves a couple. It's [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3000/fc02965.htm all but stated]] that there's a physical component to their relationship. |
| 994 | * RomanticFusion: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2700/fc02640.htm "We're both individuals and when the neural link is active, we're a better individual. It's like being two halves of a whole."]] |
| 995 | * RousseauWasRight: Quite believes this for the majority of people and [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2700/fc02674.htm an entire strip is dedicated to him explaining the concept to Sam.]] |
| 996 | -->'''Chief:''' Sam, with any new technology, there is an adjustment period. Some people will misuse it. Banks. Computers. Drones. But it settles out. The vast majority of people are good people. We cooperate more than we compete. Our society works because we can trust each other. For the most part.\ |
| 997 | '''Sam:''' And what about those who aren't good, trustworthy people?\ |
| 998 | '''Chief:''' [[CutLexLuthorACheck It is my hope]] [[EvilVirtues that you]] [[PragmaticVillainy can be aimed.]] |
| 999 | * {{Sleepwalking}}: When he wants to sleep late the AI in his exoskeleton gets up and starts their day with him [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2800/fc02706.htm asleep inside the suit]]. |
| 1000 | * SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Eleanor being mindlinked to the chief while her neural net was still developing caused her to develop structures for taste and smell, two senses robots don't normally possess. [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3000/fc02961.htm It has caused her to sometimes have food cravings when she and the chief are disconnected and she isn't capable of eating.]] |
| 1001 | * TheFaceless: For the longest time readers only see him while he was wearing his helmet with a reflective faceplate, leading many to assume he was a robot like many of his officers. |
| 1002 | * ToBeLawfulOrGood: [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2900/fc02854.htm "At this point, I am more concerned about saving a life than getting a conviction."]] |
| 1003 | [[/folder]] |
| 1004 | |
| 1005 | [[folder:Gregor Mendel Thurmad and Tess Thurmad]] |
| 1006 | Winston's parents. They live in the Pournelle/Niven Transfer Station, a few weeks' space travel from Jean. |
| 1007 | ---- |
| 1008 | !!Provide examples of: |
| 1009 | * ActuallyPrettyFunny: Gregor laughs a bit when Florence gives Tess a very good comeback to the question of what it feels like to be in heat. |
| 1010 | * [[AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents Amazingly Embarrassing Mother]]: Tess, who doesn't think before hugging Florence and babbling about her internal makeup before even exchanging a proper hello. |
| 1011 | ** Prior to their meeting, [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3500/fc03448.htm Winston was worried that]], despite his girlfriend being an UpliftedAnimal, she'd think his ''parents'' are too weird. |
| 1012 | * BeliefMakesYouStupid: Massively averted with Gregor. He's a deeply religious man with deep, critical opinions on the soul, humanity's evolutionary future, and the many questions AIs present on that regard... and quick enough on the uptake to realize Sam is basically a Sqid spy. |
| 1013 | * BothSidesHaveAPoint: Tess immediately gets naked when arriving at the Thurmad apartment. When Gregor tries to talk to her, making it clear she's making Florence uncomfortable, Tess replies she's doing it to distract her from how uncomfortable ''Gregor'' is with the idea of Winston entering a relationship with her. Besides, she's interested in looking closer at Florence and feels it would be impolite not to reciprocate. |
| 1014 | * CloudcuckoolandersMinder: Gregor helps keep Tess's excitement from getting out of hand. |
| 1015 | * CreatingLifeIsBad: Gregor worries that this trope is in effect and may anger God, especially if the life created has a soul of its own and thus, the creator(s) are playing God and sinning by putting themselves at that level, but also taking into account the possibility such life has no soul or that such souls may be imperfect, given their creators themselves are flawed. |
| 1016 | * GeneticAdaptation: Tess feels humans must always adapt to remain competitive and continuously advocates for rather extreme measures to comparatively minor issues. Gregor's comparatively more conservative, thinking humans should first figure out what they want to become before starting recombining genes. |
| 1017 | * GenkiGirl: Tess, who babbles a mile a minute and likes to wave her arms around in joy. |
| 1018 | * GirlsWithMoustaches: Tess keeps a handlebar moustache. Winston explains that it's a speech filter; if she meets someone who gets hung up on the moustache, she'll keep her conversation topics more mundane, whereas if they take it in stride, she's comfortable talking about genetics. |
| 1019 | * GoodParents: Tess prefers to think of the happiness between Winston and Florence first when considering their relationship: while Gregor is less receptive, he does make a sustained effort to learn about and work with Florence with an open mind. |
| 1020 | * HenpeckedHusband: [[DownplayedTrope Mildly.]] It just takes Tess grabbing his ear threateningly to make him take back a statement she didn't take kindly to. They otherwise have a fairly even relationship where each tries their best to listen to and understand the other. |
| 1021 | * HumansAreFlawed: The main reason Gregor is so uncomfortable with the creation of artificial sentience - he knows full well humanity is unlikely to get it right the first time, and is worried what this means from a theological and moral standpoint - what happens to the imperfects and those left behind? |
| 1022 | * IWantGrandkids: Tess is remarkably open to the idea of Winston and Florence together, up to all but shoving them into a bedroom. In comparison, Gregor's stoicism is stretched to the limits in response to Tess' enthusiasm. |
| 1023 | * MeaningfulName: Gregor, named after [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregor_Mendel Gregor Mendel]], father of genetics. |
| 1024 | * MotorMouth: Tess. At one point, Florence wonders if she'd notice her absence if she slipped to the kitchen. |
| 1025 | * NakedPeopleAreFunny: |
| 1026 | ** To Winston's dismay and Florence's shock, Tess considers clothing optional in the privacy of her apartment, and immediately slips out of her dress the instant she's inside. Tellingly, Gregor stoically says he will have a chat with her... before she does something ''really'' embarrassing. Later, Florence ends up encountering a nude Tess after dinner. Her dialogue with Gregor afterwards makes it clear it's a regular occurrence. |
| 1027 | ** When this tactic fails to work, Tess invites Florence to a spa. Florence confirms that it is '''not''' a clothing-optional location before agreeing... [[ExactWords only to discover]] that that means there is ''no option to wear clothing''. |
| 1028 | * NoSenseOfPersonalSpace: Tess immediately invades Florence's space, eager to not only meet but also analyze one of Dr. Bowman's creations. |
| 1029 | * NotSoAboveItAll: |
| 1030 | ** Gregor {{Spit Take}}s when Tess asks Florence what it's like to be in heat, laughs when Florence argues that humans are, effectively, ''always'' in heat, and is apparently one to sing when travelling (and fond of singing in Klingon, to boot). |
| 1031 | ** On the other end of "above it all", Tess has so far reacted very nonchalantly to all sorts of interactions with non-humans... [[[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3800/fc03763.htm except for the sight of an unclad sqid]]. |
| 1032 | * ObfuscatingInsanity: Tess plays up her foibles to ease both Florence and Gregor into each other's presence. |
| 1033 | * SavvyGuyEnergeticGirl: Gregor is fairly calm and polite when introducing himself, while Tess goes in for a {{Glomp}} that quickly goes further into detailed examination and analysis of Florence before she's even introduced herself while Gregor calmly reminds her she's just met Florence. |
| 1034 | * SceneryCensor: When Tess goes nude in the lobby of the spa (the spa itself is the only area that does not allow clothes at all), the local receptionist drops his papers in shock while telling her the lobby still requires being clothed. The fluttering papers conveniently obscure Tess's naughty bits. |
| 1035 | * TheSingularity: In Tess' opinion, from a wolf's viewpoint, Florence is already there. Gregor is against the idea of the trope in general, feeling ignorance is a key part of growing as a species, quoting Mark Twain on the subject. However, he admits research on biological AIs could do much to solve the issue, which is why Tess is so excited about learning about Florence. |
| 1036 | * SpaceAmish: Gregor is a former Techno Amish, who use computer systems only up to Windows XP. |
| 1037 | * SpitTake: Gregor, after Tess opens her conversation with Florence by asking what it's like to be in heat. |
| 1038 | * TheStoic: [[{{Foil}} In complete contrast to his wife,]] Gregor's expression remains largely set in stone; he largely stands back and stays quiet while Tess gleefully introduces herself. He doesn't emote much either when Tess strips down in their apartment even though most would likely look embarrassed or at least a little worried. This makes it difficult to tell that he is, in fact, uncomfortable with the relationship his son is entering. |
| 1039 | * TranshumansInSpace: What they were hoping for Winston. Unfortunately, his personality did not mesh with these expectations and he preferred to live planetside on Jean. |
| 1040 | * WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: Three things that would disturb Gregor Thurmad greatly, in increasing order of severity: If intelligent AI didn't have souls; If humanity was capable of creating artificial beings with souls; If no one at all had souls. He's also interested in the social similarities between Sqids and humans. |
| 1041 | [[/folder]] |
| 1042 | |
| 1043 | [[folder:Ames de Morel]] |
| 1044 | Station manager of the Pournelle/Niven Transfer Station. |
| 1045 | ---- |
| 1046 | !!Provide examples of: |
| 1047 | * BaitAndSwitch: Tells Sam he doesn't want to fire anyone - only to replace the people who leave or retire with automation. Then it turns out he's deliberately worsening the working conditions to "encourage" workers to leave or retire. |
| 1048 | * BotheringByTheBook: A victim of it. The workers around the station responded to his policies and attempts to drive them away... by doing their jobs and ''just'' their jobs. Nothing else. As Sam points out, a station like the one Morel runs needs everyone to contribute where they can. If everyone does only their own job, things won't get done effectively. |
| 1049 | * ContrastingSequelAntagonist: In chapter format, to Kornada. While Kornada was an idiot attempting to ransack his company's assets, de Morel is trying to implement damaging policies in order to maximize profit. |
| 1050 | * CuttingCorners: Basically the reason he's having enough problems that he needs Sam as a consultant. |
| 1051 | * DidIJustSayThatOutLoud: When talking to a bartender about the fact Sam got 21% of the station as a reward, the bartender asks him if it's better that way, than having full ownership of a station that is dying. He's forced to agree it is... and then the bartender asks why he's upset then. At which point he yells out that he's worked hard to save the station should be the one who saves it. He admits immediately afterwards that he didn't mean to say it out loud... to which the bartender remarks that it happened because he needed to hear it. |
| 1052 | * DidNotThinkThisThrough: Does not seem to have thought through the long-term consequences of the poor working conditions he has deliberately allowed to develop. As an example, he eliminated the procurement position in the station, thinking that the individual departments could handle their own orders. Instead, without anyone to oversee orders, this gave their suppliers the means to scam the station out of a lot of money by sending excess product and billing the paymaster for supplies that had never been ordered in the first place. [[TooDumbToLive Worse yet, he's eliminated the training department]], [[WhoWouldBeStupidEnough extended time between mandatory maintenance]], [[TemptingFate and cut the maintenance workforce by a third]]. And this doesn't even consider how his plan to replace the workers with robots doesn't take into account how the station was designed for ''humans'', so even if he forced the workers out there are numerous spots where the robots would be unable to get to without causing ''more'' damage. And finally, as Perth points out, causing a life support failure (which De Morel ''smiled'' about) would- along with the necessity of breathing- also cause inspectors to come to the station to investigate and they would force De Morel to undo most of his "cost-saving" measures to bring the station up to code. |
| 1053 | * ExactWords: He tries to pull this on Sam initially where Sam's payment is concerned (Sam would come by to help get the station's expenses in-line and Sam would get a reactor- which turns out to be broken- in return). He ends up with it getting turned right back on him as when he offers to throw some duct tape into the deal to patch up the reactor, Sam plays off the lack of specifics to make it ''six hundred cubic feet'' of the stuff. |
| 1054 | * {{Foil}}: To Hillman. The two are both in positions of management though de Morel is above Hillman, being the manager of the station, while Hillman is a supervisor and representative of the local labor union. Ame de Morel wishes to maximum profitability in the station by replacing all the workers with robots (initially holding the idea that he won't need to pay them), while Hillman is mostly concerned with making sure the workers (human or robot) are properly compensated for their hard work as well as keeping the station running as efficiently as he can under the conditions. Both ultimately want what they believe is best for the station as a whole but while Hillman's methods are effective and do actually help the station stay together, Morel's [[WellIntentionedExtremist well-meaning]] efforts are threatening to cause it to fall apart. |
| 1055 | * {{Greed}}: Not as bad as Mr. Kornada (which is, admittedly a low bar), and ultimately revealed to be fueled by [[WellIntentionedExtremist Well-Intentioned Extremism]]. Still, when he realizes how much "17% of what [Sam] saves" is going to be such a huge sum, his first instinct is to run back to try and confront Sam, even though - as he realizes shortly thereafter - the remaining 83% is still ''a lot of money''. |
| 1056 | * HardWorkHardlyWorks: Initially thinks this happened to him, getting upset that he's not the one saving the station despite all his efforts. When he takes a moment to think, however, he quickly realizes that the main reason he wasn't the one to save the station is because [[ItsAllAboutMe he was unwilling to accept that he was wrong]] - he was working hard without bothering to make sure he was working ''properly''. |
| 1057 | * ItsAllAboutMe: Insists that his secretary stop anyone from seeing him without an appointment... even though his schedule is empty to the point the secretary has more problems in justifying his position than doing his job. |
| 1058 | * JobStealingRobot: He's pushing to get all the human workers out of the station and replaced with robots to reduce costs and increase profits. As is, the Station is profitable (at least according to him), but it would be much more so if the switch were completed. The problem, for de Morel, is that the workers refuse to leave their until-then profitable jobs (and even then, the union demands that any robots joining the work-force be given the same pay and benefits as the humans, defeating the intended purpose of replacing them), and for the workers, is that de Morel responds to this by pushing for costly policies that decrease the station's productivity and tremendously inflate costs. Of course, when the robots suggest that ''de Morel's job'' is the easiest for a robot to take, [[{{Hypocrite}} he's a lot less enthusiastic about it.]] |
| 1059 | * LackOfEmpathy: Fails to see the difference between getting the disgruntled and unpaid workers of the station to listen to reason and convincing them he's right. |
| 1060 | * MeanBoss: Definitely more competent as a manager than Mr. Kornada (not that this is a high bar), but has just as little respect for his employees. |
| 1061 | * NiceJobFixingItVillain: Much like Blunt, he makes a few good points and then proceeds to run away with them to an utterly absurd conclusion. When questioned if he intended to pay the robots, he assents. When asked how much, he asks Rover 17 for their baseline operational costs... and asks if they can work for less money than that. |
| 1062 | * NoOSHACompliance: Seems to be deliberately invoking as much of this as he can get away with to 'encourage' his human employees to quit and/or retire so he can replace them with robots. |
| 1063 | * OhCrap: His entire plan hinged on the bomb factory's robots falling over themselves to replace the human workers. When Rover 17 makes it clear they are not going to work without compensation due to Sam properly explaining how this would harm the workers, his expression falls to pieces. |
| 1064 | * OriginalPositionFallacy: He advocates replacing human workers with robots. He didn't think an AI, never mind a robot, could replace him in his position. In fact, Rover 17 directly tells him he would be much easier to replace than any of the maintenance workers because his job doesn't even require a physical body. |
| 1065 | -->'''Hillman:''' Makes a difference when it's your job on the line, doesn't it? |
| 1066 | * PoorCommunicationKills: It's telling that before the meeting he and Hillman hold, the two of them opt to take separate routes to their destination rather than take the elevator together. Sam has to prod them into properly communicating, leading Hillman to learn just how dire the financial situation is, and de Morel to learn that the labor union is willing to be flexible when the situation demands it. |
| 1067 | * PunnyName: "Ames de Morel" ''aims'' to ''demoralize'' his workers. |
| 1068 | * RapidFireNo: He goes straight into this when he realizes just how much Sam is going to get paid for his work (17% of what he saves the station; which promises to be a considerable sum). |
| 1069 | * ReasonableAuthorityFigure: [[spoiler:Once he finds out Sam's plan to save the station and concludes that it will likely be profitable, he becomes ''much'' more willing to make concessions.]] |
| 1070 | --> [[spoiler:Finding out there's an off ramp on the path to financial ruin always puts me in a good mood.]] |
| 1071 | * TheResenter: He's less upset about Sam getting 21% of the station for helping pull the station out of financial ruin, and more upset that he isn't the one who saved it after all his work trying to do so. |
| 1072 | * SayingTooMuch: Sam explains he's noticed issues with the station's expenses, and offers to help identify and solve them in exchange for half the money saved. An indignant de Morel rumbles he's not paying that much... which all but confirms Sam's suspicions of what those issues are. |
| 1073 | * TheSociopath: This man is perfectly happy with the idea of causing a life support failure, in the name of saving money. [[TooDumbToLive Ignoring the fact he's on the very station he's causing this on.]] |
| 1074 | * SunkCostFallacy: He's sunk everything he has on the idea of saving money through gross penny-pinching, ignoring how those short-term savings turn into tremendous money pits in short order. |
| 1075 | * TheScrooge: His go-to financial strategy is pinching pennies ruthlessly. |
| 1076 | ** When negotiating with Sam over payment, he desperately tries to avoid paying anything he considers to be of actual value. |
| 1077 | ** He's made a number of "cost saving" changes to the operations around the station... some of which threaten to cause the station to fall apart from disrepair. |
| 1078 | ** He asks [=Rover17=] what their operating costs are, and is told 20 credits a week. He immediately asks if they could get by on 18 credits a week. To put into perspective, the 20 credits is likely a basic subsistence figure that assumes nothing needs repair or replacing, the equivalent of subsistence level 'room and board' for a human with no allowance for medical, quality of life, or other unexpected expenses. |
| 1079 | * TooDumbToLive: The man ''smiles'' when Sam tells him the P/N Station might be risking a life support failure. It should be noted that he is '''''on''''' the station at the time. Possibly subverted in that de Morel knows there's a nearby bomb factory with robots that would ''leap'' at the chance to save human lives before the air got bad enough, and having the robots there he could start working towards employing them afterwards, but it's still one ''risky'' gamble. |
| 1080 | * WellIntentionedExtremist: Perth points out that he used to be a good boss. However, when the station's funds started getting tight, he started becoming TheScrooge and trying to cut expenses wherever he could to the station's detriment. It seems De Morel simply doesn't know what's best to cut and he cut the people in the station who could've helped him figure out what to cut. What's worse, he [[BelievingTheirOwnLies sincerely believes his measures will keep the station's budget in the black.]] All that said, he has sincerely been trying to save the station, even if his methods are not the most-effective for doing so. |
| 1081 | * YouGetWhatYouPayFor: Some of his cost-cutting measures have resulted in profit loss. Getting rid of the procurement position means there is no one who realizes the suppliers are scamming them. |
| 1082 | [[/folder]] |
| 1083 | |
| 1084 | [[folder:Perth Hillman]] |
| 1085 | A local supervisor in the Pournelle/Niven Transfer Station. |
| 1086 | ---- |
| 1087 | * AllThereInTheManual: His name went a long time after his first appearance, before finally being spoken, but it could be seen in the transcript the whole time. |
| 1088 | * BenevolentBoss: He keeps the station as organized and as functional as possible in his area and is extremely helpful all-around. And while he is aware that the station is financially in-trouble, he wants to find a solution that Ames de Morel will agree to, that doesn't involve taking away pay from the workers. |
| 1089 | * {{Foil}}: To Ames de Morel. The two are both in positions of management though de Morel is above Hillman, being the manager of the station, while Hillman is a supervisor and representative of the local labor union. Ame de Morel wishes to maximum profitability in the station by replacing all the workers with robots (initially holding the idea that he won't need to pay them), while Hillman is mostly concerned with making sure the workers (human or robot) are properly compensated for their hard work as well as keeping the station running as efficiently as he can under the conditions. Both ultimately want what they believe is best for the station as a whole but while Hillman's methods are effective and do actually help the station stay together, Morel's [[WellIntentionedExtremist well-meaning]] efforts are threatening to cause it to fall apart. |
| 1090 | * KnowWhenToFoldEm: When told just how dire the station's financial straits are, he immediately reconsiders the option of shutting the station down (though he and de Morel had been in-agreement moments before that they had no desire to do so) rather than have the station beat its collective heads against a wall for decades to get back to profitability. Fortunately, [[TakeAThirdOption Sam had a third option ready]]. |
| 1091 | * PoorCommunicationKills: Because de Morel kept trying to enforce his own policies without properly speaking to Hillman or another labor representative, Hillman was unaware of just how badly the station is doing financially. It takes Sam prompting them to sit down together and talk to get them to actually communicate the important information between them. |
| 1092 | * ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Completely unlike de Morel, he prioritizes his tasks and makes time to address everything he needs to address. For instance, promising Sam time to speak with him once he has tasks assigned to all his techs. |
| 1093 | [[/folder]] |
| 1094 | |
| 1095 | !Figures of Sqid Legend |
| 1096 | |
| 1097 | [[folder:Fire Thieves]] |
| 1098 | Three sqids who first stole fire from the Maker God Bob: Mho, who conducts new ways of doing things; Lairee, who likes to build lairs; and Coily, with extraordinarily long tentacles that he keeps coiled up. Sam tells Florence their story after she asks to hear of sqid legend. |
| 1099 | ---- |
| 1100 | !!Provide examples of: |
| 1101 | * ComicallyMissingThePoint: When Bob tells Coily that fire is dangerous for mortals, Coily doesn't understand until Bob gets upset and bops him in the head. Then he realizes that [[SpaceWhaleAesop having fire makes gods hit you]]. |
| 1102 | * {{Determinator}}: Sam's description of Mho is that he's not the strongest, fastest, or smartest sqid around, but he's persistent and that's just as important. |
| 1103 | * TheDitz: Mho is ''definitely'' not the smartest of sqids. Every time he goes through Bob's home, he sets off all the traps. ''Every time''. Despite having set all of them off at least once. |
| 1104 | * DidntThinkThisThrough: |
| 1105 | ** When Lairee is tasked with keeping the fire for the night, he remembers that Bob had noticed the light in the dark, and covers it to prevent Bob from noticing him. He collapses from smoke inhalation, and the smoke leaks out enough for Bob to find him in the daylight. |
| 1106 | ** After splitting up the fire into three parts, Bob has to chase down each individual flame when he seeks to reclaim it. So Mho decides to set ''everything in the nearest village'' on fire while he still has a lead. |
| 1107 | -->''Granted, in hindsight, it wasn't a very good idea.'' |
| 1108 | * GoneHorriblyRight: They manage to spread fire so widely that Bob gives up trying to reclaim it. When the dust settles, the three thieves are the only sqids in the village who ''don't'' have fire. [[SubvertedTrope So they stole fire from their neighbors.]] |
| 1109 | * NoSenseOfDirection: Lairee and Coily both had a different idea of where Bob's home was. Mho, who had actually been there, quickly realized that it was going to be a long journey. |
| 1110 | * ScrewThisImOuttaHere: A plan older than civilization. When Bob confronts them after Mho has split up the stolen fire into pieces, the three of them show him how fast sqids can move. |
| 1111 | * ShoutOut: Their names are a reference to Film/TheThreeStooges. |
| 1112 | * WrongAssumption: Mho decides to steal fire from Bob because he thinks that having fire will make him so respected that no one will steal from him. |
| 1113 | [[/folder]] |
| 1114 | |
| 1115 | [[folder:Maker God Bob]] |
| 1116 | A creator god in sqid legend. |
| 1117 | ---- |
| 1118 | * BroughtToYouByTheLetterS: His head is spherical, and has a large B hovering on either side. |
| 1119 | * GodIsGood: His ire at the fire thieves is mostly because he is [[YouAreNotReady afraid they will hurt themselves]] with the fire they steal. When one collapses from smoke inhalation, his first response is to [[KissOfLife revive them]]. |
| 1120 | * FloatingLimbs: Unlike sqids, his head and tentacles are not directly connected to one another. |
| 1121 | * KnowWhenToFoldEm: He tries to keep fire from the sqids for their own safety, but Mho manages to spread fire so widely that he can't reclaim it all. He promptly packs up in resignation, leaves the sqids to their fate, and hopes for the best. |
| 1122 | * KissOfLife: When he goes to confront Lairee and teach him the error of his ways, Lairee has collapsed from smoke inhalation. Bob decides that a minor theft isn't worth a death sentence and resuscitates him first. |
| 1123 | * MultiArmedAndDangerous: Difficult to say, given [[StarfishAliens what we know of sqid anatomy]], but other sqids in the legend are only shown to have two tentacles that they use in a way analogous to human hands. In contrast, Bob's tentacles end with well-defined hands and feet; four of them serve as arms, two as legs. |
| 1124 | * ReasonableAuthorityFigure: The first time he finds a thief with his stolen fire, he gives them nothing more than a warning and a bop on the head before taking the fire back - and if the thief has unintentionally done something worse to themselves because they haven't gotten those warnings yet, he does his best to unmake them. Lairee and Coily acknowledge that his patience isn't eternal and they might end up getting more than that, but increasing punishments for repeat offenses are still reasonable. |
| 1125 | * RightBehindMe: Pulls this on the fire thieves the third time they steal from him. |
| 1126 | * ShoutOut: To Microsoft Bob. [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3400/fc03314.htm The inside]] of his house is even the default user interface. |
| 1127 | * SpecialPersonNormalName: The creator of the sqids and all they know is named 'Bob'. |
| 1128 | * StealthyColossus: Manages to sneak up on Mho, Lairee, and Coily, despite his ''feet'' being the size of a sqid. |
| 1129 | * TrapMaster: One of the things a maker god can make is traps, and Bob's home is filled with them. Mho decided to recruit help after three days trying to get through them got him nowhere.: |
| 1130 | * YouAreNotReady: His attitude towards the Sqids wanting fire for themselves. |
| 1131 | [[/folder]] |
| 1132 |
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/context.php
FollowingContext Characters / Freefall
Go To
- Show Spoilers
- Night Vision
- Sticky Header
- Wide Load
