Line #10 ComicBook/ABCWarriors


1	[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/acwar_1045.jpg]]
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3	''ABC Warriors'' is a long-running comic strip written by Pat Mills, which first published in 1979. Art for the opening episodes was by Kevin O'Neill, Mike [=McMahon=], Brett Ewins and Brendan [=McCarthy=], who among them designed the original seven members of the team.
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5	The A.B.C. Warriors themselves are a team of war robots designed to withstand '''A'''tomic, '''B'''acterial, and '''C'''hemical warfare. They were built to take part in the long-running Volgan War, but since then have been involved in various bizarre adventures across time and space.
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7	Each robot has a distinctive personality, often one programmed by its human creators, but each is more or less able to act with free will.
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10	!!Tropes associated with this work:
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12	* AlternateHistory: The continuity is based around the idea that the [[UsefulNotes/SovietRussiaUkraineAndSoOn Soviet Union]] was taken over by an ultra-Stalinist leader in the late 20th century. And acts as a sequel to ''ComicBook/{{Savage}}''. It wasn't initially written as an alternate history (it started out being set in the future), but due to 2000 AD's internal policy of not rebooting its comic stories, the premise has remained in place long after the Soviet Union collapsed in real life.
13	* AndIMustScream:
14	** In ''Return To Earth'', Mark III Hammersteins are fitted with immobilizers to form war memorials. Hammerstein poses as one and the FBI start hitting him with everything they've got, having seen through his ruse. He is unable to move until he uses one of Deadlock's MagiTek techniques to break the immobilizer.
15	** How Steelhorn became the Mess. He is melted down to be scrapped but manages to ''remain conscious'' the entire time. As a result, he has a very strong hatred towards humans.
16	* ArmCannon: Hammerstein has these, Mongrol has a number of guns built-in and, in a recent story, Joe Pineapples improvises a weapon using one of these taken from a taxi driver.
17	* AuthorTract - Some of the chaos magic stories come off like this at times.
18	* BedlamHouse - Mek-Quake was incarcerated in one of these for a time. Apparently it was designed by the inmates to make them feel more at home. Putting Mek Quake in it turned out to be a bad move as he basically felt like the other Warriors had betrayed him by putting him in it.
19	* BerserkButton: Insulting Mongrol's creator, Lara, is a good way to get him to go into a berserker frenzy.
20	* BigBad: The G-Men led by Doktor Grobari and Detective inspector Sturn are the current antagonists, while [[spoiler:[[ANaziByAnyOtherName Volkhan, Blackblood]], and [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Howard Quartz]] are revealed to be a [[GreaterScopeVillain Greater Scope]] BigBadEnsemble]].
21	* CallingYourAttacks: "Nourishment!"
22	* CanonDiscontinuity - Virtually everything that happened in Pat Mills' ''Khronicles of Kaos'' was immediately undone by the next creative team. Except for the new Warriors that Mills had introduced — they were brutally slaughtered on-panel.
23	** As a result of this (and a few other strips that Mills created and handed over to others), if Pat Mills created it, no other writer is allowed to write about it.
24	* CanonWelding - ''ABC Warriors'' takes place in the same continuity as ''Ro-Busters'', ''Invasion!'', ''ComicBook/{{Savage}}'', ''Flesh'' and ''ComicBook/NemesisTheWarlock''. It was also at one time in the same universe as ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'', ''ComicBook/StrontiumDog'', ''ComicBook/RogueTrooper'' and all their various spinoffs.
25	* CatchPhrase - "Spread the word!" "Increase the peace!" "Nourishment!" "A1!" "Mongrol smush!" "Ssssss!" "Bzzzt!" "Bigjobs!"
26	* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder - Blackblood worships a robot named [[{{Symbolism}} Judas]], who was the first to [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters rebel against humanity]]. Betrayal is literally a central tenet of his religion.
27	* CloudCuckooLander - Mek Quake.
28	* ColdSniper - Joe Pineapples. Probably literally, given that he's a robot.
29	* ContinuitySnarl - In the early stories, ''ABC Warriors'' was specifically set in the same universe as ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd''. The timeline has now been rewritten so that it couldn't possibly take place in the same universe - unfortunately, both ABC Warriors and Judge Dredd have battled descendants of Old One-Eye, a character from the earlier story ''Flesh'', who in turn battled time-traveling 23rd-century cowboys (long story) — thus, both ''ABC Warriors'' and ''Judge Dredd'' must have the same 23rd century, even though their timelines now wildly diverge. Of course, all that going back in time to hunt dinosaurs has probably screwed up all the timelines.
30	* CoolShades - Joe Pineapples.
31	* CoolSword - Deadlock derives much of his power from the soul-drinking Ace of Swords.
32	* CoolTank - Mek-Quake ''is'' one.
33	* CyberCyclops - Hammerstein, during his Ro-Busters days
34	* DeadpanSnarker - Blackblood; to a lesser extent, Deadlock, and Ro-Jaws
35	* EasilyDetachableRobotParts - Mostly Hammerstein, who in the middle of a battle pulls his own arms off to replace those of a comrade. In an early story, Joe Pineapples takes his head off in the bath.
36	* EvilCripple - Blackblood has a road drill for a leg and one eye. He could just get them replaced but [[RuleOfCool you know...]]
37	* FaceHeelTurn: Mek Quake was once manipulated and tricked by [[spoiler: Blackblood]] into pulling one after being locked up in an insane asylum. Ironically, this was done as part of [[spoiler: Blackblood's own Face Heel Turn.]]
38	* FantasticRacism - Robot-hating is extremely widespread, usually with little or no justification, and most humans are willing to abuse and exploit even their own robots even when doing so would hinder their longterm plans (such as refusing to maintain a mining robot until it breaks down and has to be scrapped, even though maintenance would be considerably cheaper than building a new robot.) You have to wonder why so many robots are made if they're so universally loathed.
39	** Humanity appears to have got over the worst of this by the time they appear in ''ComicBook/NemesisTheWarlock''. Suffice it to say that that arc used a ''lot'' of tropes that will be very familiar to ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' fans.
40	* FemBot - Morrigun
41	* GoodOldRobot - Sort of. Given that the Warriors are all centuries old, they probably all qualify.
42	* HulkSpeak - Mongrol.
43	* HumongousHeadedHammer - Hammerstein's right hand is the head of a sledgehammer.
44	* HumongousMecha - Several, but particularly memorable was George the Gargantek. The main cast arguably count too, considering that they're all taller than an average person.
45	* ImprobableAimingSkills - Joe Pineapples is capable of sniping targets on ''the other side of the galaxy''.
46	* InfoDump - Writer Pat Mills is very fond of these.
47	* InkBlotTest: Mek Quake was subjected to one during the time spent in a BedlamHouse. The only response he could come up with for all the inkblots was [[RunningGag "BIG JOBS!"]].
48	* JustAMachine - The standard human view of robots.
49	* KillItWithFire - Zippo's mouth has a flamethrower.
50	* MagiTek - Describes Deadlock to a T. Also, to some extent, Steelhorn.
51	* TheMagnificentSevenSamurai - This is the strip's core premise [[RecycledInSpace on Mars]].
52	* MeaningfulName:
53	** Hammerstein's name is derived from his sledgehammer right hand.
54	** Mongrol is a mishmash of different parts Lara used to rebuild him after his original body was destroyed.
55	** Steelhorn indeed does have horns. His alter ego, The Mess, is little more than sentient molten metal.
56	** Zippo is named after the brand of cigarette lighter, as he [[FireBreathingWeapon has a flamethrower]] inside his mouth.
57	** Tubal Caine takes his name from [[Literature/TheBible biblical smith]].
58	* MechanicalLifeforms - Robots have hearts and circulatory systems, apparently. Oh, and it's somehow possible to castrate a robot to prevent them from reproducing.
59	* MechanicalMonster - Mongrol and Mek-Quake.
60	* MultiArmedAndDangerous - Hammerstein during his early days.
61	* MoreDakka - Especially in the storylines drawn by Simon Bisley and Kev Walker.
62	* MrFixIt: Tubal Cain is ''the'' go-to robot for repairs and refits.
63	* ThePsychoRangers: The Shadow Warriors. Also, the team of robots Volkhan assembles after being broken out of prison.
64	* PunnyName - Two of the characters are named [[Creator/RodgersAndHammerstein Ro-Jaws and Hammerstein]].
65	* RealMenWearPink - Joe Pineapples is the greatest sniper in the universe. And a {{transvestite}}.
66	** That one was swiftly retconned out in the very next story arc due to hostile reader response.
67	*** At least artist Kev Walker lets him wear a very flamboyant leopardskin jockstrap in the next storyline.
68	* UsefulNotes/{{Mars}} - most of their adventures take place on Mars.
69	* RidiculouslyHumanRobots - And one Ridiculously Robot Human...
70	* RightHandVersusLeftHand - Quite literally with George the Gargantek, who has a separate brain in each hand - ''and foot'' - and they don't like to cooperate.
71	* {{Robosexual}} - Joe Pineapples was apparently reassigned following a scandal involving a human officer's wife.
72	** Hammerstein became involved romantically with Terri and they were all set to settle down together [[spoiler: until she got killed.]]
73	* RoboticPsychopath - Mek-Quake and Blackblood.
74	* RobotReligion - Blackblood is a member of the Church of Judas, a religion for robots who have betrayed their masters. Deadlock is a great fan of Khaos.
75	* RobotWar - Pretty much the point of the series.
76	* RoomFullOfCrazy - Volkhan had the telekinetic ability to write messages in oil on the walls of his room when incarcerated.
77	* RuleOfCool - Why does Joe Pineapples need a leather jacket? Why does Hammerstein have a hammer instead of a more useful hand? Why doesn't Blackblood just get a new leg? Why is Deadlock a robot monk? Rule of cool, my friend.
78	* SergeantRock: Hammerstein is AFatherToHisMen during the war. He actually does hold the rank of Sergeant and does everything he can to [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman try and save "his boys"]], even if [[WeHaveReserves his officers have other ideas]].
79	* SlidingScaleOfRobotIntelligence
80	* {{Speech Bubbles}}: Hammerstein's are octagonal, Zippo's are tetrahedral, Joe's are pentagonal, and Deadlock has these sort of black clouds with scrawly white letters.
81	* SpinOff - Ro-Jaws, Hammerstein and Mek-Quake all appeared in the earlier strip ''Ro-Busters''.
82	* SuperPrototype: Hammerstein to the Mark III Hammersteins. During the Volgan War, he has independent action, whereas the rest of the Hammersteins must obey their human officers.
83	* ThatManIsDead: Tubal Cain's original "slave name" is [[spoiler: Happy Shrapnel]].
84	* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: Each of the warriors has their own personalities. Hammerstein, in particular, is probably the most upstanding of them all.

Context ComicBook / ABCWarriors