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| 4 | %% When listing Tropes which concern the various versions of the girls interacting, please refer to them by the year of their origin. For example: 1988!Erin, 2016!Erin and FutureClone!Erin, to reduce confusion.(this last one has to have the left bracket-equal sign-name-equal sign-right bracket code placed around it) |
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| 9 | [[quoteright:299:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/papergirls1_2x3_300.jpg]] |
| 10 | [[caption-width-right:299:From left to right: Mac, KJ, Tiffany, and Erin]] |
| 11 | |
| 12 | ''Paper Girls'' was a 30-issue (October 2015 to July 2019) creator-owned Creator/ImageComics series written by Creator/BrianKVaughan and illustrated by Cliff Chiang. |
| 13 | |
| 14 | Early on the morning of All Saint's Day 1988,[[note]]That's the day after Halloween, for any non-Catholics out there.[[/note]] 12 year old Erin Tieng goes on her normal newspaper delivery route in a Cleveland suburb only to be menaced -- and then rescued -- from some teenage boys with dubious intentions by a trio of other paper girls who have banded together for mutual protection from any lingering Halloween craziness. That's when things start to get strange. |
| 15 | |
| 16 | In July 2019, it was announced that Creator/{{Amazon}} was developing a [[Series/PaperGirls2022 series adaptation]] for Creator/PrimeVideo; Vaughan co-produced. The series premiered on July 29, 2022. |
| 17 | |
| 18 | ---- |
| 19 | !!Tropes: |
| 20 | |
| 21 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 22 | |
| 23 | [[folder: Tropes A-M]] |
| 24 | * TheEighties: The comic is explicitly set in 1988 and is filled with Eighties pop culture references. 1988 was the election year marking the end of the Reagan administration. The UsefulNotes/ColdWar was still going on amid a great deal of fear-mongering that the Soviets were actually winning. It was also the high watermark of analog culture. Personal computers were still rare and the internet was just a pipe dream. CD players were still a relatively new and exotic technology. Most people still got their music on LP or cassettes and their news from newspapers which were still delivered by FreeRangeChildren in the predawn darkness. |
| 25 | * AbusiveParents: |
| 26 | ** Erin's father can be this way, at least verbally, according to [[spoiler:her twelve year old self. When 2016!Erin calls herself fat, 1988!Erin replies "that sounds like something Dad would say."]] |
| 27 | ** Mac's parents also appear to be abusive to some extent, or at least neglectful. |
| 28 | * AccidentalMurder: [[spoiler:[=FutureClone=]!Erin's]] time displacement field kills an innocent bystander before she can warn him away. |
| 29 | * ActionGirl: All the girls qualify, to varying degrees. The main protagonist Erin is actually the least actiony and most naive of the bunch, though she's picking it up as she goes along |
| 30 | * AdamAndEvePlot: Thoroughly subverted. One high school boy sees the invasion as his big chance to finally get the girl of his dreams. Unfortunately for him she has never liked him much, thinks he's a total creep for even thinking of such things at a time like this and wants nothing to do with him -- shortly before the invaders kidnap them both and render the whole idea moot anyway |
| 31 | * AdultsAreUseless: Worse than useless. [[spoiler:They're the enemy.]] |
| 32 | * AlienAbduction: Everyone in Stony Stream is vanishing into thin air. In issue #5 we find out where they've gone. |
| 33 | * AlienInvasion: An oversimplification of the world, though it's perfectly natural for young girls primed by pop culture to grab this interpretation and run with it. |
| 34 | * AlternateHistory: [[spoiler:The four grown-up counterparts of the girls that show up in issue #26 say that they've made millions of attempts to rewrite the time stream and prevent the girls from finding the time machine in issue #1, but always fail. In issue #30, they finally succeed, as with the Adult/Teen war over, there are no travelers to steal Tiffany's walkie-talkie, i.e. for the girls to look for, i.e. for them to think they might be hiding in a basement.]] |
| 35 | * AmazonChaser: [[spoiler:PlayedWith. At first, Mac is both closeted and disgusted by any hints of homosexuality, but once KJ holds a knife to a doctor's throat telling him to save Mac or die, Mac starts falling for her.]] |
| 36 | * AmbiguouslyGay: Played with a couple of ways. In issue #17, [[spoiler: KJ tells Mac that she thinks she might be a lesbian, though the ambiguity disappears later when she decides she really ''is''. However, the flash-forward in issue #13 of her kissing Mac seems to suggest this about Mac.]] [[spoiler:Pretty much confirmed for Mac when she and KJ kiss in issue #25; a kiss which the previously homophobic Mac actually initiates.]] |
| 37 | * AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: Platonic example. Though it seems like Mac and her step-mother Alice don't really get along, when Alice is about commit suicide, Mac is visibly distraught, calls her "mom" (perhaps for the first time), and tells Alice she loves her in a desperate attempt to dissuade the woman from pulling the trigger, while also trying to wrestle the gun away. |
| 38 | * AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Erin has a typically frustrating relationship with her little sister Missy. [[spoiler:Making it even more annoying when she travels to 2016 and learns that Missy became a Medevac pilot, which to a 12 year old seems way cooler than her adult self's job at the ''Preserver''.]] However, she is comforted by realizing they're still best friends. |
| 39 | * ArcSymbol: |
| 40 | ** Representations of and references to apples show up everywhere, from Erin's dreams to an Apple Records t-shirt. Even Erin's name, which is rather Irish sounding for an Asian-American girl, is awfully close to ''Eris'', the Greek goddess who created the original AppleOfDiscord. However, despite all of the apple-related imagery, no actual apples (the fruit) have shown up in the comic. |
| 41 | ** Early issues are also sprinkled with references to the shootings of John Lennon and Ronald Reagan, and the Challenger Explosion. Even Christa [=McAuliffe=] of the ''Challenger'' shows up [[spoiler:in Erin's DyingDream]], though Chiang drew her wearing a spacesuit and helmet (which the crew didn't during the flight) out of respect to her memory. |
| 42 | * ArcWords: The word "fold" (sometimes "folding") is used to describe the time rips with specific allusions made to newspapers, as in the story considered most important at the time of printing appears "above the fold" (at the top of the page). |
| 43 | * ArtificialScript: Untranslated "alien" speech is rendered in CypherLanguage using a simple substitution cypher. |
| 44 | * BadassNormal: [[spoiler:In the original timeline,]] KJ was certainly this. [[spoiler: She willingly attracts the attention of men she knows to be rapists so the other girls can run, later kills one of the men by bashing his skull in with a stone club, and unflinchingly stands up to someone pointing a gun in her face. And she's only '''12 years old'''.]] Subverted in issue #30 [[spoiler:when the Reset Button'd timeline means ''she'' is the one the three boys corner instead of Erin, and she doesn't yet have the self-confidence of her other self.]] |
| 45 | -->[[spoiler:'''KJ:''' Lady, I've ''actually'' killed someone before, so trust me when I say, you do ''not'' have it in you to pull that trigger.]] |
| 46 | * BadFuture: The girls are somewhat convinced 2016 is a bad future until they notice the really ''huge'' televisions, and Tiffany points out that from a UsefulNotes/ColdWar-era kid's perspective, it's actually surprising there's ''any'' kind of future at all. |
| 47 | * BigBrotherWorship: |
| 48 | ** Mac has a ton of this for her older brother; she constantly mentions different things he's told her about various topics, and insists that he's "right about everything". Considering that most of what he's told her is complete nonsense, the other girls tend to mock her for it. |
| 49 | ** Erin's younger sister Missy seems to have this for Erin. |
| 50 | * BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler: At the end of issue #19, Charlotte shows up and kills one of the Adults who are menacing the girls and have already taken Chris. Doubles as a BrickJoke, since KJ earlier claimed Charlotte wasn't prepared to kill someone.]] |
| 51 | * BigDamnKiss: [[spoiler:Remember the vision KJ had in issue #13 of her and Mac standing on a rooftop in the future and kissing? It finally happens in issue #25. It's made all the more affecting because it's the culmination of the two realizing both the depths of their friendship ''and'' the possibility that they might feel a different way about each other. To top it all off, the kiss is actually initiated by the previously homophobic Mac, who'd spent the last eight issues being a complete and total bitch to KJ after KJ confessed she was gay.]] |
| 52 | * BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:The girls are returned to November 1, 1988 with only the barest impressions of memories making themselves known in quickly forgotten dreams, but instead of going their separate ways at the end of their shift, they decide to hang out some more, insinuating that they may continue to team up instead of riding solo the way they did in the original timeline. Mac is still seemingly fated to die, however, but at least she no longer knows and can't worry about it happening.]] |
| 53 | * BodyHorror: When Heck and Naldo attempt to escape an Adult ship, they 'break curfew' by trying to 'shift' lower in the atmosphere. It does allow them to land safely, but while Erin is unharmed, Heck and Naldo partially fuse with both the wall of the time capsule and each other, dying soon after. |
| 54 | * BoysHaveCooties: Shows up indirectly when [[spoiler:2016!Erin worries that 1988!Erin will think she's a loser for being unmarried at the age of 40, forgetting that her 12 year old self has no interest in boys yet and would actually consider that a good thing. And sure enough 1988!Erin is thrilled her older self has remained independent.]] |
| 55 | * CallBack: When the girls meet [[spoiler: Charlotte the SecretKeeper cartoonist]], she tells them they'll be safest from The Adults in her basement. Mac immediately protests, pointing out that "Going into creepy basements is what got us into this mess!" |
| 56 | * CatholicSchoolGirlsRule: Erin and Tiffany go to different Catholic schools and KJ goes to Brentwood Academy "with the rest of the heathens". Mac is the sole public school girl. |
| 57 | * ChildrenAreInnocent: The girls are all young enough and have just enough PopCulture-driven UsefulNotes/ColdWar-era GenreSavvy (or WrongGenreSavvy) to accept all of the weirdness going on around them at face value. |
| 58 | * {{Cliffhanger}}: In classic Vaughan style, every issue seems to end with one. Issue #10, "What is Past is Epilog", seemingly doesn't but only if you forget to consider the WhatHappenedToTheMouse implications of the climax five pages earlier. |
| 59 | * ComicallyMissingThePoint: Seems to be developing into a RunningGag with Erin. She first takes hearing that her mom is "in heaven" literally (dead, instead of "in heaven" emotionally, i.e. happy), then later misunderstands Mac referring to KJ's "time of the month" (her period) by saying that they don't even know what ''year'' they're in. |
| 60 | * CoolPeopleRebelAgainstAuthority: Erin thinks Mac is cool for insisting "our routes, our rules" as she spurns company policy by refusing to deliver a paper to the guy who stiffed her the previous month. |
| 61 | * CrapsackWorld: The girl's impression of 2016. Stony Stream is a dying Rust Belt town, cars (or at least [[spoiler:2016!Erin's]] Smart car) are "the size of Hot Wheels", and the mall's been closed for a decade. |
| 62 | * CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler: Charlotte is incinerated by one of the Adults staff weapons in issue #20. It doesn't look very pleasant.]] |
| 63 | * CrystalDragonJesus: The invaders use religious titles like "Bishop" and "Cardinal" but most of the rest of their religious motifs seem randomly plucked from Buddhism and Hinduism with a dash of druidism thrown in. |
| 64 | * DeathSeeker: Played with: [[spoiler:Mac develops a mild case after learning the approximate year and supposed cause of her death. She rationalizes it with the statement that, since she knows when she's going to die, any ''other'' situation she finds herself in won't kill her. Tiffany doesn't seem to buy it and Mac finds her one death-seeking experience so terrifying it scares that attitude right out of her.]] |
| 65 | * DefrostingTheIceQueen: Mac becomes less cynical and more accepting of her fate, more open to her friends, gets over her homophobia and [[spoiler:seems to embrace her own sexuality. Most of this is undone by the ending of Issue #30, but she seems a little friendlier in the new timeline]]. |
| 66 | * DelayedReaction: Done in issue #17 when KJ [[spoiler: tells Mac she might be gay.]] |
| 67 | -->'''Mac:''' I don't like this, Kaje. You see the way this crazy old lesbo is looking at Erin? |
| 68 | -->'''KJ:''' [[spoiler: Mac, when I grow up, I think I'm going to be a lesbian. I think maybe I'm a lesbian ''already''.]] |
| 69 | -->'''Mac:''' I know, right? It's like this lady is... |
| 70 | -->'''Mac:''' ''*EyeTake*'' |
| 71 | -->'''Mac:''' The fuck did you just say? |
| 72 | * DeliberateValuesDissonance: |
| 73 | ** Mac is prone to offhand homophobic comments because casual homophobia was considered normal in the '80s. She also smokes cigarettes, [[spoiler: which supposedly eventually contributes to her death from leukemia in the '90s]]. All of this helps establish her as the redneck girl from the WrongSideOfTheTracks. |
| 74 | ** Erin mentions that Mac isn't just ''a'' papergirl, she's "the first paperboy who wasn't a...you know". Younger readers might be surprised to learn that the glass ceiling was that low in 1988. |
| 75 | ** Tiffany was her church's first altar ''girl'', making her, as KJ says, "the UsefulNotes/AmeliaEarhart of crap that doesn't matter". |
| 76 | ** Erin also mentions (in a discussion of Halloween candy of all things) that her neighbors don't like her family, likely due to good ol' middle-American racism. |
| 77 | * DomesticatedDinosaurs: Some of the Adult leaders ride pterosaurs. |
| 78 | * DramaticallyMissingThePoint: [[spoiler:1988!Erin]] hears "Mom's in heaven" and being a good little Catholic schoolgirl (as well as being primed by a nightmare she'd had the night before) assumes the speaker is being literal and not figurative. And if ''just'' Mom is in heaven, what happened to Dad?[[note]] 2016!Erin had meant their mother was in heaven ''emotionally'' i.e. happy, because their younger sister Missy is engaged to a doctor while Erin herself is still single.[[/note]] |
| 79 | * DrugsAreBad: [[spoiler:1988!Erin]] freaks out when she sees [[spoiler:2016!Erin]] pop a Xanax. It makes sense considering that she's been in school smack dab in the middle of the "Just Say No" campaign. Finding out that it's a prescription medication doesn't help calm her down any, since she immediately questions if her older self is ill. |
| 80 | * DyingDream [[spoiler: Erin has one after she gets shot. She doesn't die, though.]] |
| 81 | * EagerRookie: [[spoiler: 2000!Tiffany decides to go with the gang when they try to go back to their own time, from a combination of wanting to use her knowledge of the future to prevent disasters like the Oklahoma City bombing, and feeling that she hasn't done what she wanted to with her life. She ends up being the one to pilot the time-traveling mecha they commandeer.]] |
| 82 | * EasilyImpressed: Tiffany gets hit with this more than Mac or Erin once they're in 2016. |
| 83 | -->'''Mac:''' If you keep spazzing over every new-fangled lamppost or whatever, we're gonna get picked up. |
| 84 | * EntertaininglyWrong: Mac says her father believes there's no future in the newspaper business because "we've pretty much used up all of the trees" and "everyone's gonna get their all their news off the TV" in the future. |
| 85 | * EveryoneHasStandards: |
| 86 | ** Tiffany convinces an Adult to back down by threatening to shoot her pterosaur. |
| 87 | ** All of the adults -- good, evil, indifferent and even imaginary -- scold the girls for swearing. |
| 88 | * EvilTwin: [[spoiler: Remembering their encounter with [=FutureClone!Erin=], Mac in issue #18 begins to believe this about KJ, but for vastly different reasons. [=FutureClone!Erin=] tried to kidnap them, while KJ has just told Mac she's gay.]] |
| 89 | * FamilyRelationshipSwitcheroo: In the future, [[spoiler:Jahpo]] thinks [[spoiler:Wari]] is his older sister, when she's really his mother. A flashback to their time in [[spoiler:11,706 BCE reveals that Wari met ''another'' time traveler after the girls left, and traded giving Jahpo up to be raised by someone else in exchange for them both being taken away from the men who wanted him dead.]] |
| 90 | * FirstPeriodPanic: Averted when KJ gets her first period in issue #12 after the gang travels to 11,706 BCE. Amusingly, ''Mac'' ends up being the one who's more affected by the situation (a preteen girl experiencing her menarche while stranded in the distant past, ''and'' with no feminine supplies) than KJ, though issue #13 makes it clear this is mostly because KJ is well-informed enough to stay calm; as she puts it: "I got my '''period''', not the plague." Mac unfortunately only got a gym teacher who told her that talking of such things was "unladylike", and she spends most of the issue peppering KJ with questions about it, much to KJ's annoyance. |
| 91 | -->'''KJ:''' Jesus, you're obsessed. |
| 92 | * FishOutOfTemporalWater: The girls are this both when three of them get shunted to 2016, and also later when all four eventually meet up in prehistoric times. |
| 93 | * ForeverWar: The invaders are locked in a perpetual inter-generational civil war, with adults as the enemy and teens leading LaResistance. |
| 94 | * FourTemperamentEnsemble: |
| 95 | ** '''Sanguine''': Erin |
| 96 | ** '''Choleric''': Mac |
| 97 | ** '''Melancholic''': KJ |
| 98 | ** '''Phlegmatic''': Tiffany |
| 99 | * FreeRangeChildren: The girls. Children actually were allowed this degree of freedom back before cable news and new media convinced everyone there was a pedophile lurking behind every bush. They even use Erin's newspaper bag as protective coloration because the truant officers "don't bother ''Preserver'' kids". [[spoiler: In issue #19, 2000!Tiffany tells her younger self that once shows like ''Series/AmericasMostWanted'' became popular, her parents forced her to quit being a paper girl, and without that connection, she and the other girls drifted apart.]] |
| 100 | * FutureLoser: [[spoiler: 2016!Erin]] fears that she's given this impression to her younger self, but it turns out it's not as bad as she fears. |
| 101 | * FutureSlang: When the girls watch a 2016 news report, Mac is dumbfounded by talk of Platform/{{Vine}}, {{Platform/Twitter}} and [[ScreenName odd combinations of words and numbers]] (internet handles) being used as names. |
| 102 | * GamerChick: Tiffany is addicted to ''{{VideoGame/Arkanoid}}'', and sharp-eyed fans noticed, with Word Of God confirming, that there's an Platform/XboxONE in [[spoiler:2016!Erin's TV stand.]] |
| 103 | * GenreSavvy: Erin is extremely well-versed in sci-fi movies, and is therefore the first to guess that it's [[spoiler: time travelers]] who are invading them. |
| 104 | * GenreShift: The book starts off as what looks like a slice-of-life story about preteen girls in 1988 Middle America. Then the timewarps and monsters start showing up... |
| 105 | * GirlOnGirlIsHot: Played with in issue #13. [[spoiler: KJ touches a device that puts her into a trance and shows her visions of a future, including one scene where she and Mac are kissing in a definitely romantic way. After Mac breaks the connection KJ warns her not to touch it, presumably so Mac won't see that, though her motives in keeping this secret are as yet unknown.]] |
| 106 | * TheGlomp: When [[spoiler:2016!Erin]] starts running herself down for being fat and single at 40, [[spoiler:1988!Erin]] argues with her that she's ''not'' fat, and is glad she's not married because that gives her freedom. [[spoiler:2016!Erin]] promptly glomps her younger version in gratitude. |
| 107 | * GoofyPrintUnderwear: Not exactly 'goofy', but Issue #12 shows KJ wearing striped boxer shorts instead of panties. |
| 108 | * {{Goth}}: [[spoiler: Tiffany, seperated from the others in 2000, heads to her old house. Once there, she meets a black-clad Goth man, who admits when questioned that yes, he ''does'' know Tiffany Quilkin: he's her husband.]] |
| 109 | * HappilyAdopted: Tiffany, probably from somewhere in Central America based on her appearance. Central America was ''the'' source for adopted children in the '80s just as was Russia in the '90s and China in the early 2000s. Further supported by her statement that she's taken three years of Spanish (a girl who was an immigrant from a Spanish-speaking country or whose family were immigrants certainly wouldn't need to learn the language in school) and later confirmed in issue #13 when Tiffany says she was given up for adoption because her birth mother was only seventeen years old. |
| 110 | * HappilyMarried: [[spoiler: Chris and 2000!Tiffany seem to be this.]] |
| 111 | * HelloAgainOfficer: Mac and Erin run into a Stony Stream policeman who refers to Mac by her last name, accuses her of breaking the law by buying cigarettes, and then accuses her of vandalism. She knows the cop by name and is apparently used to this treatment. |
| 112 | * HeroicBSOD: [[spoiler:1988!Tiffany has one after 2000!Tiffany seemingly dies in an attempt to save the girls lives.]] |
| 113 | * HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: In issue #25, 2000!Tiffany jumps on a cop's hoverbike to allow the girls to escape, but her struggle with the cop leads to it blowing up.]] |
| 114 | * HiddenDepths: Tough girl Mac is a Girl Scout. You wanna be a bitch about it? Tiffany speaks fluent Spanish and unwittingly reveals she's under considerable pressure to excel academically |
| 115 | * HumanAliens: Save for their strange speech, clothing, and mounts, the invaders could pass for human. [[spoiler: Because they're time travellers, not aliens.]] |
| 116 | * IfItsYouItsOkay: [[spoiler:Seems to be how Mac has reconciled her possible attraction to KJ right before their kiss in issue #25.]] |
| 117 | * IHatePastMe / FutureMeScaresMe: First played straight, then averted as [[spoiler:the Erins come to an understanding with each other.]] Reconstructed when [[spoiler:a "future" 12 year old Erin turns out to be a treacherous clone sent by the Adults.]] |
| 118 | * IJustShotMarvinInTheFace: Mac insists on retrieving her father's gun for protection but they find it in the hands of her drunken and suicidal stepmother, and [[spoiler: Erin]] promptly gets shot by accident. |
| 119 | * INeedAFreakingDrink: |
| 120 | ** Mac frequently starts smoking whenever something particularly stressful or frightening happens. |
| 121 | ** Inverted: [[spoiler: looking for 2000!Tiffany with the girls while dodging GiantMecha that only 1988!Tiffany can see, Chris laments that he ''really'' shouldn't have taken mushrooms earlier that night.]] |
| 122 | * InASingleBound: When KJ goads [[spoiler: the men who raped Wari]] into chasing her as a distraction, she comes to a very deep, very wide ravine. Lacking any other options, she jumps off the ledge -- only to find that the boots she stole from a time machine in issue #12 allow her to do this. |
| 123 | * IndyPloy: Pulled by [[spoiler:1988!Erin]] when she sees the message [[spoiler: "Don't trust other Erin"]] written on KJ's field hockey stick that's sticking out of a fold. She isn't sure who it refers to [[spoiler:once another Erin who looks just like her shows up]], but doesn't tell anyone about it until [[spoiler: the other Erin (a [=FutureClone=]) tries to kill 2016!Erin, at which point she chooses to save her older self. Takes a meta turn when it's revealed in issue #13 that Erin herself is the one who wrote the message, [[StableTimeLoop since she knew what had already happened]] ]]. |
| 124 | * InformedJudaism: KJ snarks that the Catholic Tiffany's comment about her being a heathen is "so anti-Semitic". Later she makes reference to not having had her ''bat mitzvah'' yet (meaning that since she's 12, her family are probably Reform Jewish, who don't observe the ceremony until a girl's 13th birthday), and at the beginning of issue #11 has a nightmare which starts off as a memory of some girls at Brentwood taunting her by claiming that the "K" in her name stands for "kike" (it really stands for "Karina"). In the same nightmare, she has a short talk with her grandmother, a Holocaust survivor whose serial number tattoo is clearly visible. |
| 125 | * TheIngenue: [[spoiler:1988!Erin]] doesn't like either "F word" ("fuck" and "faggot") and worries she'll get in trouble for swearing ''in her dreams''. |
| 126 | * InSeriesNickname: All four girls. Mackenzie is almost always called "Mac", KJ is called "Kaje"(pronounced "cage"), Tiffany is referred to as "Tiff" on one occasion, and all three often refer to Erin as "New Girl" or "New Kid". Erin also begins referring to [[spoiler:2000!Tiffany as "Double-Oh-Tiff".]] |
| 127 | * InterruptedIntimacy: [[spoiler:Mac and KJ's kiss in issue #25 is happened upon by the Tiffany's, who are stunned (1988!Tiffany) and enthusiastic (2000!Tiffany).]] |
| 128 | * InvisibleToNormals: [[spoiler: For some reason, 1988!Tiffany and her 2000 counterpart are the only ones who can see the GiantMecha battling it out on January 1, 2000.]] |
| 129 | * {{Irony}}: [[spoiler:Mac thought she was going to die of leukemia, but a medical exam in the future reveals that not only will she not, but she never ''would'' have had it. Instead, she's going to contract a different form of cancer which only affects...time travelers.]] |
| 130 | * JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Mac. She's snarky, calls the other girls names on occasion, gets angry easily, and is extremely homophobic, but it's quickly apparent that most of her behavior is a side effect of her having a troubled family. She's also very protective of her friends, gets tears in her eyes when KJ remembers exactly how they met, and is able to keep Erin alive [[spoiler: after she was shot]] for long enough for them to get help. In issue #25, she realizes how much KJ cares for her (as a friend) and this is seemingly enough to [[spoiler:break down the last vestiges of her homophobia.]] |
| 131 | * KansasCityShuffle: [[spoiler:In the future, Wari tells the girls about a previous visit by 1988!Erin, who later manages to find a detailed plan she apparently wrote. But when the girls make it to the indicated place, it turns out to have been a swerve by [=FutureClone!Erin=], who took advantage of Wari's declining mental capacity to pretend to be 1988!Erin.]] |
| 132 | * KidHero: The girls don't waste any time on pointless histrionics because [[GenreSavvy they've seen plenty of media about alien invasion]] and aren't mature enough to see it as anything more than a scary adventure. |
| 133 | * TheKlutz: Mac shoots Erin while trying to get her dad's revolver away from her step-mom, then later confiscates a BoomStick from a future soldier and blasts the ground near the woman, throwing her into a tree and knocking her out. |
| 134 | -->'''Tiffany:''' You should ''not'' be allowed to touch stuff that can accidentally shoot people. |
| 135 | * LikeADuckTakesToWater: [[spoiler: 1988!Tiffany figures out how to use an Adult staff weapon to reactivate one of their mechas, and 2000!Tiffany manages to trigger its time-travel system.]] |
| 136 | * LingerieScene: A low-key, non-Fanservice example shows up in issue #12. KJ and Mac, having swum some distance in a river, hang up their soaking wet clothes to dry but keep their underwear on, while Mac also keeps her tied-up t-shirt on (though it's unclear whether she kept it on over her bra for modesty, or if she wasn't wearing one). |
| 137 | * LoopholeAbuse: When Tiffany has Cardinal at gunpoint, the woman correctly assumes that Tiffany won't kill her. Tiffany admits this is true, then explains that she would have no problem shooting Cardinal's pterosaur mount, which quickly makes her cave. |
| 138 | [[/folder]] |
| 139 | |
| 140 | [[folder: Tropes N-Z]] |
| 141 | * MaamShock: [[spoiler:2016!Erin]] does ''not'' appreciate the girls referring to her this way(though from their point of view, they're just being respectful). |
| 142 | * MacGuffin: The girls find a mysterious, futuristic high-tech artifact -- instantly recognizable to modern readers as an [=iPod=] Nano -- but it's the apple symbol that's significant, not the object itself. [[spoiler: At least until chapter 5 where we learn it isn't just an [=iPod=] and it was deliberately planted for the girls to discover.]] |
| 143 | * MarsNeedsWomen: [[spoiler: The invaders seemed to be specifically seeking school-age females, though it later turns out they're taking ''everyone''.]] |
| 144 | * MaternallyChallenged: Played with. Erin has enough babysitting experience to know from the sound of Jahpo's cries that he needs to be burped instead of fed, but when questioned by Tiffany admits she wasn't really disappointed to learn that her future self never had kids. |
| 145 | * MemoryWipingCrew [[spoiler: 2016!Erin theorizes this is why she can't remember being shot, despite her still having the scar and 1988!Erin recalling it quite clearly. She concludes that her memory was wiped sometime between 1988 and 2016. It finally happens in issue #29.]] |
| 146 | * MostWritersAreAdults: |
| 147 | ** The girls are all 12, but talk like longshoremen...or just like 12-year-old kids who are trying to act tough. |
| 148 | ** Lampshaded when [[spoiler: 1988!Erin]] becomes upset by [[spoiler: 2016!Erin's]] constant swearing because she admits she and her friends swear because they're trying to act cool and seeing her grownup self still doing it is disturbing, not realizing how normalized casual profanity has become in the modern era. |
| 149 | * MundaneObjectAmazement: Coming from an era of (at best) [=TV=]s with 480i analog resolution, [[EverythingsBetterWithSparkles the girls are transfixed]] by the clarity of the image on [[spoiler:2016!Erin's]] 46-inch 1080p Sony [[Platform/HighDefinition HDTV]]. [[spoiler: 1988!Erin]] says that "it's like 3D without the glasses", and [[spoiler:2016!Erin]] warns them that their reaction is freaking her out. Tiffany is also impressed by how many buttons the remote control has, and [[spoiler:1988!Erin]] asks how [[spoiler:her future self]] was able to afford something so incredible. |
| 150 | * MundaneUtility: [[spoiler:In 2000, 1988!Tiffany convinces Chris who she is by showing him old pictures of her.]] |
| 151 | * MyLifeFlashedBeforeMyEyes: Happens to [[spoiler: Tiffany]] while she's being strangled by an alien, which bothers her a lot because it's mostly just hours spent obsessively playing ''VideoGame/{{Arkanoid}}'', though it's implied by the name of this particular monster (an "Editer") that showing you things that you don't like about yourself is exactly what it does. Played with later when [[spoiler: KJ]] finds another piece of future technology; when she touches it, a possible ''future'' life flashes before her eyes, including a vision of [[spoiler: Grand Father holding Erin at gunpoint]] and [[spoiler: her and Mac kissing]]. |
| 152 | * NearRapeExperience: A low-key example. In issue #1 Erin runs into three teenage boys in the middle of their Halloween mischief, and when they find out she goes to Catholic school, one of them seems a little too enthusiastic about that, commenting "grass on the field..."[[note]]For those who don't know, the phrase being referenced is "If there's grass on the field, play ball." It's a rather misogynistic statement which conflates the false equivalence that an adolescent girl's '''physical''' maturity (i.e. being old enough to have a full growth of pubic hair, which Erin, at just 12, almost certainly would ''not'') means she's '''emotionally''' or '''psychologically''' mature enough to make an informed decision about the repercussions of engaging in sexual activities.[[/note]] |
| 153 | * NeverTheSelvesShallMeet: Halfway averted; [[spoiler: as of issue #25, Erin and Tiffany have met future versions of themselves, but KJ and Mac haven't. They do meet an older clone of KJ, but there's no older version of Mac because she dies young.]] |
| 154 | * TheNicknamer: Mac calls [[spoiler: 2000!Tiffany]] and Chris "Ms. Facepaint" and "Fright Night". She's also the one to start calling Erin "new kid" |
| 155 | * NostalgiaAintLikeItUsedToBe: |
| 156 | ** The series is both nostalgic and realistic, pointing out some of the less glamorous parts of the '80s such as the casual homophobia. |
| 157 | ** [[spoiler: Erin's DyingDream reveals she's nostalgic for ''fifth grade'', i.e. last year, because that's when she still had friends other than her little sister and her pen pal. Any parent can tell you that fifth grade is the last stage of childhood before children (and particularly girls) start coalescing into cliques and dividing up into "in" and "out" crowds.]] |
| 158 | ** The alien script title of issue #2 translates to "Nostalgia is Death". |
| 159 | * NoSympathyForGrudgeholders: KJ snaps at Mac when Mac makes a derisive comment about her [[spoiler: being gay. Understandable, since a Jewish girl in 1988 would ''not'' be having an easy time accepting something like that about herself]]. |
| 160 | * OminousMessageFromTheFuture: The past, actually. [[spoiler:1988!Erin]] retrieves KJ's field hockey stick from a fold, only to see "Don't trust other Erin" written on it. Given that KJ was separated from the group before they met [[spoiler:2016!Erin]], [[spoiler:1988!Erin]] figures this means her, then a clone identical to her 12-year-old self shows up and starts acting strange... |
| 161 | * OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Mac feels this way after [[spoiler: KJ says she might be gay. Mac takes it a little too far though, and thinks KJ has been replaced by a clone.]] |
| 162 | * OutofFocus: Erin. She was the main character in earlier issues, but after issue #10 she stays in the background and most of the time is given to Mac and KJ. She does have a pretty important role in issues #23-#25, though. |
| 163 | * PeopleJars: How Grand Father and the rest of the Adults are storing the inhabitants of Stony Stream. |
| 164 | * RageBreakingPoint: |
| 165 | ** When [[spoiler:[=FutureClone!Erin=]]] attacks [[spoiler:2016!Erin]], [[spoiler:1988!Erin]] teams up with Tiffany to knock [[spoiler:[=FutureClone!Erin=]]]through a fold back into the future. |
| 166 | ** [[spoiler: Issue #18 reveals that Grand Father was much less militant as a younger man, until a woman called Prioress was killed in a Teen attack. Whatever his feelings for her were, in the wake of her death, he authorized the unilateral use of lethal force.]] |
| 167 | * RapeAsBackstory: [[spoiler: Issue #14 reveals that Wari, the presumably 12-year old archer the girls meet in 11,706 BCE, was gang-raped by three men who wanted a child. She's been trying to keep her son away from them ever since.]] |
| 168 | * RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: Mac seems to feel this way, given her AngerBornOfWorry reaction when KJ returns to the group after escaping the men who had raped Wari. KJ ''definitely'' feels this way, as she later [[YourHeadAsplode bashes one of the men's head in with his own club.]] |
| 169 | * RedOniBlueOni: Earlier on reserved, focused KJ was the Blue Oni for the more emotional, quick-tempered Mac, but in later issues it seems to shift--KJ is the impulsive ActionGirl, and Mac is more reluctant and cautious. |
| 170 | * ResetButton: Gets pressed hard at the end of issue #29: [[spoiler:all of the girls adventures throughout the series get undone and they're returned to the morning of November 1, 1988, although the reason for this is that their actions led to a permanent end to the Adult/Teen war; they just had to ''have'' those experiences first.]] |
| 171 | * {{Scotireland}}: Mac is like a living Scotireland example. Her first name "Mackenzie" is Scottish, her last name "Coyle" is Irish, she has red hair and green eyes (traits not uncommon in both countries) and at one point refers to KJ's field hockey stick as a shillelagh, much to KJ's confusion. |
| 172 | * SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: On a macro level, the girls set out to save their town. [[spoiler: On a micro level, 2016!Erin warns 1988!Erin against withdrawing from the world and never seeing any of the other girls again like she did after her own 1988 "Hell Morning", though the MemoryWipingCrew may have had something to do with that. Similarly, when 2000!Tiffany performs her HeroicSacrifice, she warns her younger self to "take care of your friends, and whatever you do, don't settle."]] |
| 173 | * ShoutOut: |
| 174 | ** Erin and Missy have a ''Film/TheMonsterSquad'' poster in their bedroom. |
| 175 | ** Erin has a Music/DepecheMode poster from the 1987 ''Music for the Masses'' tour above her bed. |
| 176 | ** Erin also has a ''[[ComicStrip/TheFarSide Far Side]]'' page-a-day calendar which depicts an actual Far Side cartoon and may just show the correct cartoon for November 1, 1988. |
| 177 | ** UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan appears to Erin in a DyingDream based on ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}} TV specials (she gets better). She's even shown with Charlie Brown's characteristic facial expression at one point. |
| 178 | ** The "alien invasion" setup [[spoiler:(far future time travelers scavenging resources and people from the past)]] is a WholePlotReference to the 1983 Creator/JohnVarley novel/1989 movie ''Literature/Millennium1983''. |
| 179 | ** [[spoiler: 1988!Erin tells 2016!Missy that she looks straight out of ''{{Series/Airwolf}}'']] |
| 180 | * ShrinkingViolet: UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan implies that Erin appears to be on the verge of becoming one in one of Erin's dreams. |
| 181 | * ShrugTake: [[spoiler: Mac tells Erin that KJ said she (KJ) was gay. Erin doesn't see this as any of their business, and tells Mac the only thing which matters is that KJ is their friend.]] |
| 182 | * TheSlowPath: According to Altar Girl, the Adults are forbidden to travel farther into the future than they are actually ''from''. Not even Grand Father is willing to break this rule, so when the gang escape in issue #20, his only recourse is to wait until he encounters them later in his life. |
| 183 | * SmokingIsCool: Mac is considered the coolest kid in town and she smokes like a chimney. |
| 184 | * SnarkToSnarkCombat: [[spoiler: 2000!Tiffany's husband Chris and Mac in issue #19.]] |
| 185 | -->[[spoiler:'''Chris:''']] Why don't you dial it back, [[ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}} Peppermint Patty]]? |
| 186 | -->'''Mac:''' Why don't you blow me, [[Film/FrightNight1985 Fright Night]]? |
| 187 | * SpiritualAntithesis: To ''Series/StrangerThings'', which, despite having similar aesthetics, is deeply critical of the very concept of nostalgia itself, multiple times doing things bout to make people question this line of thinking. Also, while ''Stranger Things'' is a horror with a lot of fantastical elements, series with majority male cast, ''Paper Girls'' is a firmly a hard science-fiction story with all four main characters being female. It also doesn't shy of portraying things like homophobia, bullying, underage smoking, and other negative aspects of the '80s zeitgeist that ''Stranger Things'' tends to gloss over. |
| 188 | * StableTimeLoop: Another possible explanation for [[spoiler: 2016!Erin's]] LaserGuidedAmnesia. Also, the message on KJ's field hockey stick that [[spoiler:1988!Erin]] finds turns out to [[spoiler: have been written by her because she'd already found it.]] And in issue #26, we learn [[spoiler:the entire series has been one, as everything the girls do over the course of their adventures led to a utopian peace between the Teens and Adults; they just had to ''have'' those experiences first.]] |
| 189 | * TheStoic: [[spoiler: Mac learning that she's fated to die of leukemia in four years at most does not elicit much of a reaction.]] |
| 190 | * StressVomit: Happens when [[spoiler: 2000!Tiffany meets 1988!Tiffany.]] |
| 191 | * TankTopTomboy: KJ. She plays on her school's field hockey team, wears boxer shorts instead of panties, and wears a sports bra (which resembles a tank top) instead of a regular one. |
| 192 | * TeensAreMonsters: Namechecked by an irked adult. [[spoiler: The future teens the girls encounter actually do appear monstrous, with disfigurements, cybernetic enhancements and triangular pupils.]] |
| 193 | * TeenPregnancy: If the gang are correctly judging [[spoiler: Wari the archer in 11,706 BCE ]]to be around their age, then she obviously had a ''preteen'' pregnancy. Given that none of the four are interested in boys yet and that teen pregnancy was ''much'' more scandalous in the '80s than the modern era, they're understandably a little squicked by the realization. [[spoiler: Even more so once Wari reveals that her son is the child of a gang-rape.]] |
| 194 | * TeleportGun: [[spoiler: The Adults who show up at the end of issue #19 have Teleport ''staffs''. One of them uses theirs on Chris, who vanishes.]] |
| 195 | * TimeAndRelativeDimensionsInSpace: Grand Father tells Cardinal that the girls are all still in the Stony Stream area geographically, they're just in different time periods. |
| 196 | * TimeyWimeyBall: |
| 197 | ** The girls lose track of where or when they are by the end of issue #10. [[spoiler: Still where they were physically, but in the year 11,706 BCE.]] |
| 198 | ** One of the invaders, when asked if they are time travelers or space travelers, helpfully points out that time travel must ''be'' space travel because the Earth is always moving: If you traveled in time without also travelling in space you'd end up drifting in a vacuum because the planet would no longer be where you left it. |
| 199 | * TimePolice: [[spoiler:According to Charlotte, The Adults see themselves as this. They're trying to ensure that history still unfolds as they know it happened, while The Teens are attempting to change things. In issue #25, Grand Father insinuates that if things aren't put back the way they were, Earth could cease to exist.]] |
| 200 | * TimeTravelTaboo: [[spoiler: Adult forces find the girls hiding in a church in issue #19 and correctly identify them as not belonging in this time period, though they do initially mistake them for Teens.]] |
| 201 | * TooDumbToFool: The girls accept things at face value and act accordingly because they're children and they literally don't know any better. They've seen ''Film/TheTerminator'' and they've seen ''Film/TheMonsterSquad'' and probably dozens of similar films and TV shows they act and react accordingly. |
| 202 | * TranslatorMicrobes: The invaders speak heavily-accented English using translation devices attached to their throats. When [[spoiler:1988!Erin rips the one off [=FutureClone!Erin=]]], they can no longer understand her, and 1988!Erin later has the idea to put it on [[spoiler:Wari, the native girl they meet in 11,706 BCE]] so they can communicate with her. |
| 203 | * TroubledSympatheticBigot: Mac. Tiffany dismisses her homophobic insults as just her way of speaking to "the herbs" (teenage boys) in a language that they understand, but it gradually becomes apparent she doesn't have the greatest home life and is just repeating the slurs and attitudes she's learned at home. It also causes her to treat KJ harshly after KJ confesses that she might be gay. She even shoves KJ down at one point when KJ tries to give her a (comforting, not romantic) hug, but her attitude slowly changes when she realizes that KJ really only thinks of her as a friend. [[spoiler:Any changes in their relationship from their kiss in issue #25 will have to wait until or if they're ever reunited.]] |
| 204 | * TrustPassword: [[spoiler: 2016!Erin]] asks several very personal questions in a row to verify that [[spoiler:1988!Erin]] is who she claims to be. Subverted in that [[spoiler:1988!Erin]] doesn't know the answer to the first one (her social security number), and the last one isn't a Trust Password at all, it's a genuine question that [[spoiler:2016!Erin]] has always wondered about. |
| 205 | * UnusualEuphemism: |
| 206 | ** The alien translation devices produce some very odd but still understandable idioms. |
| 207 | ** "Break Curfew" appears to be the universal euphemism for any action that jeopardizes the time stream. |
| 208 | * UnusualUserInterface: The [=iPod=]-like device projects a virtual map directly into the holder's visual cortex, or so we can only assume, because only the character holding the device can see what it is displaying. |
| 209 | * VillainousLineage: A police officer accuses Mac of being up to no good simply because he recognizes her as a member of the Coyle family. |
| 210 | * VitriolicBestBuds: Mac and KJ are the closest out of the four girls, but bicker the most. |
| 211 | * [[WhamEpisode Wham Issue]]: Vaughn seems to love putting them every 5 issues. |
| 212 | ** At the end of issue #5, Erin, Mac and Tiffany get separated from KJ [[spoiler: and end up in 2016, where they meet Erin's future self.]] |
| 213 | ** At the end of issue #10, Erin, Mac and Tiffany are reunited with KJ, but they're now all [[spoiler: in the year 11,706 BCE.]] |
| 214 | ** At the end of issue #15, being near another time-travel device when it activates has separated the girls again, [[spoiler: with Tiffany arriving at a version of January 1, 2000, where Y2K actually happened and caused a nationwide blackout. And with [[GiantMecha Giant Mechas]] in the background.]] |
| 215 | ** At the end of issue #18, it's revealed that Grand Father is actually [[spoiler: Jahpo]]. |
| 216 | ** At the end of issue #25, [[spoiler:the girls have been separated throughout time ''again'': Tiffany is sent further into the future, KJ ends up in 1958, Mac is in the far-distant future, and Erin is in 2018.]] |
| 217 | * WhatHappenedToTheMouse: After nearly 20 issues, [[spoiler:[=FutureClone!Erin=] returns at the end of issue #25, having masterminded a plan to permanently seperate the girls from each other.]] |
| 218 | * WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer: When All You Have Is A Field Hockey Stick: KJ carries her field hockey stick with her while delivering newspapers. It gets used quite often, either to attack/defend or as a message board. |
| 219 | * WriteBackToTheFuture: |
| 220 | ** Actually "writing" back ''from'' the future in the form of an Apple-logo'd virtual reality device. |
| 221 | ** In another unusual variant, the VR device leads them to KJ's field hockey stick sticking halfway out of a small time fold at the abandoned mall. While the stick itself is a message of sorts [[spoiler: (KJ is okay and in another time)]] they also find a (confusing) message scratched into the stick after they retrieve it. |
| 222 | * YouAreWhatYouHate: [[spoiler: Mac is an outspoken homophobe, presumably as a way of covering that she's gay herself.]] |
| 223 | * YouCantFightFate: Seems to be shaping up to be the case, at least in Mac's case: [[spoiler:a future-tech medical exam reveals that she doesn't have (and in fact, never could develop) leukemia; instead, she's going to succumb to a different form of cancer.]] |
| 224 | * YouMeddlingKids: The girls start out as meddling kids but work their way up to KidHero fairly quickly. |
| 225 | * YourDaysAreNumbered: [[spoiler:Mac]] learns that she's going to die of leukemia sometime in the next three or four years, though the source of this information (the man who bought her parents' house in 1992) isn't exactly authoritative. [[spoiler:2000!Tiffany later reveals in issue #19 that Mac's death notice was also listed in ''The Preserver''.]] |
| 226 | * ZeppelinsFromAnotherWorld: The invader's ship resembles a giant zeppelin. |
| 227 | [[/folder]] |
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