Line #34 Literature/Outliers


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/header_v21_3.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Super powers, not-so-super people.]]
3
4	->''"Now, at this point, you might be thinking that I'm being a little too paranoid, and you might be right. But we're a group of unregistered supers running a technically-criminal vigilante operation out of an abandoned warehouse. I have a supervillain ex-girlfriend, Ivan probably won't be allowed back in South America for the rest of his life, George is sworn enemies with the British government and I'm pretty sure at least one of Lis' parents is an assassin.''
5
6	->''Not only are they actually all out to get us, but they're also out to get each other and don't particularly care if we get in the way."''
7	-->-- '''Flint Perez/Skew'''
8
9	''30 years ago brought the first superhumans, regular people given great power seemingly at random.''
10
11	''15 years ago brought the paranormals, stranger and often weaker in their abilities, but far more numerous.''
12
13	''Today, the world holds its breath . . . ''
14
15	''Or at least, it should.''
16
17	''Most people, though, are just trying to get on with their lives; some successfully, some less so. Which is hard, when shadowy conspiracies and worldwide N.G.O.s are turning your city into a proxy battleground over world-shattering secrets. It’s bad enough when you’ve just woken up with superpowers and terrorists are holding your school hostage. It’s even worse if you’re an illegal vigilante stuck in the middle of the whole Charlie Foxtrot after a supervillain raid drops vital information in your lap.''
18
19	''For Flint Perez and Hannah Eiling-Kingsford, life is about to get a lot harder to get on with.''
20
21	[[http://outlierswebserial.blogspot.com.au// Outliers]] is a superhero-ish web serial, updating Tuesdays and Fridays.
22	----
23	!! This series provides examples of:
24
25	* ClusterFBomb: Fog lets one rip in [[https://outlierswebserial.blogspot.com.au/2015/12/capes-6-v.html 6-V]] as she [[DirtyCoward cuts and runs]].
26	* {{Deuteragonist}}: Hannah. The chapters are evenly split between her and Flint, but his storyline tends to affect events more, while she generally follows after them.
27	* DudeLooksLikeALady: Flint is frequently mistaken for a woman, to the point where in chapters narrated by Hannah, he's referred to as such.
28	* FirstPersonSmartass: Flint, in spades. Hannah to a lesser extent, mostly from her imaginary dialogue with herself.
29	* InMediasRes: People and missions are already in motion when the story begins.
30	* MassSuperEmpoweringEvent / RandomlyGifted: A bit from column A, a bit from column B. While there were two Events, fifteen years apart, where a lot of supers got their powers, they continued to appear between and afterwards, seemingly at random.
31	* NGOSuperpower: the Watchtower Conglomerate, [[IncrediblyLamePun more literally than some]]. They are the only legal way to become a superhero, and as such manage most of the powerful superhumans on the right side of the law.
32	* NotQuiteFlight: A few variants. Freefall teleports directly up and freefalls, Comet makes herself into a projectile over and over with charge times in between, [[spoiler:and Void makes herself light enough to be pulled along by the wind her vacuums create.]]
33	* OnePersonOnePower: Averted: while all first-gen, and some second-gen, supers have only the one power, there are many second-gens who have multiple.
34	* OneSteveLimit: Averted. The Outliers have two Natalies, Ribbon (Natalie Wong) and Void (Natalie Wilson).
35	* PsychoEx: Edith for Flint. [[spoiler: Later chapters reveal their relationship to be more complicated than that.]]
36	* ShoutOut:
37	** The high school in (New) Chicago is called [[Literature/TheDresdenFiles Dresden]] High.
38	** "[[http://outlierswebserial.blogspot.com.au/2016/01/party-7-ii.html ...and I did not like it]], [[Creator/DrSeuss Sam-I-am]]."
39	* SlaveToPR: The Tower heroes. As a private enterprise, all their income comes from movies, advertisements, promotions and products, so everyone working for them has to maintain a good public image at all times.
40	* SuperheroPackingHeat: Ricochet, who acts as the Outliers' overwatch with a heavy-calibre sniper rifle. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that her power seems to have something to do with... well, ricochets, and by the existence of stun rounds in the setting.
41	* TalkingToThemself: Hannah often has conversations in her head, between a personality that seems closer to hers, and one that is significantly snarkier and cruder. Unlike most examples, though, she acknowledges that the voices aren't real, and that she's just using them as a coping mechanism.
42	* TheGhost: Void, nominal leader of the Outliers. Appears in the very first flashback chapter, but isn't seen or heard from in the present day [[spoiler:until the very end of Chapter 11; over nine months in real time.]]
43	* TwoFirstNames: Edith Ellis.
44	* VitriolicBestBuds: Flint and Lis, Flint and George... Flint and everyone, pretty much.
45	* WhatTheHellIsThatAccent: Lisette/Ricochet.

Context Literature / Outliers