Line #81 Literature/Uglies


1	[[quoteright:214:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Uglies1Cover.JPG]]
2
3	''Uglies'' is the collective name given to a series of books by Creator/ScottWesterfeld:
4
5	The series is:
6
7	# ''Uglies''
8	# ''Pretties''
9	# ''Specials''
10	* ''Extras'' (A [[SpinOff companion book]])
11
12	The series is set in the future, three hundred years after a petroleum-destroying bacteria and genetically modified orchids went out of control, leaving the humans of the world to rethink their destructive ways.
13
14	Indeed, at first glance, this future seems to be a better place: clothes can be recycled on the spot, the environment is in better shape, and no one goes hungry. The people of the world live under a caste system: once they turn sixteen, teenagers are given operations to become 'Pretties,' beautiful, popular youths who can do what they want all day and night in New Pretty Town.
15
16	Nothing is wrong with the world--or so it seems.
17
18	A quick summary of the books can be found [[Recap/{{Uglies}} here]].
19
20	There is also a spin-off series called ''Literature/{{Impostors}}''.
21
22	The series was first optioned as a film franchise as early as 2006 but has been in DevelopmentHell since then. In 2020, however, it was [[https://people.com/movies/joey-king-starring-netflix-adaptation-uglies-movie/ reported]] that the first book in the series will be adapted as a Creator/{{Netflix}} film, with Joey King in the starring role.
23	----
24	!!This series provides examples of:
25
26	* ActionGirl: Tally Youngblood, Shay, Aya Fuse, and Eden Maru. It's also implied that Maddy was somewhat one before David was born. We also have the Sly Girls in Extras and Frey in Impostors.
27	* AdultsAreUseless:
28	** Tally's parents are on the vapid side and encourage her to do what Dr. Cable says to get her pretty surgery. {{Justified}} for most of the adults in the series that come off this way due to the lesions that make them into vapid Pretties.
29	** The adults that avert this -- the museum guard, the ones driving the helicopter, are the ones who need their brains for the jobs they have.
30	** Maddy and Az do their best to avert this, since they studied the lesions and realize what it would mean to forcibly receive said lesions. Even so, they're hampered by Tally accidentally betraying them, Dr. Cable killing Az, and Maddy having to rebuild her research from scratch.
31	* AnimatedTattoo: In ''Pretties'' and ''Specials'', Tally and the Cutters have facial tattoos that pulse with their heart rate.
32	* ArcWords: "Informed consent." Also, "Special Circumstances".
33	* AreWeGettingThis: In ''Extras'', the main character, Aya, is constantly asking her hovercam, Moggle, "Are you getting this?"
34	* AerithAndBob: Tally, Zane, Peris, Fausto, Ho, Az, Tachs...David and Andrew Simpson Smith. This is very much on purpose, as the last two are the only characters born outside the city.
35	** In ''Extras'', Aya, Hiro, Ren, Miki, Udzir and Jai/Kai/Lai/Ai are all names contrasting with Eden Maru, Nana Love and Frizz.
36	*** ''Extras'' has an interesting twist on this. Aya, Hiro, Ren, Miki, Jai/Kai (though not Lai), and Nana are all rather standard Japanese names for today's time; Eden is not and Frizz not even possible to say using current standard Japanese phonemes. In terms of surnames, however, only Frizz's is a viable surname (Mizuno) and Eden's a Japanese word (''maru'', meaning circle).
37	* AesopAmnesia: At the beginning of every book Tally has to re-learn why the status quo is bad. But it's justified because it's not stupidity, [[spoiler:(not intentional stupidity at least). In the beginning of ''Pretties'' the Pretty operation has made her vapid and oblivious, while in ''Specials'' she starts out brainwashed to serve the city.]]
38	* AfterTheEnd: Petroleum-eating bacteria and an overgrowth of genetically modified white orchids cause destruction for the Rusties, who are now regarded as greedy and insane.
39	* AllThereInTheManual: All the interesting worldbuilding that Westerfeld couldn't put in the books, plus explanations for many of his ideas, are in companion book ''Bogus To Bubbly''. It also addresses, if leaving ambiguous, some {{fanon}}, like that the Rusty Ruins are Seattle, and could easily serve as a sourcebook for a RolePlayingGame set in the ''Uglies'' verse.
40	%%* AndManGrewProud
41	%%* AndThatsTerrible:
42	%%--> "If you've just created a cool new building with smart matter supports, you don't want someone coming along and turning that matter into, say, liquid. Because that would be bad."
43	* AssimilationPlot: Inverted with the people who started the utopia: they solved racial and image problems by making everyone a generic sort of beautiful.
44	%%* AudienceSurrogate: Tally.
45	%%* BadGuysDoTheDirtyWork: Dr. Cable in ''Specials''.
46	%%* TheBeautifulElite: Taken to an interesting extreme.
47	* BecomingTheMask: Tally, at first sent to infiltrate the Smoke, comes to like it and love David.
48	* BettyAndVeronica:[[spoiler: In the second book and parts of the third one, we have David (Betty), Tally (Archie), and Zane (Veronica).]]
49	* BettyAndVeronicaSwitch: In the first book, we have Tally (A Betty when she joins the Smoke and is a NaiveNewcomer who turns into a Veronica once she accidentally betrays it and tries to save it. This makes Tally much more edgy in the rest of the book), David (Archie throughout the first book), and Shay (Is a Veronica as a fun loving and risk taking Ugly who turns into a Betty once she turns Pretty and is made placid and ditzy.)
50	* BigAnimeEyes: In the fourth book, there's a clique called "manga-heads", who get surgery to make their eyes appear larger and who have crazy hairstyles in order to look like they're from manga.
51	* BigBad: Dr. Cable. Subverted with [[spoiler:the Extraterrestrials]] in ''Extras''.
52	* BitchInSheepsClothing: Shay eventually becomes this, though in ''Specials'' after receiving the cure she becomes the inversion. The exact point that she does is an exercise left to the reader.Though Shay's character is treated with bafflingly little sympathy, considering that her original role was to save Tally from Pretty obscurity by introducing her to another culture only to have Tally return the favor by (mostly unintentionally) betraying her trust, moving in on her crush, and ultimately bringing ruin upon her home.
53	* BittersweetEnding: Once a book, with the exception of ''Extras''.
54	** In ''Uglies''. [[spoiler:David's father Az]] is dead as a result of Dr. Cable trying to install new lesions, and Maddy may have developed a pretty cure but they have no subject on which to test the pills. Tally decides to perform a HeroicSacrifice in offering herself as a test subject, outing herself as the traitor who destroyed the Smoke, and willingly turning herself in to have the operation.
55	** In ''Pretties'' once again Tally accidentally betrays the New Smoke, this time through Zane's false tooth. She decides to stay with him as the New Smoke members escape, taking the cure with them, and Shay turns her into a brainwashed Special.
56	** Tally ends the war that she and Shay started, but not before [[spoiler:Zane]] dies and as the only Special in existence she has to make sure the new world doesn't destroy itself the way the old world did. [[spoiler:David]] joins her in the wilderness as she vows to keep the world safe.
57	* BrainlessBeauty: [[spoiler:Enforced. The operation that turns people into "pretties" is also deliberately designed to make them vapid and oblivious in an attempt to keep them from making the same mistakes the Rusties did.]]
58	* BrainwashedAndCrazy: The Specials except for Dr. Cable are revealed to be this, when Tally gets turned into one against her will courtesy of Shay and suffers MindRape as a result of new lesions.
59	* BreakTheCutie: Tally becomes progressively more broken as she's dicked about with by the various authorities. Also, Shay in both "Shay's Story" and "Cutters".
60	%%* BreakTheHaughty: Shay in the graphic novels.
61	* TheCakeIsALie: Inverted; Dr. Cable blackmails Tally to track down Shay and betray the Smoke by withholding the Pretty operation. As it turns out, she wants ''every'' Ugly to receive the operation, whether or not they want it.
62	* TheCameo: In ''Extras'', Aya mentions that there are a group of crumblies who claim that the government has the secret to immortality and aren’t sharing it. Considering her RapidAging in Specials and the fact that she is implied to be hundreds of years old, Dr. Cable could very well be the person who is making this claim and is leading the other crumblies to investigate it.
63	* CanNotTellALie: The members of Frizz's clique in ''Extras'', Radical Honesty, undergo (brain) surgery so that it's impossible for them to lie.
64	* CantKillYouStillNeedYou: Dr. Cable saves Tally from the surgery that would make her normal, since Tally is the last Special in existence.
65	* ChildhoodFriends: Tally and Peris, Zane and Croy.
66	* CityInABottle: Andrew Simpson Smith's reservation. Tally's city can be considered one of these, too: the self-sufficient citizens don't seem to know that there's much outside beyond Rusty Ruins.
67	* ComicBookAdaptation: There's a trilogy that tells the story from Shay's point of view.
68	%%* CrapSaccharineWorld: It is a dystopian novel after all.
69	* CreatorProvincialism: Ai, a non-English speaker, changes her name by adding a new consonant to the beginning, going through the English alphabet in order. Lampshaded in ''Bogus to Bubbly''. [[note]] Jai/Kai/Lai's names change in alphabetical order, which makes no sense for someone who doesn't even speak English.[[/note]]
70	%% * DarkActionGirl: Dr. Cable[[spoiler:, Shay in ''Pretties'' and Tally in ''Specials''.]]
71	* DeadpanSnarker: Meta-example. Westerfeld gets this way in ''Bogus to Bubbly''.
72	-->''Obviously [Tally's] name can't be annoying or unwieldy. My original name for her, "Pazercappitastica Bonechmper," was dropped for this reason.''
73	* DeathOfTheHypotenuse: Tally has two love interests. [[spoiler:She chooses Zane in ''Pretties'', but he dies in ''Specials'', causing her to end up traveling the world with David.]]
74	* {{Determinator}}: [[spoiler: Tally, full stop. Tally is this in every single book. Shay definitely seems to be this too. David may have shades of this when it comes to persuing Tally and Dr. Cable is a villainous version.]]
75	* DidntThinkThisThrough:
76	** Tally embodies this trope. She is very impulsive, and Shay once mentioned she is self-centered. [[spoiler:She accidentally betrays the Smoke by pitching her locket into the fire, rather than confessing to Maddy and Az and asking them what to do]].
77	** Maddy didn't think about putting written instructions with the pills, that they both needed to be taken at the same time. [[spoiler:Tally split one with Zane, not knowing the pills were different. He got a pill with nanites that would eat the lesion, and she got one with a failsafe for the nanites. Zane ends up with a portion of his brain eaten]].
78	* DoggedNiceGirl: Tally implies this with Peris as a Littlie and an Ugly, when she says that he always liked “other girls.” [[spoiler: This still seems to be the case when Tally visits him in New Pretty Town for the first time, however, soon after that Tally quickly moves on. Also, Zane and Tachs are both this to Shay at different points in Shay’s Story.]]
79	* DontTryThisAtHome: The reader is advised not to use nanotechnology to rewire your brain.
80	* DroppedABridgeOnHim: Dr. Cable kills [[spoiler:Az, David's father, when trying to surgically give him LaserGuidedAmnesia.]]
81	%%* EarnYourHappyEnding
82	* EasilyForgiven:
83	** After [[spoiler:receiving the surgery that makes her pretty, lesions and all,]] Shay is bubbly with Tally despite their earlier fight over David. This makes Tally [[ObliviousGuiltSlinging feel even worse]]. Averted later on in the series, though, as Shay remembers [[spoiler:what Tally did and continues to do.]]
84	** Subverted with David's mother. She doesn't [[spoiler:forgive Tally for betraying the old Smoke, accidental was it was, and getting her husband killed.]]
85	** David himself forgives Tally, even when [[spoiler:Tally betrayed the Smoke by accident and she called him ugly to make him leave her and Zane behind in ''Pretties''.]]
86	* {{Epigraph}}s: Used at the beginnings of the different parts of books in the Uglies Trilogy.
87	* EternalEnglish: Averted, English has become much more flexible and has different grammar rules. Tally comments that old black and white movies are "in an English she could hardly understand."
88	* EveryEpisodeEnding: With the exception of ''Extras'', the companion book, each book ends [[spoiler:with what the operation Tally receives turns her into, i.e. "pretty" for ''Uglies'' or with the name of a stage of life.]]
89	* EvilCounterpart:
90	** Dr. Cable to Tally. Both of them are very smart, sarcastic, and manipulative natural leaders. This becomes much more apparent as the books go on.
91	** While it may be a stretch to call them evil, Tally’s parents are shown to be extremely vapid, selfish, clueless and neglectful when it comes to Tally’s needs and could be seen as the {{Evil Counterpart}}s to David’s parents who actually try to take care of him. Tally notices this in the first book.
92	** We also have Shay’s hoverboard Coach in Shay’s Story who kicks her off of the team and serves as an EvilCounterpart to Shay seeing as how she is an accomplice to Dr. Cable and seems to have Shay’s athleticism and passion.
93	** [[spoiler: Also a subverted example, Tally to Aya in Extras. As Aya is very similar to how Tally used to be before she became TheHero. However, Tally is able to warn Aya about the dangers of the world so that Aya won't become a BrokenBird Anti-Heroine like Tally.]]
94	* FaceHeelRevolvingDoor:
95	** [[spoiler:Through no fault of her own, Shay in each book. Starts out on the good side, gets forcibly changed into a Pretty, which leads to her cutting herself to regain her brainpower after learning Tally gave the cure to Zane instead of to her. Then she gets changed into a Special, which puts her on the Face side, and then is forcibly given the cure in ''Specials'' before rescuing Tally in Diego.]]
96	** [[spoiler:Tally arguably pulls one of these as well, but since it's mind control, it may not count.]]
97	* FanDisservice: In Specials, [[spoiler:Tally's operation. She's naked, conscious and about to be cut into pieces. Eww.]]
98	* FantasticCasteSystem: In the tie-in book ''Bogus to Bubbly'', Scott Westerfeld tells about the strict age-defined hierarchy in the society. Littlies (age 0-11) lived with their parents and were the only people allowed to have traditional family bonds. In fact, parents were encouraged only to have one child every 10 years to keep the population down and stop sibling bonds from forming. Uglies (12-16) were forced to move away to dorms and socially programmed to hate themselves and anticipate the upcoming "Pretty" surgery. New pretties were people who had just had the surgery to make them prettier and more complacent, and they were encouraged to live a crazy lifestyle. Middle pretties were pretties with children and jobs. Late pretties or crumblies were the elderly, who often lived to their middle hundreds
99	* FantasticHonorifics: People in Tally's city use '-wa' (if the name contains an L) or '-la' (if it does not) at the end of names to refer to their friends.
100	%%* FirstGirlWins: [[spoiler:David.]]
101	* FacialMarkings: The flash tattoo Tally gets in ''Pretties'' sticks around.
102	%%* FullNameBasis: Andrew Simpson Smith.
103	* FutureSlang: 'Happy-making', 'bubbly', 'icy'...Mostly notably, the English language has become more flexible. For example, instead of saying "It looks pretty", you could say "It's pretty-making." Amusingly, the author decided the only way to determine if the slang is good enough for a book series and not just silly is to try it out in real life, so he actually did use words like "bubbly" in real conversation without explaining to others what it was all about.
104	%%* GlorySeeker: Aya Fuse.
105	* GodGuise: The tribes maintained by scientists believe Pretties are a race of gods, because of their beauty.
106	%%* GreenAesop: Sometimes mildly {{Anvilicious}}.
107	* GreyGoo: In ''Specials'', Tally and Shay [[spoiler: release a vial of silvery nanomachines that eat all but three things: the vial they were kept in, a special black foam, and dirt.]]
108	* GrossUpCloseUp: Invoked towards the ending of the first act. In order to finally coerce Tally to become a spy for Special Circumstances, Dr. Cable uses a special monitor that shows Tally all of her physical flaws, from her 'fizzy' hair to her 'squinty' eyes. Overwhelmed by her 'ugliness', Tally gives in.
109	%%* HealingFactor: The nanos in the Specials' blood.
110	* HerHeartWillGoOn: Approaches Buffy-level in the third book. [[spoiler:Zane rejects his new neural grafts at the same time the war Tally accidentally started jammed Diego's comms network. As a result the doctors don't reach him in time, and he is reduced to a vegetable. They have to switch the life-support off, yet she must dash over to her home city and give herself up.]]
111	* HeWhoFightsMonsters:
112	** Defied by Maddy in ''Uglies''; although she wants to try the pretty cure [[spoiler:on Shay]], she won't force it on the latter without "informed consent." As she explains to Tally and David, Specials like Dr. Cable [[spoiler:killed her husband Az by forcing experimental surgery upon him]], and she doesn't want to stoop to that level.
113	** Played straight by the town of Diego, though. They consider [[spoiler:Tally in Special form]] a weapon and even though they'd need her consent to change her mind, her body can be BroughtDownToNormal. [[spoiler:For Tally, though, it would be a FateWorseThanDeath.]] They then heavily drug her when she throws a temper tantrum and is reduced to begging for it not to happen, and would have succeeded if not for [[spoiler:Shay]].
114	* HollywoodHomely: Invoked. All of society is conditioned to view surgical, unnatural perfection as the baseline for attractiveness, and to find anyone who just looks like a normal person horribly ugly.
115	* HoverBoard: The only way of transportation for uglies. Pretties aren't able to focus enough to use them.
116	* InstantAIJustAddWater: Moggle from ''Extras''. Despite being a cheap, run-of-the-mill ''video camera''. How's that for a PlayfulHacker achievement?
117	* LateArrivalSpoiler: Don't read the back of any of the books if you haven't completely finished the previous book. The very first sentence on the backs of ''Pretties,'' ''Specials,'' and ''Extras'' give away, respectively, that [[spoiler:Tally becomes a Pretty, Tally becomes a Special, and Tally brings down the dystopian system at the end of the original trilogy.]]
118	%%* LeapOfFaith: Finding your way to the Smoke includes making one.
119	* LifeInZeroG: The "inhumans", the antagonists of the ''Extras'', are revealed to be [[spoiler:GoodAllAlong. They aren't stealing metal [[NotWhatItLooksLike to build a weapon]], but to build rocketships, hoping to leave Earth, get into orbit, and start farming and establish a society in space to reduce human waste and footprint on Earth. Their bizarre, sometimes terrifying appearances, with prehensile toes and widened eyes, are adaptations made to make life in space easier. They also practice floating in zero-G as much as possible so they can get used to it ahead of time. To do this on Earth, they use hoverball rigs (a common piece of sports equipment in the series' future), setting them to zero-G mode and wearing them 24/7. As a result of the rigs and the body modifications, they've gotten phenomenally good at floating around and using whatever is nearby to propel themselves where they need to go. They call themselves Extraterrestrials, aka, [[TitleDrop Extras]]. The heroes support the Extras' endeavor once it's explained to them, and, to make up for the fact that they [[PoorCommunicationKills destroyed a few of the Extras' ships as a result of the misunderstanding]], help them recruit, attracting several adventurous people to the project]].
120	* LoveDodecahedron: A little bit once Shay’s Story and Cutters is taken into account.
121	* LoveTriangle: [[spoiler: Tally, Shay, and David in Uglies. Tally, David, and Zane in Pretties and Specials. In Shay’s Story we also have Zane, Shay, and David before Zane turns Pretty and then after Shay’s operation we have Shay, Zane, and Helen. Tachs, Shay, and David. Even though Shay is ObliviousToLove for most of the book, this is very evident to the reader and the characters eventually make AnguishedDeclarationsOfLove in the text confirming the shipping. Then In Cutters we have Tachs, Shay, and Zane before Tally has the operation and then afterwards we have Tally, Zane, and Helen once Shay and Tachs become an OfficialCouple.]]
122	* MagicalComputer: Apparently, the protagonist of ''Extras'' saved a ''backup copy of the entire Internet'' on her hovercam (which isn't even exactly a high-quality model). It should be noted that the future's version of the Internet is mostly video data (with some blogging).
123	* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Tally is this to both David and Zane. Shay may count as one to David before Tally shows up, but this is subverted as Shay and David wind up breaking up although in Shay’s Story she is one to Tachs.
124	* MeaningfulName: Subverted with David and Zane. In ''From Bogus to Bubbly'', Westerfeld reveals that he just chose the names of Tally's two love interests without knowing that both of them mean "beloved". Played straight with a lot of names, though.
125	-->'''Westerfeld''': Yes, you actually can be ''that'' obvious as a novelist, and no one ever seems to notice.
126	* TheMole: Tally in ''Uglies''. [[spoiler:This was also Shay and Tally's plan for Zane in ''Specials''.]]
127	%% * MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate: Dr. Cable.
128	* {{Nanomachines}}: In ''Specials'' it's revealed that the Specials have nanobots in their blood to make them heal quickly, and Tally and Shay accidentally destroy a museum with some destructive nanos.
129	** Nanotechnology is so pervasive in this world that there is a type of glue with nanos in it that allows it to bond any materials together ''forever''.
130	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Happens three times, for plot reasons:
131	** In ''Uglies'', Tally is given a medallion to use to signal the specials to come take out the Smoke. [[spoiler:She throws it in the fire once she decides to stay in the Smoke, not knowing that damaging the pendant causes it to automatically send out a signal.]]
132	** In ''Pretties'', she and her new boyfriend find pills to reverse the Pretty brain lesions. [[spoiler:Turns out that the two pills were supposed to be taken by one person. One pill eats the lesions. The second pill stops the first pill from eating the entire brain. This leads to Zane becoming paralyzed.]]
133	** In ''Specials'', she and Shay [[spoiler:break into a museum and accidentally release an old relic that causes a huge fire. This gives Dr. Cable the excuse to blame Diego and declare war on the other city for housing the runaway uglies.]]
134	* NoFameNoWealthNoService: Aya Fuse's entire city has a fame and merit economy. You get merits by having a job, going to school, cleaning the streets etc. and can spend them on items or save for a bigger house/apartment. Fame however is what people value, and without fame you cannot get into any parties. They even have a ''ranking system'' for everyone in the city, from the most popular to the most obscure.
135	* NoFullNameGiven: Only Tally, Dr. Cable, and Andrew Simpson Smith get last names in the original trilogy. Most of the ''Extras'' characters get last names, but we still don't find out those of the trilogy characters who show up.
136	%%* NoPoverty
137	%% * NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity: In-universe in ''Extras'', thanks to their new economy system.
138	* TheNotLoveInterest: Tally and Shay have this relationship to an unbelievable degree. It’s almost like StarCrossedLovers mixed with HeterosexualLifePartners. Tally implies that she had this relationship with Peris prior to his operation.
139	* NoteToSelf: Tally writes a note to herself in ''Literature/{{Uglies}}'' to inform herself that [[spoiler:she gave informed consent for the pills she was given the same time as her note that could reverse the lesions she got from the pretty operation.]]
140	* OncePerEpisode: Each book begins with party crashing. [[spoiler: Every book also has Talky visit the Rusty Ruins and every book ends in a LateArrivalSpoiler for the next book.]]
141	* OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions: Gods? You mean those invisible superheroes in the sky that the Rusties believed in? Later subverted, in ''Extras'' Aya mentions that the post-mind rain society has rediscovered religion -- there are even Tally Youngblood cults. And then double subverted, as religions are largely out of fashion after the first few years.
142	* {{Paparazzi}}: In ''Extras'', all the people with high ranks have paparazzi cameras following them at all times.
143	* PluckyGirl: Tally. She [[spoiler:reverses her own ''brain damage'']] through sheer determination. Could also have partially been [[spoiler:a placebo effect. Even though the pill she took didn't do anything to fix her, she didn't know that at the time.]]
144	%%* PostCyberpunk: Arguably.
145	%%* PostPeakOil: What caused the new world to come into being.
146	* {{Premiseville}}: New Pretty Town, Uglyville, and Crumblyville. And in ''Extras'', there is also a Prettyville.
147	* RescueRomance: [[spoiler:Shay saves Tachs from drowning on the way to The Smoke with David in Shay’s Story and this leads Tachs to develop a crush on her but he doesn’t admit this because she falls for David, but after they both turn Pretty, then they start dating.]]
148	* RightForTheWrongReasons: Shay tells Tally that the latter needs to tell David about the new heart-shaped locket she's acquired, assuming that it's a romantic token from Tally's new partner. [[spoiler:Said locket is a medallion that is meant to track down the Smoke, and David's parents run the Smoke. So yes, Tally should have told David about it instead of pitching it into the fire.]]
149	* RunningGag: Tally's hatred of [=SpagBol=].
150	* SanityBall: The inverse. Throughout the entire trilogy most of the main characters are suffering from Mind Control or Brainwashing and there are only one or two characters who aren’t. Who those one or two characters are changes throughout the books. Averted in Extras, because [[spoiler: at this point Tally has set everyone free.]]
151	* ShootTheShaggyDog: This seems to be [[spoiler:Zane's tale]]. First we find out he was responsible for the Specials wanting to track down Shay, then [[spoiler: his brain gets eaten up by nanites, crippling him and his girlfriend is brainwashed into becoming a Special.]] Just when it seems that [[HopeSpot he gets the surgery he needs]], his [[spoiler: brain rejects the new implants, and he becomes a vegetable on life support in the middle of a war. The hospital has to take him off it for the other wounded people coming in.]]
152	* SpotTheThread: Shay is suspicious in ''Uglies'' that Tally has so much [=SpagBol=] even if she had planned to run away. Tally manages to make up a cover story.
153	%%* SuperSoldier: The Specials.
154	* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
155	** In-Universe. In "Pretties", after a failed attempt to jumpstart her hoverboard, Tally falls asleep to her reoccurring Princess dream. In it, said-princess decides to escape her tower by floating down on a parasol. But as it turns out, the parasol proves incapable of carrying the princess through the air, much less bringing her safely to the ground.
156	** Throughout "Specials", the cutters think that everything they do is awesome and epic and intimidating. But gradually, [[spoiler: Tally starts to realize that through the eyes of a normal person, some of the things cutters do are crazy at best and [[ColdHam melodramatic]] at worst]].
157	** Also in the same book, Tally [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] that dramatic exits and/or leaving without saying goodbye can be overly dramatic, even unnecessary at times.
158	* TomboyWithAGirlyStreak: Most of the female cast in the series. In the original trilogy Tally and Shay are both OneOfTheBoys, {{Action Girl}}s, and they are both hover boarding thrill seekers and adrenaline junkies. They are also each other’s only female friends. Even though they both receive a GirlinessUpgrade after they turn Pretty, their only real feminine traits are that they are both a little bit boy crazy and they appreciate romance and the fact that Tally in particular is a bit obsessed with beauty. Though they both display some interest in fashion too. In Extras, Aya is a hover boarding IntrepidReporter, Tech-Savvy Tomboy except for the fact that she is obsessed with fame, celebrities and gossip. Eden Maru is a glamorous sports star. Some of the Sly Girls like Miki may qualify. Although Jai/Kai/Lai seems to be more of a Ladette.
159	%% * TookALevelInBadass: Tally. Arguably all the Specials/Cutters.
160	* TotallyRadical: Prettyspeak. And it's infectious--beware, oh reader, of GotMeDoingIt.
161	* TranslationConvention: Averted in ''Extras''. Aya does not speak good English.
162	* TheTrickster: A lot of Uglies are this and it is to be expected in this society. A few of the Pretties are this as well, but it is less common and it’s even rarer among Specials, although all of the Cutters quality since they were Crims when they were Pretty.
163	* TrilogyCreep: ''Extras'' is dedicated to all the people who wrote to the author to "reveal the secret definition of the word 'trilogy'".
164	* TroubleFromThePast: People in the future still have to clean up the hole in the ozone layer and deal with a species of nigh-invulnerable genetically engineered ecosystem-destroying orchids.
165	* UnusualUserInterface: Most noticeable in ''Extras'', where the characters could view the in-universe equivalent of internet, television, and video games through screens inside artificial eyeballs.
166	%%* UnwittingPawn[=/=]SpannerInTheWorks: Yep, Tally again.
167	* UrbanSegregation: Uglies, New Pretties, and Middle and Late Pretties all live in different parts of the city.
168	* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: Sure, it's a utopia of sorts, but Pretties are mindless airheads.
169	* VillainousBreakdown: [[spoiler:Dr. Cable after Tally cures her]] near the end of ''Specials''.
170	* VillainHasAPoint: Dr. Cable tells Tally in ''Pretties'' that [[spoiler:the reason why the Rusties died out was because they were wasting the resources they had and polluting the earth, though the fuel crisis was a part of it. The Smoke threatened to do that as well by building fires, cutting down trees for rabbit hutches, and other activities that could destroy the planet on a large scale.]] Tally thinks that Dr. Cable is merely trying to test [[spoiler:if she's gotten cured but later on takes these points to heart, and decides with David to monitor the world so that history doesn't repeat.]]
171	* WeatherReportOpening: ''Uglies'' begins with "The early summer sky was the color of cat vomit." And then describes the diet said cat would need to get all the colors right.
172	* WellIntentionedExtremist: WordOfGod says that the brainwashing was originally intended to prevent people from becoming as destructive as the Rusties were.
173	%%* WeWillHavePerfectHealthInTheFuture: One of the benefits of the Pretty operation.
174	* WeWillUseWikiWordsInTheFuture: Freeze-dried food is labelled like this. For example, '[=SpagBol=]' is spaghetti bolognese.
175	* WhiteLikeMe: When Tally and Shay are playing around with what they want their new faces to look like in the first book, Tally mentions moving Shay's skintone "closer to baseline" by making it paler. Add to this the fact that everyone's Pretty appearances are actually selected by a committee of doctors, ''not'' by their own preferences, and it seems like the Pretty surgeries often involve being made to look white, or at least having your skin lightened.
176	* WrongGenreSavvy: Tally for most of Uglies, she gets better. Shay for most of Pretties, she gets better too.
177	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Lots of fans on the author's website wondered what happened to Croy. The same goes for Tally's parents, Sol Youngblood and Ellie Youngblood.
178

Context Literature / Uglies