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[[quoteright:281:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/specials_393.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:281:We're there for the oddball, the rebel, the outcast, the geek!]]
->''This is the story of the Specials...''\\
''...The 6th or 7th greatest superhero team in the world.''\\
''They have spent many a day fighting natural disasters and battling supervillains.''\\
''This is not one of those days. ''

''The Specials'' is a 2000 superhero parody film written by Creator/JamesGunn and directed by Creator/CraigMazin.

Centered on the sixth or seventh greatest superhero team in the world, the film follows the events of several days during which no major world-shaking events occur, instead focusing on the various team members' lives. During the course of the film, a new member joins the team, a line of toys based on the Specials is unveiled, and long-festering conflicts within the team come to a head.

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!!This film contains examples of:
* AchillesHeel: [[EyeScream Ms. Indestructible's eyes are not as tough as the rest of her.]]
* AdaptationDecay: The line of action figures in the movie.
* AllLesbiansWantKids: Power Chick's mothering of Alien Orphan.
* AllLoveIsUnrequited: Minute Man says this is one of the team's rules. [[spoiler: He proves himself wrong when he hooks up with Deadly Girl, finally returning her feelings for him.]]
** The Strobe and Ms. Indestructible are married and were in love once, but [[spoiler: Ms. Indestructible feels alienated by the time the film starts and has an affair with Weevil, whose love, or lust, for her was otherwise unrequited.]]
** Deadly Girl has an unrequited love for Minute Man, who develops a crush of his own on the new girl, Night Bird. [[spoiler: He eventually does return Deadly Girl's feelings and they hook up.]]
** Amok has unsuccessfully hit on every girl in the Specials. But then, one of them is married, one is gay, and one is in love with Minute Man. That only leaves new girl Night Bird.
* AscendedFanboy: Nightbird was a huge fan of the team before she joined.
* AtlasPose: U.S. Bill in the "Who Are the Specials?" mockumentary
* BadassNormal: Mr. Smart's only super power is being the world's smartest man.
* BadPowersBadPeople: Averted by Deadly Girl, who uses her creepy powers for good; invoked ''and'' averted by Amok, who is a former villain with suitably villainous powers, but is now a hero.
* BreakTheCutie: Nearly happens to [[spoiler: Nightbird]], but is averted.
%%* BoldInflation: The Strobe
* BerserkButton
** Minute Man is somewhat sensitive to the proper pronunciation of his codename. He is "My-NEWT" Man, as in shrinking, not "MIH-Nitt" Man, as in sixty seconds.
** Likewise, please don't try to remove US Bill's mask. He's rather sensitive about keeping his identity secret. In fact, just the sight of his own reflection without some kind of costume on makes him start to cry.
* ButchLesbian: Power Chick. She was even on the cover of ''Out'' magazine. Somehow Amok managed to miss this, so she has to tell him.
* TheCape: The Strobe tries to keep up this kind of image. A lot of the rest of the Specials have gotten tired of his "self-righteousness".
* ChekhovsGun: Deadly Girl specifically mentions that Ms. Indestructible's power is indestructible skin, and that anyone who wanted to really hurt her should go for her eyes. [[spoiler: When Deadly finds out that Ms. Indestructible is cheating on The Strobe, she sucker-punches Ms. Indestructible in the right eye.]]
* CivvieSpandex: Most of the Specials wear costumes made from the kinds of items you can find in a costume or fabric store. Well, where else would you get a costume?
* ChestInsignia
** The Strobe has a lightning bolt. His wife, Ms Indestructible, has two smaller lightning bolts closer to her shoulders.
** U.S. Bill has a number 1 in the centre of a shield.
** The Weevil wears ''The Specials'' logo.
** Eight wears the roman numeral, VIII, on all of his chests.
* CoconutSuperpowers: The characters' powers are more discussed than demonstrated, although the VFormationTeamShot at the very end (see the photo above) shows some of them in use.
* CodeName: The Strobe, Ms Indestructible, Minute Man, Deadly Girl, Amok, Power Chick, U.S. Bill, Night Bird, and so on.
* ComesGreatResponsibility: The Strobe lectures on this at the first meeting.
* CutHisHeartOutWithASpoon: Inverted. The Strobe actually threatens to kill first, ''then'' mutilate the body. "If I wanted to, I could cut your head off, and then do some intricate welding and slicing with your guts!"
* DarkIsNotEvil: Amok is a reformed super-villain with blue skin and a nineties-style black leather coat and pants costume. Deadly Girl summons demons and teleports through the netherworld. While they both aren't the ''nicest'' folks, neither of them are evil.
* DayInTheLife: Though not a completely routine day, there are no world saving heroics going on.
* DeadpanSnarker: Deadly Girl
* DeathByOriginStory: Stretchie Boy's demise in "Who Are the Specials?" Apparently, the North-Western states of the US, specifically in Takoma, have the right kind of flouridation that stretching powers are one of the most common superpowers. Unfortunately, rubber-bodied superheroes are extremely susceptible to mouth cancer. The rubber-bodied heroes of ''the Specials'', in order, were:
** Stretchie Boy...who died of mouth-cancer,
** Captain Elastic...who died of mouth-cancer,
** Flagpole Lad...who died of mouth-cancer,
** And Gooey Stan...who died of mouth-cancer.
%%* DidYouJustHaveSex: [[spoiler: Minute Man and Deadly Girl]]
%%* TheDitz: U.S. Bill
%%* DominoMask: Nightbird, U.S. Bill, The Weevil
* DumbMuscle: U.S. Bill -- who is not just dumb, but clearly mentally disabled.
%%* EvilCostumeSwitch: [[spoiler: The Weevil.]]
* {{Expy}}:
** Amok is obviously one of [[Franchise/GreenLantern Guy Gardner]], and visually of Nightcrawler. His powers and ex-villain background also make him one for Gambit. In retrospect, their abrasive JerkWithAHeartOfGold attitude can seem like a rough draft of [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2014 Rocket Raccoon or Yondu]], given the director.
** Alien Orphan is somewhat one of ComicBook/MartianManhunter.
** Deadly Girl is ComicBook/LadyDeath in terms of her powers.
** Minute Man's lack of self-confidence due to his shrinking powers is based on The Atom. The jokes about how the orange shirt that is part of his costume makes him look gay is a nod to ComicBook/{{Aquaman}}.
** Mr. Smart, like Mister Terrific, doesn't have any power but being smart.
** Power Chick has the same powers as Amazing-Man and Grunge from ComicBook/Gen13.
** Stretchy Boy seems to be modeled on The Elongated Man.
** The Strobe is clearly based on Cyclops from ComicBook/XMen, with his laser-powers and pompous attitude.
** U.S. Bill may be a nod to Dollar Bill from ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}.
** The Weevil is ComicBook/SpiderMan, having "Weevil agility", and an insect theme and a friendly, wise-cracking attitude.
** Zip Boy is ComicBook/TheFlash.
%%* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler: The Weevil]]
* HandBlast: The Mighty Strobe has this. Amok has something similar, except his is a whole body field that sometimes comes on during sex.
* HeelFaceTurn: Albeit offscreen and in the BackStory: Amok was a villain before joining the Specials.
%%* HiveMind: Eight
* InformedAbility: We never see most of the team's powers, and even the TeamShot at the end suggests more than displays them.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Amok is a lewd, crude jerk, but in the end [[spoiler:he is one of the most vocal proponents of keeping the team together.]]
%%* KubrickStare: Deadly Girl (natch)
%%* MerchandiseDriven: Spoofed and PlayedForLaughs at the launch party scene.
%%* {{Mockumentary}}: "Who Are the Specials?"
%%* NaiveNewcomer: Nightbird.
* NonSequitur: The Strobe storms out of the Specials toy-line launch-party, seeming furious. So it's somewhat understandable that, when the Weevil tries to stop him, he implies that he could kill Weevil if he wanted to. But then he starts talking about ''"do some intricate welding and slicing with your guts."'' No-one else knows that Zip-Boy has been trying to recruit him to work as a human replacement for expensive laser machinery.
* NoodleIncident: The movie is full of these; the Pterodactyls, the anal slugs (it's a pretty good one), the Colossal Blister, Amok and the Scabies (not Scurvy) incident, and why Deadly Girl's action figure is not available in Vermont.
%%* NotWearingTights: Mr. Smart
* PerkyGoth: Mostly averted. Deadly Girl is only seen to be perky when she's insulting someone, or after her tryst with Minute Man.
* PokeThePoodle: Back in his days as a villain, Amok's big evil plan was to give people scabies (and not scurvy, as previously thought).
* PrecisionFStrike: "But in the meantime, get off my fucking lawn, whore."
* PronouncingMyNameForYou: Minute Man needs to repeatedly point out that his codename is pronounced "My-NEWT man", as in tiny, not "MIH-nitt man," as in sixty seconds.
* TheReveal: After dancing around it for almost the entire movie, Nightbird's power is finally revealed minutes before the end of the movie.
* SecretIdentity: Played straight by U.S. Bill to the point of parody.
* ShapeshifterLongevity: Subverted; due to fluoridation of the water in Tacoma and other states in the American northwest, it's common for superheroes from this region to sport shapeshifting RubberMan powers, as was the case with Stretchie Boy... but unfortunately, the same chemicals that give them their powers are also highly carcinogenic, so rubbery super-heroes don't live very long - to the point that Stretchie Boy himself was dead within six months of joining the team.
%%* TheSmartGuy: Mr. Smart, naturally.
%%* SmugSuper: The "Great" Strobe
%%* {{Soaperizing}}
* SomethingPerson: Deadly Girl, Minute Man, Power Chick, Zip Boy.
* SpontaneousChoreography: The dance on stage at the club.
* StrawFeminist: Sunshine Grrrll and presumably the other seven members of the Femme Five, but notably not Deadly Girl, who they try to recruit:
-->'''Sunlight Grrrll''': The Femme Five. I'm here to ask you to join.\\
'''Deadly Girl:''' Well, then you'd be the Femme Six.\\
'''Sunlight Grrrll:''' There are already eight of us. Traditional counting is an oppressive patriarchal tool.
%%* {{Stripperiffic}}: The closest thing in this movie is [[Creator/JudyGreer Deadly Girl]]'s costume.
%%* SuperHero
%%* SuperheroSpeciation: Played straight.
* TakeThat: Weevil's be-nippled costume at the end is a swipe at ''Film/BatmanAndRobin''. Confirmed by the audio commentary.
%%* ThirdPersonPerson: The Strobe on occasion.
%%* VFormationTeamShot: The final moments of the film.
%%* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Alien Orphan's power.
%%* WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway: Discussed by Nightbird and Minute Man.
* WhereDoesHeGetAllThoseWonderfulToys: Mr. Smart. While he probably builds his inventions himself, one wonders where he gets the materials.
%%* YouAreNumberSix: Eight.
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