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Changed line(s) 360 (click to see context) from:
* AmbiguousInnocence: he's often mistaken for a psychopath due to his enthusiasm for violence, but he is capable of true friendship and loyalty as well.
to:
* AmbiguousInnocence: he's He's often mistaken for a psychopath due to his enthusiasm for violence, but he is capable of true friendship and loyalty as well.
* GeniusDitz: While seemingly often quite stupid, Schlock is noted to have a keen instinctive grasp of chemistry. When he and Elf are escaping the Uuplechan Patriot Armada, he quickly figures out how to secrete a chemical that knocks them unconscious, sparing the need to kill and/or eat them. [[spoiler:And it only takes him a minute or two to do things with the Pa'anuri's umbral biochemistry that even they didn't realise were possible.]]
* ImmuneToBullets: Not having organs means that his eyes are the only part of him that's actually vulnerable to regular fire.
Changed line(s) 398 (click to see context) from:
* ManChild: Many of the things he says (or just the way he says them) give this impression. Which is accurate, as he was (uniquely) created as an adult mind with no memories or developed sense of morality.
to:
* ManChild: Many of the things he says (or just the way he says them) give this impression. Which is accurate, as he was (uniquely) created as an adult mind with no memories or developed sense of morality.morality, although the other amorphs we meet are typically similarly childlike.
** [[https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2018-09-09 Petey encouraging some UNS officers to evacuate]] before [[spoiler:Chinook]] can blow them up:
--->'''Admiral Argharghhrar:''' I can't evacuate on the word of an agent of a foreign power.\\
'''Petey:''' I'm no agent. I simply ''am''.\\
'''Argharghhrar:''' That's a bold statement, considering that ''I Am'' is a popular name for ''God''.\\
'''Petey:''' I meant [[IAmTheNoun I AM a foreign power]]. But I am also the closest approximation of a god you're likely to meet today...unless you haven't evacuated within sixteen minutes.
--->'''Admiral Argharghhrar:''' I can't evacuate on the word of an agent of a foreign power.\\
'''Petey:''' I'm no agent. I simply ''am''.\\
'''Argharghhrar:''' That's a bold statement, considering that ''I Am'' is a popular name for ''God''.\\
'''Petey:''' I meant [[IAmTheNoun I AM a foreign power]]. But I am also the closest approximation of a god you're likely to meet today...unless you haven't evacuated within sixteen minutes.
* BlackmailIsSuchAnUglyWord: Thinks "espionage" sounds much better than "spy" when he's asking Ennesby to keep tabs on Tagon for him.
* DeadlyEuphemism: Subverted repeatedly when dealing with the Tricameral Assembly of Qlaviql
Changed line(s) 840 (click to see context) from:
* DeusExMachina: Pulls these constantly in an extra story in the printed version of book 7. He is also trying to social-engineer the trope to death in several cultures to encourage more self-reliance.
to:
* DeusExMachina: DeusExMachina:
** Pulls these constantly in an extra story in the printed version of book 7. He is also trying to social-engineer the trope to death in several cultures to encourage moreself-reliance.self-reliance.
** Has a tendency to pop out of nowhere with quick saves even for minor hassles. When Sorlie provides secret UNS technology for very quiet transportation to reduce discomfort for the Oafa, he ''immediately'' shows up having bought something with it from his contacts in the UNS, thereby sparing Sorlie a court-martial.
** Pulls these constantly in an extra story in the printed version of book 7. He is also trying to social-engineer the trope to death in several cultures to encourage more
** Has a tendency to pop out of nowhere with quick saves even for minor hassles. When Sorlie provides secret UNS technology for very quiet transportation to reduce discomfort for the Oafa, he ''immediately'' shows up having bought something with it from his contacts in the UNS, thereby sparing Sorlie a court-martial.
Changed line(s) 982 (click to see context) from:
'''Ennesby:''' You're using the happy voice when you say that and it's freaking me out.
to:
'''Ennesby:''' [[DissonantSerenity You're using the happy voice when you say that and it's freaking me out.]]
Changed line(s) 1210,1213 (click to see context) from:
[[folder:Dark Matter Entities]]
!!Dark Matter Entities/The Pa'anuri
A species made from dark matter, originally showing up at the border of the Milky Way and eventually turning out to be major movers and shakers in galactic politics.
!!Dark Matter Entities/The Pa'anuri
A species made from dark matter, originally showing up at the border of the Milky Way and eventually turning out to be major movers and shakers in galactic politics.
to:
!!Dark Matter Entities/The Pa'anuri
!!The Uuplechan Patriot Armada (UPA)
A
* BoisterousWeakling: Shiplord Srabben in particular shows very poor risk assessment, from arrogantly assuming that his repurposed freighter can outdo the Toughs' ships, to mouthing off to Peri Gugro while unarmed and captured. [[spoiler:The latter move gets his arms ripped off and messily reattached.]]
-->'''Narrator:''' Shiplord Srabben ought to be running from fights, instead of picking them.
* BullyingADragon: Srabben dismisses ''Maxim 39'' and ''Breath Weapon'' as a repair vehicle and sack-hull freighter respectively. Even the weakest of them is more than a match for his ship, and the three of them together are able to peel off his subordinate ships just by showing off how outclassed they are.
* DueToTheDead: The more murderous of them tend to wear artifacts that are ''tremendously'' important to their Fobott'r victims as trophies.
-->'''Peri Gugro:''' ''[[BerserkButton What are you wearing?]]''\\
'''Srabben:''' My accomplishments.\\
'''Peri Gugro:''' Desecration of the dead is an ''accomplishment?!''
* FantasticSlur: There seems to be some sort of rule against actually calling another species by its name in the UPA, leading to a string of what are clearly, from context, racial slurs: "Fobo" or "grasshat" for Fobott'r, for example (the latter referencing their symbiotic plant crests).
* KnowWhenToFoldEm: During the initial clash with the Toughs, the captain of the ''Fangstorm'' sees how ''Breath Weapon'' moves, immediately concludes that Srabben's assessment of her as a "sack-hull freighter" is worth about as much as anything else to do with Srabben, and decides that discretion is the better part of valour. The ''Graveplough'' follows shortly thereafter.
-->'''Srabben:''' She's too big to be quick.\\
'''Captain:''' No, she's too quick to be a freighter...''way'' too quick. We're going to do the opposite of get closer.\\
'''Srabben:''' What are you saying?\\
'''Captain:''' [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere Probably "good bye".]]
* PaperTiger: The very first thing Tagon asks about them is whether this would be an accurate description. The answer is pretty clearly shown to be 'yes': the UPA is undisciplined, poorly trained and equipped, and heavily dependent on the support of the Uuplechan government to accomplish anything.
-->'''Narrator:''' Per the sweepingly general Planet Mercenary classification system, [''Soulward Honor''] is a class [=V5=] vessel, and its shiplord owes actual warships an apology.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: The UPA are basically the space equivalent of a white nationalist militia group, and any UPA thug to get a speaking part is probably going to say something racist before long.
* SayingTooMuch: A couple of recordings Schlock makes by accident of the UPA discussing their plans manage to defuse the entire Uuplech crisis when they're sent to journalists, leading to the actual Uuplechan navy leaving the Toughs and the Fobott'r fleet alone in order to disassemble the UPA.
* SubParSupremacist: Their bigotry isn't backed up by any kind of actual skill or ability, even allowing for them being about three feet tall. Towards the end of "Mandatory Failure" Elf and Schlock take out multiple UPA ships in quick succession by themselves. They don't even have a ship of their own at the time.
* TooDumbToLive: Shiplord Srabben picks a 3-on-3 fight with ships that significantly outclass his, orders his crew to stay in the fight even after both of their allies have [[KnowWhenToFoldEm pulled out]], gets captured, and mouths off to his captor, who has promised to rip his arms off.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Dark Matter Entities]]
!!Dark Matter Entities/The Pa'anuri
A species made from dark matter, originally showing up at the border of the Milky Way and eventually turning out to be major movers and shakers in galactic politics.
----
-->'''Narrator:''' Shiplord Srabben ought to be running from fights, instead of picking them.
* BullyingADragon: Srabben dismisses ''Maxim 39'' and ''Breath Weapon'' as a repair vehicle and sack-hull freighter respectively. Even the weakest of them is more than a match for his ship, and the three of them together are able to peel off his subordinate ships just by showing off how outclassed they are.
* DueToTheDead: The more murderous of them tend to wear artifacts that are ''tremendously'' important to their Fobott'r victims as trophies.
-->'''Peri Gugro:''' ''[[BerserkButton What are you wearing?]]''\\
'''Srabben:''' My accomplishments.\\
'''Peri Gugro:''' Desecration of the dead is an ''accomplishment?!''
* FantasticSlur: There seems to be some sort of rule against actually calling another species by its name in the UPA, leading to a string of what are clearly, from context, racial slurs: "Fobo" or "grasshat" for Fobott'r, for example (the latter referencing their symbiotic plant crests).
* KnowWhenToFoldEm: During the initial clash with the Toughs, the captain of the ''Fangstorm'' sees how ''Breath Weapon'' moves, immediately concludes that Srabben's assessment of her as a "sack-hull freighter" is worth about as much as anything else to do with Srabben, and decides that discretion is the better part of valour. The ''Graveplough'' follows shortly thereafter.
-->'''Srabben:''' She's too big to be quick.\\
'''Captain:''' No, she's too quick to be a freighter...''way'' too quick. We're going to do the opposite of get closer.\\
'''Srabben:''' What are you saying?\\
'''Captain:''' [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere Probably "good bye".]]
* PaperTiger: The very first thing Tagon asks about them is whether this would be an accurate description. The answer is pretty clearly shown to be 'yes': the UPA is undisciplined, poorly trained and equipped, and heavily dependent on the support of the Uuplechan government to accomplish anything.
-->'''Narrator:''' Per the sweepingly general Planet Mercenary classification system, [''Soulward Honor''] is a class [=V5=] vessel, and its shiplord owes actual warships an apology.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: The UPA are basically the space equivalent of a white nationalist militia group, and any UPA thug to get a speaking part is probably going to say something racist before long.
* SayingTooMuch: A couple of recordings Schlock makes by accident of the UPA discussing their plans manage to defuse the entire Uuplech crisis when they're sent to journalists, leading to the actual Uuplechan navy leaving the Toughs and the Fobott'r fleet alone in order to disassemble the UPA.
* SubParSupremacist: Their bigotry isn't backed up by any kind of actual skill or ability, even allowing for them being about three feet tall. Towards the end of "Mandatory Failure" Elf and Schlock take out multiple UPA ships in quick succession by themselves. They don't even have a ship of their own at the time.
* TooDumbToLive: Shiplord Srabben picks a 3-on-3 fight with ships that significantly outclass his, orders his crew to stay in the fight even after both of their allies have [[KnowWhenToFoldEm pulled out]], gets captured, and mouths off to his captor, who has promised to rip his arms off.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Dark Matter Entities]]
!!Dark Matter Entities/The Pa'anuri
A species made from dark matter, originally showing up at the border of the Milky Way and eventually turning out to be major movers and shakers in galactic politics.
----
Changed line(s) 1218 (click to see context) from:
* BizarreAlienBiology: Perhaps the most bizarre of all, being made up of reactive dark matter that requires an entirely new form of physics to explain how their 'biochemistry' works.
to:
* BizarreAlienBiology: Perhaps the most bizarre of all, being made up of reactive dark matter that requires an entirely new form of physics to explain how their 'biochemistry' works. [[spoiler:Schlock figures it out by instinct.]]
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Changed line(s) 1038 (click to see context) from:
* HighKoalatyCuteness: {{Parodied}} with the O'Benn. They're a race of cute koala people... Whose society is based on [[AbsoluteXenophobe racism that runs so fundamentally deep that they're constantly trying to subjugate all other intelligent life in the galaxy]].
to:
* HighKoalatyCuteness: {{Parodied}} with the O'Benn. They're a race of {{Parodied}}. The Ob'enn looking like cute koala people... Whose society koalas is based on [[AbsoluteXenophobe racism that runs so fundamentally deep that they're constantly trying to subjugate all other intelligent life repeatedly brought up in the galaxy]].comic, and it never fails to annoy them.
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Changed line(s) 71 (click to see context) from:
* OmnidisciplinaryScientist: Kevyn points out to Hob that just because he is a scientist it doesn't mean that he's an explosives expert - then shows that he ''is'' an expert at them, but only as a hobby. Ultimately, Kevyn's aptitudes are better defined by what he's ''not'' good at. For example, he's good enough at robotics to generate a military-grade AI by following the instructions on the box, but not good enough to ''debug'' those [=AIs=]. He later admits to only having cursory-at-best knowledge of biology and xenobiology.
to:
* OmnidisciplinaryScientist: Kevyn points out to Hob that just because he is a scientist it doesn't mean that he's an explosives expert - then shows that he ''is'' an expert at them, but only as a hobby. Ultimately, Kevyn's aptitudes are better defined by what he's ''not'' good at. For example, he's good enough at robotics to generate a military-grade AI by following the instructions on the box, but not good enough to ''debug'' those [=AIs=]. He later admits to only having cursory-at-best knowledge of biology and xenobiology.xenobiology, and is so bad at human anatomy that K-Prime conflates the tibia and fibula into the "tibula" after suffering a broken leg.
Changed line(s) 79 (click to see context) from:
* AmazonChaser: He hooks up with Jengisha, one of the Toughs' grunts. She is at least twice his size in raw muscle-mass.
to:
* AmazonChaser: He For a while, he hooks up with Jengisha, one of the Toughs' grunts. She is at least twice his size in raw muscle-mass.
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Changed line(s) 11 (click to see context) from:
Captain Tagon is the human commander of the Toughs. He's a practical and straightforward officer, primarily interested in money, though he will rarely be possessed of principles beyond merely getting paid. Though he does not possess a high-level education, Tagon is a tactical genius and skilled soldier, and remarkably adept at getting money, and often manages to get paid multiple times for a single job.
to:
Captain Tagon is the human commander of the Toughs. He's a practical and straightforward officer, primarily interested in money, though but occasionally he will rarely be demonstrates that he is possessed of principles beyond merely getting the mere desire to get paid. Though he does not possess a high-level education, Tagon is a tactical genius and skilled soldier, and remarkably adept at getting money, and making a profit, often manages managing to get the unit paid multiple times for a single job.job.
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Changed line(s) 426 (click to see context) from:
** His hearing is also impressive, if overlooked. He can hear the breathing of a spy's handler team [[https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2014-04-2https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2014-04-25 through the vibrations of her skul]] from her ear-implant.
to:
** His hearing is also impressive, if overlooked. He can hear the breathing of a spy's handler team [[https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2014-04-2https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2014-04-25 through the vibrations of her skul]] skull]] from her ear-implant.
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Changed line(s) 254 (click to see context) from:
* HonorBeforeReason: An inverted example. When Schlock gets arrested during the events of ''Big Dumb Objects'' for throwing a police officer through a bulkhead, Massey refuses to let Schlock out on bail, as he's the first high profile violent offender of the new city and letting him off so easily would set a bad precedent for any rich thugs who might visit. This is reasonable on its own, but Massey sticks to this position even when it becomes clear that this wasn't one of Schlock's [[HeroicComedicSociopath antics]] but him going through grief for a recent friend's death (even if it wasn't permanent at the time) and the resulting existential and moral crisis from him contemplating how he and several of his friends have lost at least one "forever"]], not to mention that Schlock was not doing well in a cell. [[JustifiedTrope To Massey's credit]], he kinda ''has'' to take this position due to legal obligations (the only reason he didn't step aside from being the judge for this particular case was that there were no other suitable judges at the time), and when Landon came to extradict Schlock for a mission, Massey simply hired a random police officer present as a new judge to handle the situation and left, offering no real objections.
to:
* HonorBeforeReason: An inverted example. When Schlock gets arrested during the events of ''Big Dumb Objects'' for throwing a police officer through a bulkhead, Massey refuses to let Schlock out on bail, as he's the first high profile violent offender of the new city and letting him off so easily would set a bad precedent for any rich thugs who might visit. This is reasonable on its own, but Massey sticks to this position even when it becomes clear that this wasn't one of Schlock's [[HeroicComedicSociopath antics]] but him going through grief for a recent friend's death (even if it wasn't permanent at the time) and the resulting existential and moral crisis from him contemplating how he and several of his friends have lost at least one "forever"]], "forever", not to mention that Schlock was not doing well in a cell. [[JustifiedTrope To Massey's credit]], he kinda ''has'' to take this position due to legal obligations (the only reason he didn't step aside from being the judge for this particular case was that there were no other suitable judges at the time), and when Landon came to extradict Schlock for a mission, Massey simply hired a random police officer present as a new judge to handle the situation and left, offering no real objections.
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Added DiffLines:
* ShapeshifterLongevity: Amorphs like Schlock are {{Blob Monster}}s with at least nominal control over their shapes... and as was mentioned above, they don't age and are pretty much immortal barring accidents.
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* CompactInfiltrator: A (variably) human sized BlobMonster who can fit through extremely narrow spaces, like when he kills a [[https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2008-02-24 particularly hated enemy]] in [[DeadlyBath the shower]] by crawling out of the pipe and straight [[OrificeInvasion into the man's throat]].
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Changed line(s) 511 (click to see context) from:
* HeroicBSOD: He suffers a temporary one in book 17 when his crest is burned off in a helium explosion. It turns out it's not hair, but a symbiotic plant, and without one Andy starts suffering nutritional imbalance.
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* HeroicBSOD: He suffers a temporary one in book 17 15 when his crest is burned off in a helium hydrogen explosion. It turns out it's not hair, but a symbiotic plant, and without one Andy starts suffering nutritional imbalance.
