Assist Trophies get their time in the spotlight!
Sidelines: Tales of the Assist Trophies
(or just Sidelines for short) is an ongoing series of stories written in the Super Smash Bros. universe, focusing on the lives of the many various Assist Trophy characters present in the series.
Sidelines: Tales of the Assist Trophies contains examples of:
- Adaptational Badass: In the original Super Smash Bros. series (and his original game), Devil doesn't necessarily do much, only shifting the boundaries of the screen or directing his minions to do so. In Sidelines, he carries very powerful dark magic, capable of going to-to-toe with Zero.
- Ascended Fanboy: Baito, the Arcade Bunny is a Nintendo fanboy, and is thrilled to be a part of the Smash Bros. tournament, even if he's only an Assist Trophy.
- Berserk Button: Just like in her home series, bandits and pirates are this for Lyn. She stops just short of running Samurai Goroh through when she finds out what he does for a living.
- Big Bad: Mother Brain, who seeks to conquer the world of Smash Bros. (and the universe), using a handful of other villainous Assist Trophies as her cronies.
- Butt-Monkey: Very little goes right for Waluigi, while Dr. Wily gets absolutely zero respect from other villains.
- Cheerful Child: Starfy is cheerful and sees the best in almost everybody, up to and including Waluigi.
- Covert Group with Mundane Front: The gambling den in chapter 22 is, according to Samurai Goroh and Midna, both a taco stand and a laundromat.
- A Day in the Limelight: The fanfic's premise, focusing on the oft-overlooked Assist Trophies rather than the playable fighters.
- Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Starman's chapter is based around this, grappling with its lack of purpose after the fall of Giygas.
- Energeticand Soft Spoken Duo: Ashley and Red, with Ashley as the latter and Red as the former.
- Eye Pop: Happens to the Klaptrap in chapter 21, when it notices the Chain Chomp looking at it.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Waluigi is this by means of proximity. Discussed in chapter 20, where Isaac asks Mario why he and the other Mushroom Kingdom denizens put up with this guy.
- Giant Spider: Chapter 13 involves a normal spider which grows into one of these (courtesy of Ashley).
- I Know You're Watching Me: Nightmare lets Zero listen in on the villains' meeting in chapter 16, before indicating to him (and the other villains) that he is very much aware of Zero's presence.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Happens to Zero in chapter 16, courtesy of Ghirahim.
- Illegal Gambling Den: Rodin runs one of these, as is revealed in chapter 22.
- I Know What You Fear: Nightmare can read the fears of other people and create illusions based on them, as he demonstrates by makingn illusions of King Boo and Death for Luigi, and of Iris for Zero.
- Mad Bomber: Downplayed with Bomberman. He's a nice enough guy, but he does get a bit too eager to resort to explosives.
- Master of Illusion: Nightmare is capable of creating illusions, usually based on people's fears.
- The Maze: The inventory room, which Isaac, Phosphora and Spring Man get lost in during chapter 3. Its labyrinthine state is said to be the result of a prank by Crazy Hand.
- Mythology Gag:
- In chapter 12, Little Mac hums the Gillette "Look Sharp, Be Sharp" March, which was used as the title screen in the original Punch-Out!!. He mentions he doesn't remember where it's from, only that it "sounds familiar".
- The codename given for the Kingdom Hearts universe is HIKARI-2002, referencing a prominent musical piece from the games as well as the year the first game was released.
- Narrative Profanity Filter: When Shadow wakes up Samurai Goroh, he tells the "dimwit" to wake up "in a manner that usually earns one a bar of soap in one's mouth".
- Pungeon Master: Bomberman, prone to making puns whenever he can, to the amusement of no one. (Well, except Sukapon.)
- Shout-Out: When Nightmare points out that Zero is watching the villains' meeting, he directly quotes one of the Gaster followers from Undertale.
- There's No Kill like Overkill: In chapter 13, Bomberman suggests using a Dangerous Bomb, a bomb with a massive blast radius, to get rid of a spider. Needless to say, this idea is quickly shot down.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Isaac gives one to Waluigi in chapter 20, after a plan by the latter to take the spotlight for himself fails.
- Tongue on the Flagpole: In a supplementary piece of art, this happens to Waluigi as a Funny Background Event.
