Fridge / USURPER

Warning Unmarked spoilers ahead for U.S.U.R.P.E.R and the short stories before it. Read at your own discretion.

This is the fridge page for the book, not the video game.

Fridge Brilliance

• As mentioned on the main page, the reason why Raphael acts like how he does is because he's never been to school, and so hasn't spent enough time around people his age (since he has no reason to believe that other thirteen-year-olds don't act the same way he does; the people he sees most often are Richard and Inspector Mc Cal). Why is his default state like a science-fiction/comic book/video game character then? Well, think about what exactly he's been stealing while on the streets. Books and games would probably be his main form of entertainment, and characters like, say, Captain America or Superman do seem to look and sound rather hammy in the present day.
  • In addition, this also explains his casual disregard for human life shown by him killing the Usurpers: why should he care about them more than Captain America would care about Nazis, or more than Luke Skywalker would care about Stormtroopers?
• The fight between Raphael and Eric:
  • Why do they eventually resort to fighting, when they've known each other for a whole adventure? Because fighting, rather than talking it out, is how they solve most problems.
    • Additionally, they do actually try to talk each other out of their choice, but neither of them try it for very long. Why is that? Think about whose lives were at stake. As far as Eric was concerned, Mia could have died at any moment; and as far as Raphael was concerned, Ronan Apollo could escape at any moment.
  • While it's explained in the Fridge above as to why Raphael acts the way he does, Eric also has shades of this in the final battle between them. Why? The Brilliance hits you like a truck when you remember Eric's attitude towards Raphael in the rest of the book: disdainful, annoyed and occasionally mean when he thinks about the reaction Raphael would get from some of his mates at school. By speaking a similar way to how Raphael was, Eric was subconsciously mocking Raphael, just like how he'd been doing throughout the book. Makes sense, given Eric's lack of respect towards Raphael's motivations.
• The message of U.S.U.R.P.E.R is about how it isn't about the hand life deals you, but about how you use the good cards and what you use them for. This makes sense when you consider the finale is the ultimate test of this: something that can either eradicate so many problems or save so many lives, the ultimate "good card", and Raphael and Eric have to decide how to use it. But their opinions are overshadowed by their "bad cards" a.k.a their traumatic pasts. It's telling that as soon as Ronan Apollo is revealed dead, Raphael has no problem with the life potion being used. He's the one who has to learn the lesson of the book.

Fridge Horror

• Relating to the first Fridge Brilliance point, if Raphael ever goes to school, he's going to be in for one hell of a shock when he finds out the general opinion on killing...