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Author: terrafox

Jul 31st 2011 at 9:26:30 AM

I'd be hesitant to call it a full inversion due to the the existence of the protagonists' one-episode/one-scene wonders in both series. That said, it definitely teeters between inversion and aversion.

Also, I would disupte the Gundam Wing example due to the enemies having (in no particular order) Leo, Virgo, Taurus, Aries, Pisces, Cancer, and one additional unnamed one that had big artillery cannons on its shoulders. Seven different designs (plus palette-swaps for different factions) for the mooks/red shirts is a pretty good showing for a mecha series. Their similarities were justified in-verse as they were all mass-production derivatives of the Tallgeese. However, Endless Waltz, when taken separately, plays it straight as there are basically one design with two variations for the mooks.

One last note, I think this should be expanded to cover not just SF series dealing with alien space fleets, but to all cases where the non-protagonists' forces are grossly simplified to only a handful of different vehicle designs. With that, it should become a sub-trope of LawOfConservationOfDetail.