History DarthWiki / QuadrantNine

10MinuteRetirement: He quits The Association briefly during the CRISIS arc while he thinks that 188 children got killed as a result of Supervisor giving them orders to infiltrate the base without rescuing them since it would risk comprimising the mission. He comes back after he realizes he can't do anything to help anyone while he's not in the Quadrant, by leaving he's only leaving Supervisor even more unopposed, and that Supervisor was right when he said the job would follow him until he died. Because in the space of just under a week about four different organisations try to recruit him, all of which are evil, insane, or a combination of the two. Basically, The Association was the lesser of two evils in his opinion.

FalseFriend: Flora to Shift, a psychologist he sees who gives all his notes and sensitive information about his mental state to Cortex.

Speedbuzz- TheLancer

SorryIFellOnYourFist: Shift as a child on numerous occasions as a result of being a victim of AbusiveChildhood.

FriendToAllChildren: He believes children should be innocent, and gets [[BeserkButton extremely irritated]] with people who [[WouldHurtAChild try to do them harm.]]

Claustrophobia: Justified, since his father locked him in the hall closet on multiple occasions. Shift mentions he was locked in there for nearly three days straight at least once.

TheCynic: Downplayed. He grows out of this.

ThinkingOutLoud: Does this frequently due to spending two years prior to the series with no one to talk to. This is frequently lampshaded by other characters.

SociallyAwkwardHero

ThereAreNoPsychologists: Averted. Shift sees two, one of which is working for Cortex, the other which isn't the most helpful but at least legitimate.

PokeThePoodle: Bad Man lives this trope. The League of Legitimate evil are no strangers to it. Psychedelia's threats to the mech in the zoo consist of this- she threatens to key his car, [[MattressTagGag: rip the tag off his mattress]] and leave his taps running.

UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: The Utopia League want to create a 'utopia' which involves removing all law, order and money. Essentially, a world of every man for himself. Webmaster also wants to create a utopia, his being slightly more orthodox in that he believes erasing everyone's memories of the past would eradicate grudges and mean everyone would get along- however, it would never work in reality.

DysfunctionJunction: If they have more than three minutes of screen time and they're not traumatized at the start, expect them to be so by the end of the series.

ThereAreNoPsychologists: Averted. Shift sees two, one of which is working for Cortex, the other which isn't the most helpful but at least legitimate.

MenCantKeepHouse: Averted and played straight. Shift did all of the housework as a child since his dad was too busy being drunk and mentally unstable, so he knows how to cook. He has a habit of putting drinks on coasters, etc, which Justice teases him about. Punch also seems to manage fine living by himself, however, Orron is allegedly terrible at anything domestic.

RobotBuddy: Carl, again.

WickedCultured: Cortex.

SnarkToSnarkCombat: Cortex and Shift. [[PunctuatedForEmphasis: Every. Time. They see each other.]] Occasionally Shift and Carl when left alone long enough.

UnholyMatrimony: Cortex and Flora, although he is just using her to his own ends.

FiveManBand:

Shift- TheLeader (a type 2) / TheSmartGuy

Justice- TheBigGuy

Speedbuzz- TheLancer

Psychedelia- TheChick

Carl- TeamPet

Orron- TheSixthRanger

StepfordSnarker: Shift snarks mostly because he just is that way but also to cover up his mental instability.

MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate: Cortex has one in psychology. Shift lampshades this while talking to Psychedelia about why he doesn't like therapists/counsellors/psychologists.

NiceGirl: Psychedelia is one, as is lioVet.

GreenThumb: Again, Psychedelia.

RapunzelHair: Psychedelia and most of the female Erthans have this, as it is considered a symbol of self discipline in their culture (since it takes longer to maintain.)

LoveableRogue: Casper, Louise, Zip, Jackie and Raz. Formerly Shift.

UnholyMatrimony: Cortex and Flora, although he is just using her to his own ends.

TeethClenchedTeamWork: Cortex offers to open doors for Shift with his Utopia League card, Shift begrugingly accepts and Cortex gladly takes the opportunity to spend the rest of the episode being a prick towards Shift.

StrangeSyntaxSpeaker: Speedbuzz again.

SuperheroesWearTights: Played straight with most of the characters. Averted with Psychedelia (who wears traditional Erthan battle wear) and Webmaster (who wears a shirt and trousers because he has 'better dress sense than those dolts at the Utopia League and The Association.)

UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: The Utopia League want to create a 'utopia' which involves removing all law, order and money. Essentially, a world of every man for himself. Webmaster also wants to create a utopia, his being slightly more orthodox in that he believes erasing everyone's memories of the past would eradicate grudges and mean everyone would get along- however, it would never work in reality.

SophisticatedAsHell: Carl and occasionally Shift.

SnarkToSnarkCombat: Cortex and Shift every time they meet. Occasionally Shift and Carl when left alone long enough.

FalseFriend: Flora to Shift, a psychologist he sees who gives all his notes and sensitive information about his mental state to Cortex.

MoralityKitchenSink

LikeASonToMe: Punch and Shift have this relationship with each other on account of Punch's wife being shot dead while pregnant and Shift's father being way off the deep end.

ExactWords: Happens on occasion. Cortex enjoys this trope and insists he never lies. For example, he promises Shift he didn't drug the tea he gave him and agrees to drink from the same pot. Only after Shift gets a sudden dizzy spell does he mention he never said anything about the two saches of 'sugar' he gave to him.

-> Shift: You said you didn't put anything in it!
-> Cortex: I didn't. I suppose it did look quite a lot like sugar, so I can see where the misunderstanding happened. As for what I wanted with you, well, NothingPersonal [...]

MathematiciansAnswer: Shift gives these to people he doesn't like on occasion.

SorryIFellOnYourFist: Shift as a child on numerous occasions as a result of being a victim of AbusiveChildhood.

DysfunctionJunction: If they have more than three minutes of screen time and they're not traumatized at the start, expect them to be so by the end of the series.

OriginsEpisode: Shift and The Mirage get one. Justice also gets one.

FriendlessBackground: Justice, Speedbuzz and Shift. Shift's justifies his nerdiness in that he never had anything else to do other than read all the books in the house as a child. By the age of eleven, he had already far surpassed the other students his age. Justice's justifies her lack of social skills.

NoSocialSkills: Justice, due to her FriendlessBackground as a ChildSoldier in the Dystopia.

EmotionlessGirl: Justice starts off as one until she realizes she no longer needs to repress her emotions like in the army.

Badass: Justice most notably. Shift, Punch and Louise also fall under this trope.

LittleMissBadass: Justice is considered to be this by many other people. Much to her dismay.

PokeThePoodle: Bad Man lives this trope. The League of Legitimate evil are no strangers to it.

-> Bad Man: But... But I stole complimentary mints from a restaurant and tipped the waitress five dollars in cents! Why don't you think I'm evil?!

EvilIsPetty: Bad Man, the League of Legitimate Evil. Cortex doesn't shy away from doing this on top of his sadistic tenancies.

ThereAreNoPsychologists: Averted. Shift sees two, one of which is working for Cortex, the other which isn't the most helpful but at least legitimate.

ShoutOut: Shift makes many to various Stephen King novels, which nobody else understands since the show is set in the twenty sixth century and he only knows these things because he found the books in the basement and loft of his old house, presumably belonging to his ancestors. The more obvious ones are his numerous references to Carrie when prom comes around (since Justice is a telekinetic) and when talking about Justice's powers in general and when he starts talking about Misery when Dr Phillips recommends reading something more uplifting.

LethalChef: Justice once cooked dinner. It is a NoodleIncident, but we do know that it involved raw meat and that she made it without the knowledge that they hadn't evolved to the point where they could eat raw meat, thus making everyone ill.

MenCantKeepHouse: Averted and played straight. Shift did all of the housework as a child since his dad was too busy being drunk and mentally unstable, so he knows how to cook. He has a habit of putting drinks on coasters, etc, which Justice teases him about. Punch also seems to manage fine living by himself, however, Orron is allegedly terrible at anything domestic.

INeedAFreakingDrink: Louise has a tenancy to do this despite being underage in America.
-> Louise: I'm eighteen, it's legal where I come from! *Downs a shot*

DrowningMySorrows: Shift's father, Kendall Flint, does this continuously for at least a decade after his wife dies, becoming an alcoholic living in a MessOfWoe consisting of bottles all over the floor of the house. PlayedForLaughs when Shift attempts this during season 1.
-> Shift: I'm sixteen, what's the strongest thing you can sell me?
-> Barman: Coffee.

RobotBuddy: Carl, again.

WickedCultured: Cortex.

ShockAndAwe: Raz's powers.

PowerIncontinence: Raz's powers are closely linked to his fear. If he feels adrenaline or gets scared, his body automatically starts preparing for a fight and saps electricity from things, turning the lights out. If this goes on for too long, the power builds up and electricity starts shooting out of his hands at random. In fact, he has this badly enough that he is unable to use his powers unless it's by accident. Until later on in the series, much to Sterilant's surprise.

GunFu: Zip's preferred fighting style.

WiseBeyondTheirYears: Louise in the past. Although she is eighteen during the series in the flashback episode she is seen at 13 basically being Casper's guardian.

OlderThanTheyLook: Justice is fifteen. Being five foot two and having a somewhat infantile face has a tenancy to make people think she's twelve or so. And get Shift accused of having a lolita fetish. Neither take kindly to those thoughts.

DumbMuscle: Brute isn't the most intelligent of people, though he has accomplished some rather notable feats of strength.

-> Brute: When I was a kid I fell into the lion cage at the zoo. You know what happened? ''I'' mauled '''IT!'''
-> Shift: Woah.
-> Psychedelia: [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Poor lion!]]
-> Shift: That's not the issue here!

DarkerAndEdgier: Justified in-universe. Since Justice is fifteen at the start, The Association will not send them on missions involving certain things (murder, rape, ect.) When Justice turns sixteen, the series takes a turn for the darker content. Although the series did have dark content before, it just wasn't as bad.

FiveManBand:

Shift- TheLeader (a type 2) / TheSmartGuy

Justice- TheBigGuy

Speedbuzz- TheLancer

Psychedelia- TheChick

Carl- TeamPet

Orron- TheSixthRanger

DeadpanSnarker: Lots of people- most notably Shift, Carl, and Louise.

StepfordSnarker: Shift snarks mostly because he just is that way but also to cover up his mental instability.

EvilBrit: Subverted with Cortex- his accent is fake, he pulls it to 'avoid recognition in public' (or to sound smart, as Shift believes).

FakeBrit: InUniverse example with Cortex.

MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate: Cortex has one in psychology. Shift lampshades this while talking to Psychedelia about why he doesn't like therapists/counsellors/psychologists.

NiceGirl: Psychedelia is one, as is lioVet.

GreenThumb: Again, Psychedelia.

RapunzelHair: Psychedelia and most of the female Erthans have this, as it is considered a symbol of self discipline in their culture (since it takes longer to maintain.)

BraidsOfAction: Justice has one.

AmazingTechnicolourPopulation: The mutants all have strangely coloured skin, eyes and hair due to whatever mutated them messing with their DNA.

BadassInDistress: Happens on occasion. Most notably in Home Court Advantage where Shift almost dies and in Inaccurate Pegging where Speedbuzz is nearly executed.

BrotherSisterTeam: Casper and Louise.

LoveableRogue: Casper, Louise, Zip, Jackie and Raz. Formerly Shift.

GoKartingWithBowser: Psychedelia and Razor have coffee afternoons and sleepovers, which Justice also gets involved in sometimes. To be fair, Razor isn't the most formidable of villainesses.

BattleCouple: Justice and Shift, Speedbuzz and Zip on occasion.

UnholyMatrimony: Cortex and Flora, although he is just using her to his own ends.

CutenessProximity: Psychedelia every time she sees an animal.

BiTheWay: Psychedelia and every single Erthan.

KillerRabbit: One of the animals on Khoden is an extremely cute animal that turns into a giant beast with huge teeth upon Psychedelia cooing over it and fussing it. She carries on stroking it anyway.

TeethClenchedTeamWork: Cortex offers to open doors for Shift with his Utopia League card, Shift begrugingly accepts and Cortex gladly takes the opportunity to spend the rest of the episode being a prick towards Shift.

ManipulativeBastard / CompleteMonster: Cortex is a sadistic man who enjoys psychologically torturing people ForTheEvulz. In his own words, 'I simply enjoy watching people snap'.

AccentUponTheWrongSyllable: Speedbuzz does this.

StrangeSyntaxSpeaker: Speedbuzz again.

NotWearingTights: Webmaster refuses to because he thinks it's silly. Casper, though not in a situation where he needs to, snaps that 'latex is for fetishists' when asked 'where's your tights, mut?' by a mutantphobic. Psychedelia doesn't wear them because she wears traditional Erthan warrior clothing instead.

SuperheroesWearTights: Played straight with most of the characters. Averted with Psychedelia (who wears traditional Erthan battle wear) and Webmaster (who wears a shirt and trousers because he has 'better dress sense than those dolts at the Utopia League and The Association.)

UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: The Utopia League want to create a 'utopia' which involves removing all law, order and money. Essentially, a world of every man for himself. Webmaster also wants to create a utopia, his being slightly more orthodox in that he believes erasing everyone's memories of the past would eradicate grudges and mean everyone would get along- however, it would never work in reality.

AnIcePerson: The Chillers.

PungeonMaster: All of The Chillers, most notably Mr Cool, much to the annoyance of everyone else.

SophisticatedAsHell: Carl and occasionally Shift.

SnarkToSnarkCombat: Cortex and Shift every time they meet. Occasionally Shift and Carl when left alone long enough.

FalseFriend: Flora to Shift, a psychologist he sees who gives all his notes and sensitive information about his mental state to Cortex.

SuperheroSchool: There is one in the Association which anyone under eighteen must attend.

-> Shift: Why don't we just go to public school?

-> Supervisor: Why don't we just send hormonal teenagers with super powers to public school? Good question. Think about it.

-> Shift: Oh, right.

MoralityKitchenSink

LikeASonToMe: Punch and Shift have this relationship with each other on account of Punch's wife being shot dead while pregnant and Shift's father being way off the deep end.

ExactWords: Happens on occasion. Cortex enjoys this trope and insists he never lies. For example, he promises Shift he didn't drug the tea he gave him and agrees to drink from the same pot. Only after Shift gets a sudden dizzy spell does he mention he never said anything about the two saches of 'sugar' he gave to him.

-> Shift: You said you didn't put anything in it!
-> Cortex: I didn't. I suppose it did look quite a lot like sugar, so I can see where the misunderstanding happened. As for what I wanted with you, well, NothingPersonal [...]

MathematiciansAnswer: Shift gives these to people he doesn't like on occasion.

SorryIFellOnYourFist: Shift as a child on numerous occasions as a result of being a victim of AbusiveChildhood.

DysfunctionJunction: If they have more than three minutes of screen time and they're not traumatized at the start, expect them to be so by the end of the series.

CerebusRollercoaster

OriginsEpisode: Shift and The Mirage get one. Justice also gets one.

SwissArmySuperPower: Shift's powers would be useless if he weren't an extreme chemistry nerd.

FriendlessBackground: Justice, Speedbuzz and Shift. Shift's justifies his nerdiness in that he never had anything else to do other than read all the books in the house as a child. By the age of eleven, he had already far surpassed the other students his age. Justice's justifies her lack of social skills.

NoSocialSkills: Justice, due to her FriendlessBackground as a ChildSoldier in the Dystopia.

EmotionlessGirl: Justice starts off as one until she realizes she no longer needs to repress her emotions like in the army.

AntiHero: Justice, Shift. Although far more notably Justice.

Badass: Justice most notably. Shift, Punch and Louise also fall under this trope.

LittleMissBadass: Justice is considered to be this by many other people. Much to her dismay.

PokeThePoodle: Bad Man lives this trope. The League of Legitimate evil are no strangers to it.

-> Bad Man: But... But I stole complimentary mints from a restaurant and tipped the waitress five dollars in cents! Why don't you think I'm evil?!

EvilIsPetty: Bad Man, the League of Legitimate Evil. Cortex doesn't shy away from doing this on top of his sadistic tenancies.

AdultFear: ''Oh'', so much.

-Dr Taylor's son, Brett died in a science research accident, that he was heavily involved in, at fourteen. Also the rest of the children being tested on in general.

-During the same episode as the events above, three children are kidnapped from an airport when they get separated from their parents. They'd been gone for under twenty minutes. This doubles as ParanoiaFuel for families going on holiday.

-lioVet's death, murdered by a serial killer at twelve.

-Shift's psychologist, Flora, working for Cortex and giving him his notes (which contain details of his personal life and how to trigger his PTSD). Doubles as ParanoiaFuel.

-Punch's wife was shot dead when she was pregnant with their first child.

-CRISIS took 200 children at an elementary school hostage, twelve of them escaped and the rest were believed dead for the greater part of the plot arc. It's not until it's nearly resolved that they're revealed to be alive and about to be sold to mutant traffickers.

-In the future, numbers are thin and Justice at least was in the army from age four. She saw a close friend her age die at seven.

ThereAreNoPsychologists: Averted. Shift sees two, one of which is working for Cortex, the other which isn't the most helpful but at least legitimate.

ShoutOut: Shift makes many to various Stephen King novels, which nobody else understands since the show is set in the twenty sixth century and he only knows these things because he found the books in the basement and loft of his old house, presumably belonging to his ancestors. The more obvious ones are his numerous references to Carrie when prom comes around (since Justice is a telekinetic) and when talking about Justice's powers in general and when he starts talking about Misery when Dr Phillips recommends reading something more uplifting.

LethalChef: Justice once cooked dinner. It is a NoodleIncident, but we do know that it involved raw meat and that she made it without the knowledge that they hadn't evolved to the point where they could eat raw meat, thus making everyone ill.

MenCantKeepHouse: Averted and played straight. Shift did all of the housework as a child since his dad was too busy being drunk and mentally unstable, so he knows how to cook. He has a habit of putting drinks on coasters, etc, which Justice teases him about. Punch also seems to manage fine living by himself, however, Orron is allegedly terrible at anything domestic.

INeedAFreakingDrink: Louise has a tenancy to do this despite being underage in America.
-> Louise: I'm eighteen, it's legal where I come from! *Downs a shot*

DrowningMySorrows: Shift's father, Kendall Flint, does this continuously for at least a decade after his wife dies, becoming an alcoholic living in a MessOfWoe consisting of bottles all over the floor of the house. PlayedForLaughs when Shift attempts this during season 1.
-> Shift: I'm sixteen, what's the strongest thing you can sell me?
-> Barman: Coffee.

A.I: Carl is one.

RobotBuddy: Carl, again.

WickedCultured: Cortex.

ShockAndAwe: Raz's powers.

PowerIncontinence: Raz's powers are closely linked to his fear. If he feels adrenaline or gets scared, his body automatically starts preparing for a fight and saps electricity from things, turning the lights out. If this goes on for too long, the power builds up and electricity starts shooting out of his hands at random. In fact, he has this badly enough that he is unable to use his powers unless it's by accident. Until later on in the series, much to Sterilant's surprise.

ColorCodedCharacters: Shift (Green), Justice (Red), Psychedelia (Yellow), Speedbuzz (Blue).

GunFu: Zip's preferred fighting style.

ActionGirlfriend: Most of the female characters in a relationship.

WiseBeyondTheirYears: Louise in the past. Although she is eighteen during the series in the flashback episode she is seen at 13 basically being Casper's guardian.

Buttmonkey: Badman, of the entire supervillain/hero community.

PowerIncontinence: Raz's powers are closely linked to his fear. If he feels adrenaline or gets scared, his body automatically starts preparing for a fight and saps electricity from things, turning the lights out. If this goes on for too long, the power builds up and electricity starts shooting out of his hands at random.

-> Psychedelia: [[ComicallyMissingThePoint: Poor lion!]]

DeadpanSnarker: Lots of people- most notably Shift and Casper.

A fifteen year old time traveler who refuses to give away any information about her past for fear of destroying the space time continuum. As a result of her evolution she is able to fly, use telekinesis and shoot bolts of energy at people. Her answer to any and all problem is violence and she tends to dish out graphic and violent threats that sound dissonant compared to her personality and voice.

Carl- TheTeamPet

BerserkButton:

Don't lie to or betray Justice. Also, don't threaten her friends. DON'T call her cute.

UnholyMatrimony: Cortex and Flora, although he is just using her.

CutenessProximity: Psychedelia every time she sees a cute animal.

BiTheWay: Psychedelia and Charlie. Also, every single Erthan.

ActionGirl: It's easier to list the non action girls in the series: Flora, Jennifer and Charlie.

NotWearingTights: Webmaster refuses to because he thinks it's silly. Casper, though not in a situation where he needs to, snaps that 'latex is for fetishists' when asked 'where's your tights, mut?' by a mutantphobic.

AmbiguousDisorder: Webmaster, although he appears to have AspergerSyndrome.

AntiVillain: Webmaster is a seventeen year old boy with Aspergers who wants to help humanity get a clean slate. Unfortunately, his plan involves creating a Matrix-style virtual reality and enforcing mass amnesia for his 'good ends'.

Don't lie to or betray Justice. Also, don't threaten her friends.

B

SorryIFellOnYourFist: Shift as a child on numerous occasions as a result of being a victim of ChildAbuse.

DysfunctionJunction: If they have more than three minutes of screen time and they're not traumatised at the start, expect them to be so by the end of the series.

BadSyntaxSpeaker: Speedbuzz again.

FiveBadBand: The League of Legitimate Evil

TheBigBad/TheBrute: Brute. Although he claims to be the leader, he is usually just parroting Razor.
TheDarkChick: Razor.
TheEvilGenius: Spanner.

The Protagonist. A priorly homeless sixteen year old con artist and deadpan snarker with a liking for complex chemistry and 21st century horror literature. He is also a mutant with the ability of 'Atomic-Molecular Shifting'. Or 'morphing/shifting' as he prefers to call it, which gives him the ability to change things (including himself) into any compound or element he likes. It also gives him unusual pigmentation and most people an excuse to be discriminating towards him.

An extreme [[nice girl with a love for animals, nature and pretty much everything else. She is an Erthan, a species reincarnated by Mother Nature to protect the Earth in exchange for the Earth protecting them. By way of nature powers. It is part of Erthan culture to be very, very nice to people, however, she is nice even by Erthan standards. She is also naive even by Erthan standards and little too straight laced for the world she lives in.

Tropes Included In This Work:



[[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FiveManBand The Five Man Band]]


[[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheLeader The Leader]](type two) / [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheSmartGuy]] Shift.


[[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheLancer The Lancer]] Speedbuzz.


[[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheBigGuy The Big Gal]] Justice.


[[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheChick The Chick]] Psychedelia.


[[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TeamPet Team Pet]] Carl the AI.





[[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RobotBuddy Robot Buddy]] Carl is an AI installed on a tablet device that the quadrant carry around with him and chat to on occasion.





[[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DeadpanSnarker Deadpan Snarker]] Quite a lot of people, although most notably Shift and Casper.





[[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StepfordSnarker Stepford Snarker]] Shift does this to hide his mental instability.





[[

[[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TeamPet Team Pet]] Carl the AI.

An extreme nice girl with a love for animals, nature and pretty much everything else. She is an Erthan, a species reincarnated by Mother Nature to protect the Earth in exchange for the Earth protecting them. By way of nature powers. It is part of Erthan culture to be very, very nice to people, however, she is nice even by Erthan standards. She is also naive even by Erthan standards and little too straight laced for the world she lives in.