History DinoAttackRPG / TropesAToF

** Most XERRD scientists are CaptainErsatz versions of science-oriented characters from various forms of media, ranging from Dr. Wily from ''Franchise/MegaMan'' to GLaDOS from ''Videogame/{{Portal}}''; from Professor Elvin Gadd of ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' to Ze Professor from ''VideoGame/ConkersBadFurDay''; from Dr. O'Brien of ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'' to Dr. Insano of ''WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment''.

** Kurt [=MacReady=] was the one sent to catch Snake, and the two of them subsequently got into a brawl. They were inspired by [[Film/TheThing1982 R.J. MacReady]] and [[Film/EscapeFromNewYork Snake Plissken]], respectively, both of whom were played by Kurt Russel, and served as the lead to JohnCarpenter movies released a year apart from each other.

** Much of Atton Rand's cast that does not consist of [[CaptainErsatz Captain Ersatzes]] often consists of [[{{Expy}} Expies]] of movie characters, though many of them manage to break off enough from their inspirations to become seperate individuals. Frank Bowman is loosely inspired by [[TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey Dave Bowman]]. Cam O'Cozy started as an Expy of Major "King" Kong from the movie ''[[DrStrangelove Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb]]'' and ended as an Expy of Ash from ''{{Alien}}'', while Dr. Strangebrick is an Expy of the titular character of ''Dr. Strangelove''. Barry Jackson and Giovanni Wade were loosely inspired by characters in ''SavingPrivateRyan''. The staff of Outpost 4 drew inspiration from characters in ''TheThing''. Rotor drew inspiration from Lt. Colonel Kilgore from ''ApocalypseNow'', and Lance also drew inspiration from the same movie (his last name was changed to Williams, rather than Johnson as in the film, to seperate him from the movie), Pierce is an expy of the main character from ''{{MASH}}''. Cabin's appearance drew some inspiration from Michelle Rodriguez in ''{{Avatar}}'', and Trigger was a loose expy of James Woods' performance in ''JohnCarpentersVampires''.

* ContinuitySnarl: The Brickspider Bot v1.0 initially denied any connections to [[LEGOAgents Dr. Inferno]] and referred to the MadScientist as a "pitiful fool". When writing later plot developments, [=PeabodySam=] forgot about this detail and revealed that the Brickspider Bot was an ally of Dr. Inferno.

* AbortedArc: The fate of any character's story when their player leaves Dino Attack RPG. Probably the most infamous example of an Aborted Arc would be Databoard's quest to rescue Stealth, which was left unresolved after Chronicler of Ko-Koro left Dino Attack RPG.

* ActionGirl: Amanda Claw, Dromus, Aravis, Minerva, Vinyaya, Cabin, Kat, Maria, Zelda, Zealot, and Kara.

* ActorAllusion: More of an Author Allusion, but Sam Throramebi drew comparisons between [[LEGOAlphaTeam Evil Ogel]] and [[{{Bionicle}} Makuta Teridax]], who are two of Greg Farshtey's favorite villains to write.

* AdultFear: Both Sarah Bishop and Helen Rutherford were worried sick about their children being out on the battlefield. Unfortunately, Kate is bullied by [[ColonelKilgore Rotor]] while [[ArmyScout Scout]] is killed by [[spoiler:[[TheMole Ata]]]].

* AffablyEvil: Some members of XERRD, most notably Walter Breen. Dust also can be well-mannered but is not evil.

* AffirmativeActionGirl: Kate Bishop was introduced solely because Atton Rand noticed that all of his characters, sans Zenna and Elizabeth, were male.

* AirVentPassageway: The XERRD Fortress is full of these... then again, since these are the same air vents that blow out neurotoxins and other poisonous gases, it might not be such a bright idea to crawl through them.

* AlasPoorVillain: Dust's death, even if he wasn't exactly a villain.

* AllGermansAreNazis: Not quite, but it is worth noting that, out of four figures from the FictionalCountry of Barron (which is essentially a representation of stereotypical Germany), three are villains and one is a MadDoctor. Additionally, Kuru met a German scientist working for XERRD.

* AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs: Cam O'Cozy's efforts to turn the team against itself resulted in a Civil War ''inside'' the Dino Attack Headquarters that got so chaotic it made the average ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' map look peaceful.

* AloneWithThePsycho: Dust and Lutsky in the confinement tent. [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation Which one is the psycho is up for debate.]]

* AmbitionIsEvil: A character analysis of [[BigBad Dr. Rex]] revealed that ambition is one of his tragic flaws. Every evil act he has committed, from kidnapping Talia Kaahs to starting the Dino Attack, was due to ambition.

* AnachronismStew: As a result of MedievalStasis, the LEGO Planet and Dino Attack Team is a NinjaPirateZombieRobot AnachronismStew.

* AndIMustScream: Katerina Schattenberg when she was essentially being [[MindRape Mind Raped]] by Lupus Schattenberg.

* AndThenJohnWasAZombie: And then Axel, Snake, Amanda Claw, and Zorikk were Mutant Dinos.

* AnyoneCanDie: While most deaths are [=NPCs=], several important [=NPCs=] such as PBB and Aravis have been killed off. Primary character deaths are very rare, but Rev Raptor and Sereve both died in the battle against Landro while Louis "Dryptosaurus" was killed by a Mutant T-Rex, both rather early in the RPG. [[spoiler:Dust]] did end up being killed in the Pharaoh's Forbidden Ruins. If it were not for a ThrowItIn situation created by that guy from that show, Atton Rand's primary character Zenna might have been unexpectedly killed off. And then, [[spoiler:[[YourDaysAreNumbered Rex's Days Are Numbered]].]]
** Terrifyingly exemplified by the final battle. The final battle has taken the lives of [[spoiler:long-runners such as Rex, Amanda Claw, and Trouble, as well as fan-favorites Adventure, Semick, Septimus/Swerve, and Kareem Nazareno. Other notable casualties of the final battle include King Joseph Race, Trigger, Athena Fabello, Contest, Coral, Anubis, and General]].
* ApocalypseHow: Class 3a, considering that the entire Dino Attack was engineered by a group of [[MadScientist mad scientists]].

* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: Quoted nearly word-for-word by [[LEGOIsland the Brickster]].
** Hertz compares acting without a plan to suicide, a kamikaze attack, and marching "into a ''StarWars'' convention with the intent of [[TakeThat declaring midichlorians as the best thing the prequels ever gave us]]".

* ArtificialLimbs: The Frickster, Zachary, Fullmetal, Zed Provhezor, and Paulie Gonepus.

* AsTheGoodBookSays: Pharisee ([[BeamMeUpScotty mis]])quotes Ezekiel 25:17 and later quotes the beginning of Psalm 94 (MSG) in his non-canon confrontation with Trigger.

* TheAtoner: Amanda, General, George Brown, Solomon Koplowitz, and Blaire Darkling.

* AudienceSurrogate: Kate Bishop more or less acts like anyone who had been sent on their first mission to a tropical island inhabited by mutant dinos probably would. Pierce could also be considered an example, as his perspective on the issues at hand often reflects that of the players.

* AxCrazy: Most of the Second Headquarters Squad. Firecracker with anything that goes boom!

* BackForTheDead: Although Sir Robert Batrick never appeared in any RPG or story before, since this is the first time [=PeabodySam=] used the character since ''LEGORacers'', he considers Batrick's [[TheCameo cameo appearance]] a case of BackForTheDead.

* BackForTheFinale: [[spoiler:Trouble and Zenna.]]

* BackStab: Spy specializes in these, though he was never actually seen to do one on-screen.

* BadBoss: [[BigBad Dr. Rex]], especially just before the final battle, was well-acknowledged as mad by his fellow XERRD scientists, but ruled over them through fear. He showed little regard for their safety and saw their suggestions as treason. He refused to acknowledge [[spoiler:[[TheManBehindTheMan Baron Typhonus's]] involvement in the Dino Attack]], forcing his fellow scientists to continue their work.

* TheBait: Lutsky's plan to use Kate as a means to catch Dr. Wallace Bishop, although it didn't exactly go well with the other agents and it certainly didn't help that he first proposed the idea right in front of her when she was already under extreme stress.

* BaitAndSwitch: There was a ''lot'' of build-up with Andrew's dreams and dark consciousness that seemed to foreshadow a Face Heel Turn, or at the very least a mutation. What happened in the end? Andrew got over it. Ironically, another Dino Attack agent from LEGOIsland, Zachary, ended up fulfilling the FaceHeelTurn role.
** [[WhatCouldHaveBeen This was mainly the unintentional result of Andrewnuva199 changing his plans for Andrew.]]

* BaitAndSwitchGunshot: Type A example: Breen is pointing a gun at Kate. The ensuing gunshot was not Breen firing at Kate, but [[spoiler:Wallace Bishop]] shooting Breen.

* BagOfHolding: Spy sometimes carries around a briefcase containing the clothes of various Dino Attack agents and allies so that he can disguise himself. Imagine having to pack that thing.

* BarBrawl: A lengthy fight scene between Snake and Plastic Serpent in Outpost 4's cafeteria, in the process knocking over a lot of dishes and chairs.

* BatmanGambit: Dust's plans and manipulations of Dino Attack agents to get to the Pharaoh's Forbidden Ruins.

* BattleCouple: Rex and Amanda Claw, and Zachary Virchaus and Minerva Fabello.

* BattleInTheRain: The final battle.

* BecomingTheMask: General has implied that this was what made him become General Evil.

* BeepingComputers: [[MontyPythonsTheMeaningOfLife The machine that goes "BING!"]]
* BelatedBackstory: The characterizations of Libo, Amanda Claw, and Katerina Schattenberg underwent massive shifts after their backstories were revealed.

* BerserkButton: Never mention "Dr. Rex" to [[BewareTheSillyOnes Ben Gunn]].

* BewareTheQuietOnes: Amanda Claw.

* BigBrotherInstinct: Ultimately why Oswald Fabello chose to care for Minerva after their brother's death and mother's institutionalization. Even with his mental instability, he still wished to save his sister from the apocalypse.

* TheBigDamnKiss: Hertz has one with Naomi before she leaves on the teleport pad.
** Rex and Amanda's "you may kiss the bride" moment during their Wartime Wedding, as a ShoutOut to the scene from ''[[PiratesOfTheCaribbean At World's End]]''.

* BilingualBonus: See [[NamesToRunAwayFrom/ForeignLanguageNames Foreign Language Names]] for the full list of BilingualBonus character names, but here are a few notable examples:
** The Schattenberg family founded [=ShadowTech=]. What does "schatten" mean in German? "Shadow".
** Dr. Dunkelheit was a Dino Attack nurse. Anyone who speaks German would know that "dunkelheit" is German for "darkness", spoiling the fact that she was actually a [[EverythingsDeaderWithZombies Stromling Agent]] in disguise.
** Minerva's older brother, Tod Fabello, was accidentally killed in 2004. Not only is Tod a common first name, [[MeaningfulName but it is also the German word for "death".]]
** [[WordOfGod Toa Antrakha]] may have [[ShoutOut named Ragnorok after]] a mech from ''Videogame/MechAssault'', but it is likely derived from the Norse word Ragnarok. According to NorseMythology, Ragnarok was essentially the apocalypse in the form of ultimate destruction of the gods and men in a cataclysmic battle with evil, monsters, and darkness. Sounds rather close to the Dino Attack, doesn't it?
** If one were to interpret the "[[MysteriousMiddleInitial L]]" as the Spanish article "la", Greybeard's real name, Grisbarba L. Pirata, basically translates into "Greybeard the Pirate".[[note]]Technically, though, "grisbarba" would translate to "[[BlindIdiotTranslation beardgrey]]", but [[WordOfGod PeabodySam]] says that "Grisbarba" sounds better than "Barbagris".[[/note]]

* BilingualDialogue: Quite conveniently, most dinosaurs and Mutant Dinosaurs understand English quite perfectly, even if they cannot speak it.

* BittersweetEnding: [[BigBad Dr. Rex]], [[spoiler:[[LEGOUniverse Baron Typhonus]]]], and the [[PrehistoricMonster Mutant Dinos]] were finally defeated, but at the cost of the lives of [[spoiler:Rex, General, Semick]], and many others. However, a lot of emphasis is put on the "sweet" aspect of "bittersweet", such as it being said that their deaths should not be mourned but instead celebrated, to prevent this from sounding like a DownerEnding.

** BlackAndGrayMorality: Pharisee's perspective regarding himself and the people he hunts, Trigger in particular.

* BlatantLies: Elizabeth's story about how she totally did ''not ''hijack an [[TankGoodness Iron Predator]] and cargo ship in order to get to LEGOIsland.

** [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] while Zach was a [[EverythingsDeaderWithZombies Stromling]]. [[LEGOUniverse The Maelstrom]]] presumably improved his eyesight, defeating the purpose of glasses.
* BlondGuysAreEvil: Agent Ghost ended up being a [[EverythingsDeaderWithZombies Stromling]] and Oswald Fabello [[FaceHeelTurn ended up a XERRD mercenary]].

** [[AvertedTrope Averted]] with Zyra and Shiller.
* BloodFromTheMouth: After being shot by Lutsky, [[spoiler:Dust]] coughed up blood. True to the trope, it was fatal.

* BloodlessCarnage: For the most part, blood and gore has been kept down to minimum.
** Of course, one way you could look at it is that there is blood and some degree of gore, but it just is not usually described in depth.

* BottomlessMagazines: Partially [[SubvertedTrope subverted]]. Just how often is the team seen reloading their weapons? And yet, occasionally a Sonic Screamer or Cosmotronic Ray will run low or even out of ammo.

* BreakingTheFourthWall: When Aster Oid's memory card gets dusty, he doesn't just break the fourth wall; he ''demolishes'' it.

** LeaningOnTheFourthWall: When talking about [[EverythingsDeaderWithZombies Stromlings]], Trigger told his companions to "forget everything you've seen in [[PlayByPostGames text-based RPGs]]" and proceeded to explain how a person who was a Stromling is practically dead, and love doesn't work. It's ironic when one considers that he ''is'' in a text-based RPG and [[DramaticIrony there actually was a character who overcame his Stromling infection through the power of love]]. Of course to be fair it might be that the latter was just a once-in-a-lifetime case that only occurs with true, genuine love, and that such a thing does not happen very often, in which case his statement still makes sense.

** MediumAwareness: Although Trigger slightly touched upon this when he [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall Leaned on the Fourth Wall]], Aster Oid is the only one who figured out that he was actually ''in'' a [[PlayByPostGames text-based roleplay game]] (and, before that, [[LEGORacers a polygon-based videogame]]).

** NoticingTheFourthWall: Again, when Aster Oid's memory card is dusty.

* BreathWeapon: Fire-breathing Mutant Lizards.

* BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu: Pterisa's lightning bolt barely even hurt [[spoiler:[[LEGOUniverse the Darkitect]]]], and was more akin to [[DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu Flipping Off Cthulhu]] than [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu Punching Out Cthulhu]]. [[spoiler:The Darkitect responded by knocking off her helmet, causing Pterisa to suffer a HeroicBSOD.]]

*** In a few Steam chats, Atton Rand's Lovecraftian take on the Maelstrom led him to joke about ending all his final posts with his characters going insane and being put in the asylum.

* BuryYourGays: Samantha Orange died before Dino Attack RPG even began.

* ButtMonkey: Plastic Serpent just can't seem to go anywhere without getting beaten up by Snake. Also French Fries was specifically brought back to serve such a role (so that players could get back at him for all the trouble he put them through in the LEGOIsland arc, [[GoneHorriblyRight though Atton Rand didn't expect it to be quite as... brutal as his comeuppance ended up being]]).

* CallBack: Elizabeth claimed she could drive an [[TankGoodness Iron Predator]] because she once tried to steal one, referencing her rather controversial theft of an Iron Predator in order to get to LEGOCity harbor early in the LEGOIsland arc.

* CanonDiscontinuity: Much material from the RPG's early days, ranging from [[LEGOAdventurers Lord Sam Sinister]] going blind to the infamous {{BIONICLE}} [[XMeetsY Meets]] [[{{LEGO Exo-Force}} Exo-Force]] RPG incident, has been retconned into CanonDiscontinuity.

* CaptainErsatz: Clint Wayne is pretty much a CaptainErsatz of [[DollarsTrilogy The Man With No Name]], and Dude, Walter, and Donnie are more or less Ersatzes of the main characters in ''TheBigLebowski''.
** The entire Second Headquarters Squad is based off of the main cast of ''Videogame/TeamFortress2'', right down to Heavy's love for [[EverythingsSatiatingWithSandwiches sandwiches]]. All they're missing is a mysterious voice to tell them how much time they have left in their missions.
** While the Second Headquarters Squad is heavily inspired by the ''Team Fortress 2'' cast but intended to be separate characters (for example, although very similar, there are quite a few distinctions between Jane Doe's Soldier and Ronald E. Army's Soldier), Chaos is for all intents and purposes ''the'' [[SonicAdventure Chaos]] from the ''SonicTheHedgehog'' series. Right down to seven Chaos Emeralds hidden around the globe that transform Chaos into Perfect Chaos.
** Most XERRD scientists are CaptainErsatz versions of science-oriented characters from various forms of media, ranging from Dr. Wily from ''{{Megaman}}'' to GLaDOS from ''Videogame/{{Portal}}''; from Professor Elvin Gadd of ''SuperMarioBros'' to Ze Professor from ''VideoGame/ConkersBadFurDay''; from Dr. O'Brien of ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'' to Dr. Insano of ''WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment''.
** Cranky and Kiddy are Dino Attack RPG's versions of [[VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong]]. Marco Martinet is a CaptainErsatz of [[SuperMarioBros Mario]], Louie Martinet of Luigi, Pearl of Peach, Primrose of Paulina, Rosalie Mercedes of Rosalina... so on and so forth.
** In one particularly confusing case, Atton Rand introduced a CaptainErsatz that got repeatedly mistaken for an Ersatz of an entirely different character. Many of his fellow players believed Snake to be an Ersatz of Solid Snake from ''Franchise/MetalGear'' rather than Snake Plissken from ''Film/EscapeFromNewYork''. To be fair, Solid Snake himself is a homage to Snake Plissken, so similarities are inevitable.
** Now we've got a cast of CaptainErsatz characters from ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''... who were introduced solely because of a character named Giles (who wasn't even related to the show, but rather named after the character from ''TheCrucible'').
** More or less the case with Baldrick. However, {{Blackadder}} is based around history in general (with each season set in a different time period of British History) meaning that his namesake is not so much one character as a whole bunch of identical grandsons, although if anything Agent Baldrick is probably closest to the version of his namesake seen in ''Blackadder Goes Forth'' (from which his "escape kit" was inspired).

* TheCavalry: The Adventurers' Island dinosaurs and [=TumTum=] tribesmen in during the battle for the Pharaoh's Forbidden Ruins.
** [[LEGOAlphaTeam Alpha Team]], the [[KnightsKingdom2 Rogue Knights]], [[LEGOAdventurers Emperor Chang Wu's fleet]], and Ogel's forces during the final battle.
*** A villainous example from the same battle: [[LEGOCastle the Fright Knights]].

* CharacterizationMarchesOn: In the Alpha Team: Mission Deep Freeze RPG, [[WordOfGod PeabodySam]] made an explicit point stating that PBB would never be killed off. A year later, PBB was killed off in the Dino Attack RPG.

* ChekhovsGun: The T-1 Typhoon that was left in the desert after Zenna and George were attacked by Natives ended up having a brief but important role in driving an invading army of Mutant Dinosaurs out of the Dino Attack Team's camp on Adventurers' Island.

** ChekhovsGunman: Ghost was character that rode on a Fire Hammer with Minerva to the rear guard camp. After Brikman [=McStudz=] reread the Dino Attack RPG and remembered the existence of Ghost, he reintroduced him as being [[TheMole a spy]] for [[LEGOUniverse the Maelstrom]] for his entire existence.

** ChekhovMIA.: Ben Gunn, who became M.I.A. at the end of the [[UndergroundLevel Goo Caverns]] mission only to return after the [[LEGOAdventurers Adventurers' Island]] mission to warn the Dino Attack Team about the upcoming final battle.

* TheChessmaster: Cam O'Cozy, who intentionally created a violent feud between the idealist and realist sides of the team (simply taking advantage of a high period of tension between them at the time), with the ultimate goal of destroying the team. Of course one could also go a step farther and label [[BigBad Dr. Rex]] himself as such, seeing as he had planted Cam O'Cozy along with some Maelstrom-infected bricks to achieve that goal.

* ChildSoldiers: Kate is occasionally seen as one. Technically she's in her late teens, but that is still fairly young when compared to the other agents, most of whom are a lot older.

* ChokeHolds: Dr. Rex once used one against Frozeen, surprisingly while the latter was in a G.E. Body, to intimidate the other prisoners. Later, he Choke Held Frozeen again, and this time actually strangled him to death.[[note]]He got better, though.[[/note]]

* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: This has happened to many characters when the player controlling them leaves the RPG.
** [[LEGORockRaiders Axle]] had a notable role in the RPG as a member of the Dino Attack Team, something nobody seems to remember anymore.
** There was also Trouble, who was a major character at one point before inexplicably vanishing, and [=PeabodySam=] openly refused to bring him back [[spoiler:because he was secretly saving Trouble for the final battle]].

* CirclingMonologue: [[spoiler:The illusion of]] Kotua gave one of these to Rex, who was lying paralyzed on the floor.

* CloudCuckooLander: Ben Gunn, who was suffering from senility during his time in the [[UndergroundLevel Goo Caverns]].

* ClusterFBomb: Trigger is a walking Cluster [=MegaBlok=]-Bomb.

* ColdSniper: [[CaptainObvious Sniper]].

* ColonelKilgore: Rotor. The trope-naming character was a major inspiration, right down to his frequent habit of playing classical music while attacking his enemies.

* ConservationOfNinjutsu: A possible explanation regarding the notable difference in strength between [[EverythingsDeaderWithZombies Stromling Agents and Stromling Explorers]]. There are rarely more than one or two Stromling Agents on-screen at a time, and they prove very hard to defeat. Stromling Explorers almost always act as a group, leaving them as nothing more than CannonFodder.

* ConspiracyRedemption: After hanging out with Cam O'Cozy and French Fries, Zenna helped leak information regarding the Antarctica mission and inadvertently caused riots and an idealist-realist conflict of escalated violence. However, she redeemed herself through working quickly and efficiently to defeat Cam O'Cozy, who was fueling the fires of the idealist-realist conflict, and provide medical aid to those injured in the riots, and received a promotion to Elite Agent as a result.

* ContinuityNod: Rex and Reptile used [[TankGoodness Iron Predators]] to defend a power station from a Mutant T-Rex attack, which culminated in the arrival of the founding members in a [[DeathFromAbove T-1 Typhoon]] to save the day and drive the T-Rexes back across the river. This whole scene was a ContinuityNod to a battle described on the LEGODinoAttack website.

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Walter Breen, especially during his days as administrator of Brick League United. Even after he left the company, he retained many traits of a CorruptCorporateExecutive.

* CowTools: The machine that goes "BING!", which, despite being the most expensive machine in Dino Attack Headquarters, has no clear function other than going "BING!".

* CranialProcessingUnit: The Brickspider Bot v1.0 can only be disabled by destroying its head. Interestingly, if the head is detached from the body but still intact, the body can still function, but as soon as the head is destroyed, the Brickspider Bot ceases to move.

* CrucifiedHeroShot: [[spoiler:Dust's]] appearance at his death was partly inspired by the classic death of William Dafoe's character in ''{{Platoon}}''.

* CunningLinguist: Hertz.
* CurseCutShort: General, immediately after discovering the stasis tube of Talia Kaahs. Mind you, this was before the phrase "Son of a [[PardonMyKlingon MegaBlok]]" became widely used in the RPG, so at the time it was implied that he did not say "[=MegaBlok=]".

* CurbStompBattle: Rex vs. French Fries and Pharisee vs. French Fries.

* DeathByOriginStory: Amadeus and Rosaria Remous, Alfred the butler, and Bricassius all kicked the bucket in Amanda's origin story.
** Also in the flashback, Uærlig Sindstorme and Edward Korrupte, along with five of the seven people Schiess worked with.

* DeathEqualsRedemption: [[spoiler:Dust's]] teammates went from hating him for tricking them to trying in vain to save his life after he was fatally shot.

* DeathFromAbove: Pretty much any combat action once Rotor gets involved. Of course this should hardly come as a surprise to anyone who's seen ''ApocalypseNow'' and is familiar with Rotor's inspiration.

* DeathNotification: After J.D.'s death, Wade began writing several letters to J.D.'s family and his old friend Marco Martinet.

* DeathSeeker: Oswald Fabello started to become this as his insanity began to take hold. He even thanked Minerva for killing him.

* DefectorFromDecadence: General, Kat, Dr. Strangebrick, Dr. Cyborg, and Solomon Koplowitz.

* DemBones: Dino Attack agents turned into skeletons and reanimated by Skeleton Mummies.

* DemotedToExtra: Atton Rand introduced a number of [=NPCs=] during the Adventurers' Island story arc, resulting in his own primary character being taken out of focus in favor of stories focusing on the various medics and Kate's efforts to fit in with the team.

* DependingOnTheWriter: Rex is notably more stern and serious when written by Chronicler of Ko-Koro or Brikman [=McStudz=].

* DespairEventHorizon: [[TragicVillain Dr. Rex]] finally crossed this line after [[spoiler:Katerina renounced him as her brother.]]

* DetachmentCombat: [[LEGOIsland Captain Click]] is able to pull this off.

* DiabolusExMachina: While not actually the end of the story, the conclusion to the LEGOIsland Arc was a fairly joyous moment (at least from the point of view of those in the Torn World, who didn't know what was happening outside- for others it would have been more of a BittersweetEnding). They finally got out of the Torn World, LEGO Island is restored, and the Brickspider Bot is gone for good. Then all of a sudden the hybrids turned against the team and things got pretty dark.

* DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu: [[spoiler:Pterisa struck [[LEGOUniverse the Darkitect]] in the chest with a bolt of lightning. It barely hurt him, but the fact that he was actually hit by another being who was turning his own powers against him was a huge insult to the Darkitect. The good news is that it broke his concentration long enough for Rex and Hotwire to realize that they were fighting illusions. The bad news is that Pterisa [[BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu Broke Her Arm Flipping Off Cthulhu]].]]

* DirtyCoward: Walter Breen.

* DiscontinuityNod: Andrew and Laxus occasionally dismiss retconned information as faults of the "anybody can edit" system of the Dino Attack Database.

* DisneyDeath: Amanda Claw was last seen attacked by villains, and her torn up uniform was found outside a wrecked police station. Don't worry, Rex, she's alright... [[spoiler:''this time'', at least.]]

* DisproportionateRetribution: Rotor tried to make an example of a T-1 crew by having them executed because the pilot had refused an order to fire on the XERRD fortress while Dino Attack Agents were still inside.

* DwindlingParty: Happened in two intersecting (but mostly unrelated) segments, both of the "hunted" variety- The Second Headquarters Squad being picked off one by one by [[spoiler:[[TheMole Ata]]]] until only [[spoiler:Pyro and Demoman]] were left, and also in the Trigger/Silencia flashback, where a seven man-team of criminals (eight-people depending on whether you include Silencia herself) are picked off one-by-one following Silencia's double-crossings until only two remained. The latter arguably continued into the present day, too, [[spoiler:with Silencia and Trigger's deaths leaving Montoya as the sole survivor.]]
** On a related note, [[WordOfGod Atton Rand]] does somewhat regret not using this with his "Stromling paranoia" sub-plot with the crew of Outpost 4, with the already paranoid cast getting picked off one by one trying to figure out who's a Stromling.
* DistaffCounterpart: Cabin is basically a female, slightly less aggressive version of Rotor. Teri is intended to be one for Barry Jackson.

* DoNotGoGentle: With their Fire Hammers destroyed and an endless number of Mutant Dinos surrounding them, this trope became the primary motivation for Greybeard and King Joseph Race during the final battle. [[spoiler:Although Greybeard [[SubvertedTrope survived]], King Race played it straight.]]

* TheDogBitesBack: Dr. Strangebrick, [[LEGOAdventurers Rudo Villano]], and Pterisa started helping the Dino Attack Team after realizing that they were considered "disposable" by their superiors.

* DoomedByCanon: [[LEGOAdventurers Johnny Thunder]] and [[LEGOIsland Sky Lane]] had to forsake their cameo appearances thanks to ''LEGOUniverse''.

* DownerEnding: ''[[WhatIf December 21, 2010]]''.

* TheDragon: General Evil to [[LEGOAlphaTeam Evil Ogel]]. While they are both very intelligent, Ogel was the mastermind while General Evil was the muscle.

* DramaticIrony: Wade was forced to perform a mercy kill on J.D. by giving him a morphine overdose. His ''SavingPrivateRyan'' namesake was also involved in a [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX0sYXFJwhA very similar scene]], except ''he'' was the one who was fatally wounded.

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: Aster Oid and Aravis.

* DrowningMySorrows: Athena Fabello after the death of Isacc Fabello.

* DualBoss: Zach's fight against both Michelle Glados and Carolyne Provencal in the Maelstrom Temple.

** HeroicSacrifice: Tracer, who allowed his entire Creative Spark to be used as Maelstrom antidote after having been fatally shot by Zelda Frodongan.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: It can seem strange reading Atton Rand's early posts, which at best were a rough summary of what was happening, full of contrived coincidences and artistic license in medicine (with his characters repeatedly suffering absurd injuries and recovering quickly) along with his three characters- Zenna, [[LEGORockRaiders Axle]], and Elizabeth- compared to his numerous [=NPCs=] now. Also his depiction in the LEGOIsland arc of a very clear cut "[[{{Demonization}} realists are evil]]" ideology is noticeably different from his more recent posts, which are more morally gray and tend to be somewhat grounded in reality whenever possible.

** [[WordOfGod Atton Rand]] has actually joked about introducing a plot thread in which it turns out that the Eldritch Abominations written by Lovecraft such as Cthulu, Yog-Sothoth, ect. were all based on Stromlings.
* EldritchLocation: The Torn World.

* Emphasize Everything: Blaire Darkling intentionally speaks like this, often emphasizing random words with little relevence.
* EndingMemorialService: One of the last events to take place on Adventurers' island was the memorial for [[spoiler:Dust]].

* EnemyMine: [[LEGOAlphaTeam Evil Ogel]], [[KnightsKingdom2 Lord Vladek]], [[LEGOAdventurers Lord Sinister]], and [[LEGOIsland the Brickster]] allied with the Dino Attack Team to ensure the defeat of XERRD.

** RotatingProtagonist: Every post in Dino Attack RPG shifts the perspective to another character, especially since players are not allowed to post twice in a row due to BZPower forum rules.

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Although he has not shown true affection towards Kate, Wallace Bishop went out of his way to ensure that Dr. Strangebrick did not harm her. [[spoiler:Of course, given what we later learn about [[ReverseMole "Wallace Bishop"]], this trope isn't actually played as straight as it first seemed.]]

* EvilCounterpart: Rex and Dr. Rex.

* EvilIsNotAToy: [[SarcasmMode Go ahead, Dr. Rex. Just inject yourself with trace amounts of a dark and malicious force known to destroy the universe. It's most certainly not going to come back to bite you...]]

* EvilRedhead: Carolyne Provencal and Paulie Gonepus.

* EvilVersusEvil: The Villains versus XERRD.

** EvilVersusOblivion: Pretty much the justification for the above cases of EvilVersusEvil. For example, [[LEGOAlphaTeam Ogel]] wishes to rule the world, while [[spoiler:[[LEGOUniverse Baron Typhonus]] seeks to destroy it through XERRD]], prompting Ogel to ally with Dino Attack Team to help defeat the Maelstrom.

* ExploringTheEvilLair: Kate, Dust, and Zachary all made efforts to explore the XERRD fortress on their own (although the former had no real choice in the matter). Kate and Zachary were captured and Dust was discovered snooping around by Minerva.

* {{Expy}}: General Evil is, more or less, a fused {{Expy}} of [[StarWars General Grievous]] and [[ABugsLife Hopper]].

* EyeScream: Greybeard lost all vision in his right eye due to a Mutant Raptor attack. Holly Vinyaya's own right eye was clawed at by an acid-dipped Mutant Raptor claw.

* FaceDeathWithDignity: WordOfGod says that this is how Roger Remous died at the hooks of Fssinister, which has considerably helped Amanda Claw accept his death.

** [[spoiler:Semick's]] death might be one of the most dignified deaths in the entire RPG.
* FaceHeelTurn: Oswald Fabello and Raptor did this when they joined XERRD.
** Zachary also preformed a FaceHeelTurn against his will.

* TheFaceless: Spy always wears a mask in public, even getting married to Mrs. Rutherford.

* FailedaSpotCheck: French Fries was briefly seen casually talking to Zenna in the Dino Attack Headquarters... apparently completely oblivious to the fact that members of both the idealist and realist sides of the team are inside trying to kill each other, and for that matter the entire conflict that ''he'' unintentionally caused.

* FantasticRacism: The extremists of the idealist-realist bordered on this trope, attacking anyone with opposing views.

* FauxAffablyEvil: Carolyne Provencal can be downright terrifying... when she's acting sweet and polite.

* FinalSolution: An extremely rare example in that it's actually somewhat justified. The whole point of the Dino Attack Team was to eliminate the threat of mutant dinosaurs, namely by destroying them.
** A much more brutal case occurred with Cam O'Cozy, whose plan seemed to involve complete genocide against everyone in the team with the slightest idealistic views. It turned out that his target was actually the ''entire'' Dino Attack team, and he simply taken advantage of an already intense rivalry between two sides by manipulating the more aggressive one into violence, hoping that a significant number of both would die in the resulting civil war. Of course the whole thing was planned by Dr. Rex, who in addition to programming Cam O'Cozy used the [[LEGOUniverse Maelstrom]] to corrupt Digger's mind.

* FireForgedFriends: While most of the Dino Attack Team is a BandOfBrothers, there are others who would be classified as FireForgedFriends, such as [[NobleMaleRoguishMale Greybeard and Frozeen]], since they would likely have never gotten along if it were not for the Dino Attack.

* {{Flanderization}}: A minor note in the [[LEGOIsland LEGO Island Comic Adventures]] stated that the Brickster wished to be as evil as [[LEGOAlphaTeam Evil Ogel]]. In Dino Attack RPG, the Brickster has been Flanderized to the point of being Ogel's self-proclaimed #1 fanboy.

* {{Foil}}: Rotor, the aggressive commander who tries to think realistically and practically, putting his own personal morals aside and embracing the dark side of the war makes him the perfect {{foil}} for Zenna, the kind and compassionate idealist who thinks things through and puts her friends above all else. It's interesting to even note the two different fates of the characters, Zenna ended up paralyzed in one arm and with every bone in her body broken, while Rotor's so far made through most of the war without a scratch.

* ForDoomTheBellTolls: Played with. While no actual bells are tolling, the sound of thunder before the final battle sounded suspiciously like church bells ringing, according to the prose.
** [[http://youtu.be/nbUN2OWSeyg Anyone Can Die]], the soundtrack for a scene that takes place in the final battle, makes appropriate use of the Clock Tower bell from ''TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask''.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Dust's nightmare way back at Outpost 108.

* {{Forgiveness}}: Greybeard finally forgave Beatrice just before he died in ''[[WhatIf December 21, 2010]]''.

* ForegoneConclusion: As of November 2005, Dino Attack RPG had a ForegoneConclusion in that Dino Attack Team ''had'' to win the war.

* FreudianExcuse: Dust never knew his mother and his father was an [[AlcoholicParent alcoholic]] and [[WouldHurtAChild abusive]].

* FriendOrFoe: Lutsky's infiltration squad unwittingly massacred a group of Dino Attack Agents disguised as XERRD personnel.

* FriendlessBackground: Kate seems to have experienced this during her childhood.

* FromNobodyToNightmare: Dr. Ronald Alexander was just an ordinary scientist who grew up in the Great Depression. He would one day become [[BigBad Dr. Rex]], the monstrous and maddened Mutant T-Rex who leads the Maelstrom's forces in the apocalypse itself.

** Most XERRD scientists are CaptainErsatz versions of science-oriented characters from various forms of media, ranging from Dr. Wily from ''{{Megaman}}'' to GLaDOS from ''Videogame/{{Portal}}''; from Professor Elvin Gadd of ''SuperMarioBros'' to Ze Professor from ''VideoGame/ConkersBadFurDay''; from Dr. O'Brien of ''[[NineteenEightyFour 1984]]'' to Dr. Insano of ''TheSpoonyExperiment''.

** Most XERRD scientists are CaptainErsatz versions of science-oriented characters from various forms of media, ranging from Dr. Wily from ''{{Megaman}}'' to GLaDOS from ''Videogame/{{Portal}}''; from Professor Elvin Gadd of ''SuperMarioBros'' to Ze Professor from ''ConkersBadFurDay''; from Dr. O'Brien of ''[[NineteenEightyFour 1984]]'' to Dr. Insano of ''TheSpoonyExperiment''.

* CapuletCounterpart: Covert, who started as Magma's arch-nemesis and, after [[LEGOAlphaTeam Alpha Team]] and [[LEGOAgents Agents]] joined forces in the Dino Attack, ultimately fell in love with him.

*** Firecracker is an interesting case. While he was based on a character from the obscure spaghetti Western ''DuckYouSucker'', his depiction isn't so much based on the actual movie's depiction of him as a guilt-ridden ex-terrorist as it is the humorous depictions of him in Atton Rand's {{Downfall}} Parodies, where he is shown to be a trigger-happy maniac who loves seeing things explode and has made it his life's ambition to blow up Hitler for reasons unknown.

** BigBadEnsemble: The final battle pits Dino Attack Team against [[BigBad Dr. Rex]], [[spoiler:[[LEGOUniverse Baron Typhonus]]]], [[LEGOAgents Dr. Inferno]], and [[ClassicLEGOCastle Willa the Witch]].

*** A villainous example from the same battle: [[ClassicLEGOCastle the Fright Knights]].

*** YouShallNotPass: Libo, who destroyed the [[ClassicLEGOCastle Stone Tower Bridge]] (while still standing on it) to prevent the Mutant Dinos from following his friends.

** Kurt [=MacReady=] was the one sent to catch Snake, and the two of them subsequently got into a brawl. They were inspired by [[TheThing R.J. MacReady]] and [[EscapeFromNewYork Snake Plissken]], respectively, both of whom were played by Kurt Russel, and served as the lead to JohnCarpenter movies released a year apart from each other.

** In one particularly confusing case, Atton Rand introduced a CaptainErsatz that got repeatedly mistaken for an Ersatz of an entirely different character. Many of his fellow players believed Snake to be an Ersatz of Solid Snake from ''Franchise/MetalGear'' rather than Snake Plissken from ''EscapeFromNewYork''. To be fair, Solid Snake himself is a homage to Snake Plissken, so similarities are inevitable.

** Actually played straight subtley, in regards to comments in his dreams about [[PeripheryDemographic taking interest]] in [[MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic small, oddly-colored horses]]...

** In one particularly confusing case, Atton Rand introduced a CaptainErsatz that got repeatedly mistaken for an Ersatz of an entirely different character. Many of his fellow players believed Snake to be an Ersatz of Solid Snake from ''MetalGearSolid'' rather than Snake Plissken from ''EscapeFromNewYork''. To be fair, Solid Snake himself is a homage to Snake Plissken, so similarities are inevitable.

** Walker, Lovhaug, and Dr. Insano are all CaptainErsatz versions of ThatGuyWithTheGlasses characters.

* DidNotGetTheGirl: [[spoiler: Rex was married to Amanda only for her to die soon after (though you could argue that they were reunited in death), Hertz got married to Carver only for her to die in an explosion. Rotor and Cabin found their relationship rapidly deteriorating after the war and presumably broke up eventually]].

** Most XERRD scientists are CaptainErsatz versions of science-oriented characters from various forms of media, ranging from Dr. Wily from ''{{Megaman}}'' to GLaDOS from ''Videogame/Portal''; from Professor Elvin Gadd of ''SuperMarioBros'' to Ze Professor from ''ConkersBadFurDay''; from Dr. O'Brien of ''{{1984}}'' to Dr. Insano of ''TheSpoonyExperiment''.

* Fallen Hero: Kotua, Spino, Raptor, Zachary Virchaus, and Oswald Fabello, to name a few examples.

** Medic: "Ja, I vaz at ze car dealership ze ozer day und purchazed a Volkzvagen, but zen I crashed it und it caught of vire."

** Now we've got a cast of CaptainErsatz characters from ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer''... who were introduced solely because of a character named Giles (who wasn't even related to the show, but rather named after the character from ''TheCrucible'').