History GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse / TropesAToH

* DoTheyKnowItsChristmasTime: The story in which Bungie and Ultra-Man brow-beat the normally aloof Achilles, who's never really experienced a ''real'' Christmas himself, into dressing up as Santa Claus for a local orphanage and handing out presents. It ends with Achilles discovering a gift-wrapped present on his bunk in Guardians headquarters. We never find out who sent it, or what was in it, but it is implied that the gift came from his father.

* AngryBlackMan: Thundercloud, a KidHero active in the 1970s, started out as an [[AngryBlackMan Angry Native American]]. By the time he's grown up and changed his name to Thunderstorm, his anger is less about racial injustice and more about just being really angry about pretty much everything.

* BigRedDevil: The supervillain known as The Devil, one of TAROT's Major Arcana, can transform into a huge, super-strong, [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk Hulk-like]] monstrosity whose appearance fits this trope exactly.

** The "Prime" variety of {{Anthropomophic Personification}}s active on Earth (that is, those who are "pure ideas" rather than a normal human who has been merged with the "power of the idea") generally start out as pretty inhuman, psychologically speaking. They get more and more human the more they interact with people. Of course, there are exceptions.

* AllThereInTheManual: * The ''Global Guardians Encyclopedia'' had tens of thousands of entries, detailing all kinds of fun facts, most of which never made it into any story at all. Examples include how the Las Vegas casinos dealt with superhumans who use their powers to cheat a casino (harshly), when the first flying car was released to for public purchase (1974), to how much it costs to buy a John Deere Iron Man II brand power-assist exoskeleton ($75,000), and pretty much everything in between.

* DidWeJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu: * This happens once when one of Los Hermanos's duplicates comes across The Blood Red King in an empty New York coffee shop. The villain hadn't even killed any of the shop's staff.

* DumbMuscle: * Bamm-Bamm is perhaps the third (or maybe fourth) strongest person (either hero or villain) in the world, NighInvulnerable, devoted to his older brother (the supervillain Eightball), and has Down's Syndrome. A member of HardCorps, his brother's super-villain team.

--->'''Stone:''' "At least now I know what that muscleheaded bastard meant..."
* AFormYouAreComfortableWith: All of the AnthropomorphicPersonifications are made of this trope because, being the physical incarnations of ideas, everyone has a different interpretation of that idea. What this means is that two people could be talking to The King (the AnthropomorphicPersonification of "The Legend of Elvis Presley") and he'd look precisely like how they think Elvis Presley looks like when they think of Elvis Presley (meaning if one person pictures Ed Sullivan-era Elvis, he looks like Ed Sullivan-era Elvis; if they picture Vegas-era white-tassle pudgy Elvis, he looks like Vegas-era white-tassle pudgy Elvis).

** RitualMagic: * Damien Thorne, a charismatic demonologist who claims to be the son of [[{{Satan}} the Devil]] himself, uses nothing but ritual magic. He's not quite [[HermeticMagic hermetic]] about it (he likes mixing it up, and HermeticMagic is too time-consuming for actual fighting) but he comes close.

* GatlingGood: Global Guardians villain Caliber, a member of HardCorps, wears a suit of PoweredArmor whose primary weapon is a huge minigun mounted on his right shoulder.

* HandwrapsOfAwesome: Rottweiler, a street-level martial arts hero from Detroit (think Wolverine without the claws but with a much sunnier disposition), wears handwraps as a matter of course. Cestus, a member of the supervillain team HardCorps, does the same.

* HealingHands: * Lifeline and Panacea are both superheroes who (among other powers) are capable of healing with a touch. Amnesty, the AnthropomorphicPersonification of Mercy, can not only heal with a touch, she can raise the dead completely. Mercy, another AnthropomorphicPersonification (this time of the popular view of angels), can also heal with a touch and raise the dead, though she is very reluctant to do the latter. Empath heals by taking on injuries and illnesses into her own body. Dream Sword heals through manipulation of the chakras. Saba Devatao can heal injured people, but only by transferring the injury to a healthy person.

* HumanityEnsues: The Moreaus are UpliftedAnimals who were force-evolved into a near-human form. Regardless of their original species, their constant interaction with humanity over the decades have made them all very humanlike psychologically.
** The "Prime" variety of [[AnthropomophicPersonification Anthropomorphic Personifications]] active on Earth (that is, those who are "pure ideas" rather than a normal human who has been merged with the "power of the idea") generally start out as pretty inhuman, psychologically speaking. They get more and more human the more they interact with people. Of course, there are exceptions.

* AnachronicOrder: The roleplay featured the stories of [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters hundreds of characters]], set from about 1922 to the present day, all being told simultaneously. Without a scorecard it was impossible to tell what order in which to read the stories. On top of it, there was the Legacy Campaign (about the sidekicks and children of heroes who were active in the 1960s and 1970s), where the action bounced between the 60s/70s and modern day without warning.

* ExtraOreDinary: Perepis can telekinetically manipulate metal, as can Ogun (who wears a suit of telekinetically manipulated "PoweredArmor"). Mercury, a liquid-metal shapeshifter akin to the [[Film/TerminatorJudgmentDay T-1000]] can form his own body into various metallic shapes.

* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys: There are several ape superheroes: Tachyon, Massive, Charity, Bounder, and The Shape. They invert the trope with the Ape supervillains Guido the Killer Chimp and Brainy Ape, not to mention the sinister [[EvilGenius Doctor Simian]] and his [[YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters "ape liberation" organization, Prime 8]].

* ArbitrarySkepticism: Achilles is a genetically engineered super-soldier whose father is an immortal DiabolicalMastermind warlord. He's on team with a man who belongs to [[TheChosenMany an interstellar police force]], a [[SuperSpeed super-fast]] [[EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys talking gorilla]], a [[TimeTravel time traveler from the 40s]] who gained his powers from [[StupidJetpackHitler a Nazy super-science experiment]], and a Neanderthal who [[AnIcePerson survived being frozen in a glacier for 40,000 years]]. That all said, he does not believe in magic, and thus refuses to believe that his teammate Arachne received her powers from the goddess Athena.

* AnimalStereotypes: Aside from [[EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys the Sentient Apes]] that populate the setting, there are also a category of characters called "Moreaus" (after the titular MadScientist from "The Island of Doctor Moreau"), [[UpliftedAnimal scientifically altered animals that can now speak and think]].

* AliensAndMonsters: The roleplay was full of aliens and monsters. It is a superhero setting, after all. One hero team actually fought Franchise/{{Godzilla}} for crying out loud...

* ArtMajorBiology: The roleplay advertised itself as an "open source superpowered roleplaying universe", which meant that pretty much any explanation for superpowers was useable. Bizarre alien biology as the source of superpowers, not to mention the "mutant" thing, all saw a lot of use.

* AboveGoodAndEvil: The Warlord, from the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'', is a [[TimeTravel traveler from the future]] who came back to the present because he was bored. He didn't like the way things were going in his time, and he changes historical events at a whim. He considers himself "beyond" such petty concerns as right and wrong.

* AcademyOfAdventure: Both the [[SuperheroSchool Venture Institute]] and the [[SuperheroSchool Hyperion Academy]] in the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse''.

* ActionGirl: Since the Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse is all about superheroic action, pretty much all female characters were this.

* AdaptiveAbility: In the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse, Mexican superhero Evolucion, is a FlyingBrick with "reactive evolution" powers. He gains those defensive and sensory powers he needs depending on the situation he finds himself in (he gains night vision in darkness, he grows gills if he's underwater, fireproof skin if he's in a fire, and so on).

* AesopAmnesia: From the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'', the heroic Robotman learned that he can still be human even if he's a BrainInAJar. Then his original player left, the character was taken over by another player, and the "my God, what have I become" came back all over again.

* AlienBlood: Most of the aliens living on Earth in the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'' bleed red, especially the Tautiq and the Pelkons (who are basically HumanAliens and RubberForeheadAliens, respectively). The Delethai are the exception... they bleed orange.

* AliensAndMonsters: The ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'' was full of aliens and monsters. It is a superhero setting, after all. One hero team actually fought Franchise/{{Godzilla}} for crying out loud...

* AmateurSleuth: Andrew "Lucky" Starr from the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'' doesn't actually go out looking for mysteries to solve. [[MysteryMagnet He's just lucky that way]].

* AnachronicOrder: The ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'' featured the stories of [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters hundreds of characters]], set from about 1922 to the present day, all being told simultaneously. Without a scorecard it was impossible to tell what order in which to read the stories. On top of it, there was the Legacy Campaign (about the sidekicks and children of heroes who were active in the 1960s and 1970s), where the action bounced between the 60s/70s and modern day without warning.

* AnimalStereotypes: Aside from [[EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys the Sentient Apes]] that populate the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'', there are also a category of characters called "Moreaus" (after the titular MadScientist from "The Island of Doctor Moreau"), [[UpliftedAnimal scientifically altered animals that can now speak and think]].

* TheAntiChrist: Mystic detective and monster-hunter Jonathan [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Brimstone]] from the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse''. His father is [[{{Satan}} Lucifer Morningstar]]. His mother a drug-addicted cultist. According to prophecy, he is destined to overthrow all goodness and light in his father's name.

* ArchiveBinge: People visiting the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'' website for the first time usually indulged in one of these, until they realized how much information was available and it descended into an ArchivePanic.

* TheArchmage: Warlock was TheArchmage of the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse.''
* ArmedWithCanon: This happened occasionally in the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'' when one GameMaster took over a campaign from another GameMaster and immediately instituted story changes that invalidated previous stories. At one point this got so bad that Jack Butler had to stop in, stop multiple campaigns, and reboot the entire universe.
* ArmsDealer: When it comes to high-tech armaments, the supervillains of the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'' turn to either the appropriately named Weaponsmith or the former [[ThoseWackyNazis Nazi]] MadScientist Baron Malthus. The Weaponsmith's weapons are more powerful, but are much more expensive. Baron Mathus produces less advanced weapons, but they are a bargain comparatively.
* ArsonMurderAndLifesaving: Both Stone and Bandit, former members of the [[Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse Global Guardians]], were regularly chewed out in this manner. Bandit, a teleporter, had a bad habit of disregarding things like "warrants" and "privacy laws". Stone, a FlyingBrick biker, couldn't even ''pronounce'' the phrase "excessive force", much less know what it meant. But they were both true heroes who would willingly sacrifice their lives to protect the innocent.
* ArtMajorBiology: The ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'' advertised itself as an "open source superpowered roleplaying universe", which meant that pretty much any explanation for superpowers was useable. Bizarre alien biology as the source of superpowers, not to mention the "mutant" thing, all saw a lot of use.

* AsLongAsThereIsEvil: The Blood Red King, the AnthropomorphicPersonification of Anger, Cruelty, Violence, and Fear in the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'', has been killed numerous times since he first appeared in the late 1970s. But as long as there are people being angry or cruel, causing violence or causing fear, he always springs back up shortly thereafter, fresh as a daisy.

* AstonishinglyAppropriateAppearance: The ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'' naturally uses this a lot being based on comic books. The best examples are probably Amnesty (the AnthropomorphicPersonification of Mercy) who wears angelic white robes, has a halo, wings, and glows with a pure white inner light, and the Blood Red King (the AnthropomorphicPersonification of Terror and Fear), who has red-glowing eyes, fangs, and has blood continually dripping from his hands.

* BackStory: At its height, the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'' had literally megabytes of back story on its website, in a history involving thousands of characters and trailing all the way back to the Big Bang. When the game's website finally closed down, the [[WordOfGod administrator admitted]] that there was more back story that hadn't ever made it onto the website than information that had.

* BandOfBrothers: The Global Guardians, the superhero team that gives the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'' its name, started out one of these, but became even moreso after the events of the the September 11th, 2001 terror attacks in which they lost one of their own while rescuing people from the collapsing World Trade Center.

* BatmanCanBreatheInSpace: While there are several heroes and villains in the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'' who are immune to all the problems usually involved with vacuum exposure (usually by way of being otherwise invulnerable), nearly all of them still need to breathe (they use some form of breathing apparatus when they do go into space). The ones who don't need to breathe are either EnergyBeings, or else are The Shield (whose immunity to injury includes an immunity to suffocation).
* BattleButler: Mister Joshua, the "personal secretary" of CorruptCorporateExecutive Lexington Cargill, from the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse''. He fetches coffee, he retrieves information, he carries briefcases, and occasionally he beats up or kills those he is directed to beat up or kill.

* BearsAreBadNews: The ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'' has several examples of this trope:

** March Hare, White Rabbit, and Silver Marten from the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse''.
** Dragon, from the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'', can turn into a man-shaped firebreathing dragon. Lord Dragon, on the other hand, is a fire-breathing dragon who turns into a man. Taipan and Asp both have snake powers. Sebek has crocodile powers.

** Hate is an unspecific bestial supervillain from the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUNiverse''. Harrier, a superhero from the same setting, has the same sort of vague animal look as well, as does Wild Spirit and Salvaje ("Feral" in Spanish).

* BigBad: [[TheChessmaster The Emperor]], leader of [[NebulousEvilOrganization TAROT]], has his fingers in nearly every criminal enterprise on Earth in The Global Guardians PBEM Universe. Of course, he's also got his fingers in nearly every major legitimate business enterprise on Earth as well. But then, what do you expect of a villain who is secretly an immortal [[ManipulativeBastard Niccolo Machiavelli]]?

* BioAugmentation: This is a common way of gaining superpowers in the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse''. [[EvilOverlord Lord Doom]] even bio-engineered an entire raft of children to serve him as [[SuperSoldier super soldiers]].

* BizarroUniverse: The heroes of the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'' have encountered several of these. In addition to two of the "standard" good-to-evil-switch [[MirrorUniverse mirror universes]], there was Neanderthal-Earth (all the people were the same, but they were all neanderthals), Ape-Earth (where gorillas were the dominant species and humans were just a kind of smart animal... though there was an entire city of "Smart Humans" hidden in the mountains of Africa), Lizard-Earth (where the dinosaurs never died out and everyone was a Deinonychus-like being), Medieval-Earth (modern society based on magic rather than technology, where science never got past the Dark Ages.

* BoldInflation: Being a PBEM, the action of the campaigns was always produced in text. This trope occurred on a more-than-regular basis.
* BoltOfDivineRetribution: During one [[Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse Global Guardians]] campaign, the Blood Red King mocked the heroes for their inability to stop him while standing over the corpses of children he had murdered. Axe-wielding superhero [[PhysicalGod Byelobog]], who in reality [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin really is the Slavic "White God" of the Sun that he is named after]], promptly called down one of these to justly smite the villain. The Blood Red King never mocked Byelobog again.

** For the most part, the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'' avoids this trope. Most of the smartest people in the setting are [[GadgeteerGenius super-inventors]] rather than [[PsychicPowers mentalists]].

* BroughtToYouByTheLetterS: 'J' for Jock, a super-athlete with heightened reflexes from the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse''.

* BusmansHoliday: It became a running joke in the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'' that superheroes should never go on vacation, because when they do, something bad always happens. Supervillains attacked [[Ride/DisneyThemeParks Walt Disney World]] while the heroes are attending in SecretIdentity with their families. The Caribbean resort they go to gets hit by a hurricane and the entire island needs rescue and evacuation. The cruise ship they sail on is attacked by a kraken. A werewolf stalks the tourists to the mountain lodge they've escaped to. The Atlanteans attack if they go to the beach. It was just easier for them to stay home some days.

* CaptainEthnic: ''The Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'' features literally dozens of non-American, non-Caucasian superheroes and villains working in their own native countries.

* ChekhovsArmory: The players in the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'' were encouraged to flesh out their characters' backgrounds to the fullest extent possible precisely because they would then be used as one big ChekhovsArmory. Even characters who had backgrounds that were mysterious even to themselves found their BackStory used for plot details later.
* ChekhovsArmy: Every single named character who showed up at any time in the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'' would be back later to play a larger part in the story. Every single one.
* ChekhovsBoomerang: In the very first [[Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse Global Guardians]] story, Dogfight's status as a husband and father is remarked on by his teammates, as it is relatively rare for costumed crimefighters to be married, much less to be married with children. Years later, when Dogfight is [[HeroicSacrifice killed rescuing people]] from the World Trade Center during the September 11th attacks, his family is brought front and center to add a bit more poignancy to the memorial for the attack's victims. They then disappeared into the background, presumably never to be seen again. In one of the last Guardians stories, Dogfight's oldest son reappears as a supervillain (having inherited his father's powers) seeking revenge on the Guardians, whom he blames for his father's death.

* ChekhovsGag: In one [[Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse Global Guardians]] story, heroic [[ShapeShifting shape shifter]] Pseudo is hired as a consultant to a production company making a superhero movie. At one point he uses his powers to duplicate the appearance of Viggo Mortensen (the leading man) as a joke and is immediately mistaken for the actor by his co-stars. HilarityEnsues. The story is shared among Pseudo's teammates and they all have a good laugh. A year later, Pseudo is hired again by the same company as a consultant for the sequel. When Pseudo's teammates visit the set, they immediately step up to Viggo Mortensen and start chatting away, thinking he's Pseudo. HilarityEnsues.

* TheChessmaster: The Emperor, leader of [[NebulousEvilOrganization TAROT]], has his fingers in nearly every criminal enterprise on Earth in The Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse. He's also got his fingers in nearly every major legitimate business enterprise on Earth as well as more than a couple of governments. But then, what do you expect of a villain who is secretly an immortal [[ManipulativeBastard Niccolo Machiavelli]]?

* ComboPlatterPowers: For the most part, this was avoided in the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'', so the exceptions stand out all the more:

* TheCorruption: In the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'', this is one of [[EldritchAbomination The Blood Red]] [[AnthropomorphicPersonification King's]] favorite tactics: find an innocent person and turn them into monsters by granting them power and turning off any sort of moral control over that power and then letting them loose on the unsuspecting populace.

* CreateYourOwnVillain: The villainous speedster Slipstream blames the [[Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse Global Guardians]] for the death of his father, the superhero Dogfight (a former member of the Guardians himself) in the 9/11 attacks. Slipstream has sworn vengeance.

* CastingAShadow: Several characters have these abilities in the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse''. Nearly all of them fall under Category Two. Nocturne, Eclipse (who can also [[LightEmUp manipulate light]]), Shadowcloak, Night Vision, Raven, Tatterdemalion, Moonshadow (who, like Eclipse, can also [[LightEmUp control light]]), Zmierzch (Polish for "Twilight"), Bloody Mary, Muerte Oscura, Shadowspawn, and Obsidian.

* [[ArtificialLimbs Cybernetics]]: The ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'', featured several cybernetic characters, including Indian hero Naja (his legs have been replaced with a long cybernetic "tail", and he has envenomed "fangs" in his wrists), Koushik (his right arm has been replaced and gives him super-strong punches), Halftrack (the lower half of his body has been replaced by a tracked, tank-like machine with attached heavy weaponry), Daemon (cranial implants let him jack into computers, and other implants increase his strength, durability, and speed), Deadlock (cranial implants allow him to "jack in" new skillsets as needed), Overdrive (arms, legs, and spine have been reinforced, giving her SuperSpeed), and Robotman (who is a BrainInAJar with a total body replacement).
* CyberneticsEatYourSoul: Cyborg assassin Deadlock from the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'' has replaced the emotional center of his brain with a computer system that allows him to "jack in" skill files. When he needs martial arts, he inserts a martial arts chip, and so on. He is incapable of feeling any emotion and has become cold and merciless and inhuman.

* DatingCatwoman: Los Hermanos, a member of the [[Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse Global Guardians]] is having a torrid affair with Brigit, the daughter of [[DiabolicalMastermind Lord Doom]] via one of his copy bodies.
* ADayInTheLimelight: In the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'', there were stories that focused on the support staff of this or that hero team, on bystanders to superheroic battles, on journalists reporting on super-battles, and so on.

* DumbMuscle: * Bamm-Bamm from the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse''. He is perhaps the third (or maybe fourth) strongest person (either hero or villain) in the world, NighInvulnerable, devoted to his older brother (the supervillain Eightball), and has Down's Syndrome. A member of HardCorps, his brother's super-villain team.

* ElementalAbsorption: Most users of ElementalPowers in the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'' can do this with their appropriate element, as long as they are capable of generating that element in the first place. If all they can do is manipulate the element, then absorption is usually beyond the scope of their power.

* ElementalPowers: Several characters from the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'' have elemental powers:

* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: Each story of a [[Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse Global Guardians]] campaign was set up like a season of a television series. Specifically, the finale of each season was an end of the world scenario. Notable examples were the [[AlienInvasion Xorn invasion]], the near-miss of an asteroid, the release of a horde of [[EldritchAbomination elder gods]] on the planet, impending nuclear holocaust, drastic historical revision by way of a time-traveling bad guy, an invasion by MirrorUniverse versions of the various superheroes, and quite a few other threats to the entire planet.

* EnergyBeing: Photon of the Supreme Six, a superhero team in the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'' is an EnergyBeing whose body is made of [[LightEmUp pure light]]. He retains human form mainly because it makes things easier to interact with his teammates.
* [[PureEnergy Energy Blasts]]: This is a pretty common power type in the ‘’Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse’’. Victory, Evengella, Argent, both Quantums (one an American superhero with [[PhysicalGod vast and near-limitless power]], the other a Spanish hero with not quite as much power), Silverwing, and the Chaos Lord all use the “cosmic energy” rational, and some use the “energy can’t be destroyed” assumption as well.

* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys: The ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'' plays this trope straight with the Ape superheroes Tachyon, Massive, Charity, Bounder, and The Shape. They invert the trope with the Ape supervillains Guido the Killer Chimp and Brainy Ape, not to mention the sinister [[EvilGenius Doctor Simian]] and his [[YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters "ape liberation" organization, Prime 8]].

* ExperiencePoints: The ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'' used the ''TabletopGame/HeroSystem'' rules for ExperiencePoints.
* ExpressiveHair: Slipknot, a member of the superheroic Euroguard from the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'', has long, [[SuperStrength superhumanly strong]] PrehensileHair. Naturally, it also reflects his emotional state.

* FictionalPoliticalParty: The United States of the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'' is a land where the Democrats and Republicans still win the greater majority of elections, but the country cannot be said to still be a two-party nation. The Green Party isn't the joke it is in the real world, and has split the liberal vote with the World Voice Party (whose major policies center around equal rights for all sentient creatures). On the conservative side, the Tea Party has split from the Republicans, and the New Horizon Party (an even-more-ultraconservative party who publically says their policies are "humans first", but they define "human" as "rich white, Anglo-Saxon protestants).

* {{Foreshadowing}}: In Stone's first appearance as a [[Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse Global Guardian]], a fight with several villains from [[NebulousEvilOrganization TAROT]], [[WorldsStrongestMan Strength]] jokes at him, "Say hello to your Mom for me." Stone, being an orphan, just took it as a taunt. ''Nine years later'', Stone finds out that he isn't an orphan at all, that his mother is a supervillain and that Stone was hidden from her by his own father, and that she had worked with [[WorldsStrongestMan Strength]] on several occasions.

* AFormYouAreComfortableWith: All of the AnthropomorphicPersonifications in the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'' are made of this trope because, being the physical incarnations of ideas, everyone has a different interpretation of that idea. What this means is that two people could be talking to The King (the AnthropomorphicPersonification of "The Legend of Elvis Presley") and he'd look precisely like how they think Elvis Presley looks like when they think of Elvis Presley (meaning if one person pictures Ed Sullivan-era Elvis, he looks like Ed Sullivan-era Elvis; if they picture Vegas-era white-tassle pudgy Elvis, he looks like Vegas-era white-tassle pudgy Elvis).

* FunctionalMagic: Every single form of magic exists in the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse''. Practitioners of magic are on both sides of the "hero/villain" moral line, though there are some who walk straight down the middle of the line. The most powerful wizard on Earth is the Warlock, also called TheArchmage.

* GadgeteerGenius: This is an honest to God super-power in the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse''. Some GadgeteerGenius's have only the power to make one very, very advanced device (Roland Jaffe, for example, created an electrical storage battery the size of an iPod that could store more electricity than a ten-foot-high pile of car batteries, or Peter Dansker, a technician for Lucent who managed to build a truly sentient android over the course of a weekend), while others are able to toss out new technology as easily as most other people breathe. Individuals who possess the latter type of the power include Herr Doktor Archeville, The Evil Mastermind, Lord Doom, Doctor Simian, Diamond, Toybox, Knickknack, the Junk Man, the Weaponsmith, and Technomage.

* GameSystem: The ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'' used the TabletopGame/HeroSystem as its rules base.

* GeniusBonus: The magical young children of the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'' attend Martha Corey Memorial High School in Nowhere, Ohio. Martha Corey being the first woman convicted of witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials.

* GenkiGirl: Gimmick, a KidHero GadgeteerGenius from the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'' who fights crime in Saint Louis, Missouri.

* GiantFlyer: Lord Dragon, Glaserwyrm, and Draco, from the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'', were all honest-to-God dragons. Glaserwyrm was simply a monster to be beaten down. Lord Dragon was a dragon who turned into a man to act like a superhero, while Draco was a man who turned into a full-blown dragon and fought crime as a superhero.

* GlamourFailure: The French supervillain Mindscape, from the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'', avoids cameras as often as he can, because anyone viewing him on film or in photographs can instantly tell he's a deformed hunchback and not the GQ-quality supermodel-handsome man he uses his powers of illusion to pretend to be.

* GodzillaThreshold: Quantum from the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'' was the most powerful superbeing on Earth. He was quite literally capable of disintegrating the moon, had he wanted to, but of course he never wanted to. When the Xorn invaded, he went out to meet their attack fleet in space and finally let himself cut loose. [[HeroicSacrifice It was almost enough.]]

* [[ZettaiRyouiki Golden Thigh Ratio]]: The Cheerleaders, a trio of supervillains from the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'', consciously make use of this trope as part of their "Jiggle Fu" distraction powers against male opponents.

* GravityMaster: Several characters from the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'' have control over gravity. The heroes include Collapsar, Neutron Star, Orbits I and II (one is a Canadian hero, the other a Turkish hero), Gravity Man, and White Dwarf. The villains include Urania, Gravity, Black Hole, Event Horizon, Crusher, Deadweight, and Singularity.

* HannibalLecture: When the heroes of the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'' finally captured The Confessor (a SerialKillerKiller) they promptly pointed out to The Confessor that he, himself, was a serial killer. The Confessor delivered the Hannibal Lecture to end all Hannibal Lectures about the ineffectualness of superheroes in stopping really determined murderers.

* HeroicBuild: While some of the characters in the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'' had heroic builds, you'd just as likely find a superhero who was skinny, or slightly overweight. Mostly, this happened with the [[BadassNormal Badass Normals]], who justifiably worked out to keep their physiques.
* HeroicVow: Vows to never take a life were very, very common among the heroes in the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse''.

* HowDoIShotWeb: Several campaigns in the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'' were built around the premise that the characters had ''literally'' just got their powers, and had no idea at all how to use them. For the most part, these campaigns resembled the first season of ''Series/TheGreatestAmericanHero''.

* HumanAliens: The Tautiq, a race of alien refugees who now live on earth in the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'', basically look like taller, thinner humans with odd hair-and-skin color combinations. They aren't "sexually compatible" with humans, either, but you can't tell that without seeing them naked.
* HumanityEnsues: The Moreaus of the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'' are UpliftedAnimals who were force-evolved into a near-human form. Regardless of their original species, their constant interaction with humanity over the decades have made them all very humanlike psychologically.
** The "Prime" variety of [[AnthropomophicPersonification Anthropomorphic Personifications]] active on Earth in the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'' (that is, those who are "pure ideas" rather than a normal human who has been merged with the "power of the idea") generally start out as pretty inhuman, psychologically speaking. They get more and more human the more they interact with people. Of course, there are exceptions.

** Sniper is a [[ThePunisher Punisher-style]] vigilante who uses [[MoreDakka gym-bags full of guns]]. He thinks of himself as a hero; most of the heroes see him as a villain.

* BigBadEnsemble: [[EvilOverlord The Emperor]], [[EvilGenius Lord Doom]], [[MadScientist Doctor Simian]], [[TimeAbyss Abyss]], [[OmnicidalManiac the Blood Red King]], and [[CrushKillDestroy Omega]] all present a threat to the whole world. They do this simultaneously, though of course they don't do it cooperatively.

* HurricaneKick: Gyro, a villainous [[EverythingsBetterWithSpinning spinning]] [[SuperSpeed speedster]], uses this sort of attack as a matter of course. He's a trained ballet dancer, so he can keep his leg extended for a long while... and he whips it around his body at almost supersonic speed.

* EverythingsBetterWithSpinning: Many [[SuperSpeed speedsters]] are capable of spinning for short periods of time in order to create certain effects or to instantly change into their costume. Gyro, however, is a [[SuperSpeed speedster]] who ''specializes'' in spinning. His powers make him function a lot like a human gyroscope.

* Flight: Of the [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters 10,000+ active characters]] in the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'', it's estimated that approximately 60% of them have one form of flight or another. All of the options listed on the page have multiple examples.

* CaptainErsatz: Many. A short listing includes: Ultra-Man (Franchise/{{Superman}}), Bungie (ComicBook/PlasticMan), Guardsman (Franchise/GreenLantern), Achilles (Franchise/{{Batman}}), Arachne (SpiderMan), The Damocles Directive (The ComicBook/SuicideSquad), Quantum (ComicBook/CaptainAtom), Golden Marvel (Golden-Age Franchise/{{Superman}}), Morningstar (ComicBook/PowerGirl), and Jock (The ComicBook/{{Taskmaster}}).

* AesopAmnesia: From the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'', the heroic Robotman learned that he can still be human even if he's a BrainInAJar. Then his original player left, the character was taken over by another player, and the "my God, what have I become" back all over again.

* BruceWayneHeldHostage: The New York Metropolitan Museum was invaded by gunmen during the presentation of a new exhibit. Both Achilles and Bungie were in attendance in their secret identities. It didn't go well for the gunmen.

* CreepySexy: Sweet Synn, the succubus supervillain, is remembered by the players more for the "Oh yeah, I remember [[FanService her artwork]]... wow..." factor than by her appearances in the stories.

* DarkIsEdgy: Several characters have these abilities in the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse''. Nearly all of them fall under Category Two. Nocturne, Eclipse (who can also [[LightEmUp manipulate light]]), Shadowcloak, Night Vision, Raven, Tatterdemalion, Moonshadow (who, like Eclipse, can also [[LightEmUp control light]]), Zmierzch (Polish for "Twilight"), Bloody Mary, Muerte Oscura, Shadowspawn, and Obsidian.

** The Sinister Circle is a group of mystically-inclined villains who each get their power from one of a set of magical gemstones. These guys are evil with a capital EVIL, to the point that even the degenerates in All Hallow's Eve and the Hellfire Club avoid them out of fear. Bloodstone lives up to his name with [[LovecraftianSuperpower "blood control"]] powers; Diamond has [[BarrierWarrior force powers]]; Obsidian has [[DarkIsEdgy darkness powers]]; and Tourmaline has [[PlayingWithFire fire powers]].

* BigRedDevil: The supervillain known as The Devil, one of TAROT's Major Arcana, can transform into a huge, super-strong, [[TheHulk Hulk-like]] monstrosity whose appearance fits this trope exactly.