History GuardiansOfTheGalaxy / GoTGTropesSToZ

* TalkingIsAFreeAction: Hilariously averted on numerous occasions.

** Peter sings and ''dances'' to buy time for Rocket [[spoiler:to repair the Hadron Enforcer and shoot Ronan's hammer.]]

* TractorBeam: Shows up on at least three occasions.
** Used early on by Yondu to abduct little Peter, and again later when saving him and Gamora from freezing to death in space.
** The ''Dark Aster'' has one which it uses to collect the orb with after Nebula blows Gamora's ship apart.

** Used early on by Yondu to abduct little Peter and again later when saving him and Gamora from freezing to death in space.

* ShownTheirWork: Peter flies through the cold vacuum of space with his hands exposed and removes his mask to [[spoiler:save Gamora]]. Media for decades has depicted space exposure as typically immediately resulting in your blood boiling over, [[SpaceIsCold your skin instantly freezing]], [[ExplosiveDecompression your eyes popping out of your head]], etc. But this film is much more like what would ''actually'' happen: if you were in space, you wouldn't explode (though you'd puff up) and you wouldn't freeze (at least not very quickly, since there's nothing to conduct the heat away from you), you'd die from lack of oxygen, but it would still take a minute or two during which time you could conceivably be rescued and resuscitated (though you'd probably be in very bad shape). Fortunately, [[spoiler:Yondu]] arrives JustInTime.

* ShownTheirWork: Peter flies through the cold vacuum of space with his hands exposed. He also removes his mask [[spoiler:to save Gamora]]. The media in general likes to depict exposure to space immediately resulting in your blood boiling over, [[SpaceIsCold your skin instantly freezing]], [[ExplosiveDecompression your eyes popping out of your head]], etc. This movie shows what would actually happen (fairly) accurately. They are wearing some shielding technology, but it's established that against the exposure of space, it will only work for a very short time. Fortunately, [[spoiler:Yondu]] arrives JustInTime.

* TranslatorMicrobes: Star-Lord's arrest record lists him as having a translator implant in his neck, and WordOfGod has confirmed that most space-faring types in the MCU (including the rest of the Guardians) have similar implants. (Which begs the question of why only Rocket can seem to understand what Groot is saying.)

* StandUpInSupport: Quill convinces the rest of the team to help him save the galaxy, because they're kind of ''in'' that galaxy. The rest of the team stands up to support him, including Rocket, who hasn't really got much of a lifespan anyway...

* TranslatorMicrobes: Star-Lord's arrest record lists him as having a translator implant in his neck, and WordOfGod has confirmed that most space-faring types in the MCU (including the rest of the Guardians) have similar implants( Which begs the question of why only Rocket can seem to understand what Groot is saying).

* TranslatorMicrobes: Star-Lord's arrest record lists him as having a translator implant in his neck, and WordOfGod has confirmed that most space-faring types in the MCU (including the rest of the Guardians) have similar implants.

* WetForDry: The zero-gravity space scenes, such as the scene where Peter saves Gamora's life when she is left in space after her space pod explodes, were [[https://twitter.com/JamesGunn/status/1247702666345467904?s=20 shot underwater]] to get the effect of hair flowing weightlessly.

* VillainHasAPoint: During his audience with Thanos, Ronan correctly points out that it was Gamora, not him, who made this mess and their intel has confirmed she meant to betray them the whole time. Yet the Mad Titan summons him and is trying to scapegoat the Accuser.

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: The film is a big departure from the previous nine films of the ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'' in quite a few ways:
** This film shifts from the previous SuperHero tales to a full-blown SpaceOpera.
** Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}, despite their idiosyncrasies, are undoubtedly straight-up heroes. The Guardians are a bunch of [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold surly]], [[MoreDakka trigger-happy]], [[BloodKnight fight-happy]] [[AntiHeroTeam anti-heroes]] with [[ListOfTransgressions impressive criminal records.]] As one prison guard puts it, they're "a bunch of a-holes." There's also the greater emphasis on comedy.
** This is also the first Marvel Studios film not to feature ''Avengers'' members. In fact, this is the explicitly stated reason as to ''why'' this movie is happening. After nine or so straight movies revolving around the members of the Avengers, building up to the upcoming finale to Phase Two, ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'', ''Guardians of the Galaxy'' is a BreatherEpisode gathering of C-list and D-list Marvel characters that nobody would ever expect to be featured in a film.
** While it is a 180-degree turn in tone from the superhero movies that have come before, the stinger involving this film in [[spoiler:''Thor: The Dark World'']], the explanations of [[spoiler:the Celestials]] and clarification of the power of [[spoiler:the Infinity Stones]] ties it in and sets up plot points that ultimately will pay off [[spoiler:the Phase 3 films]], culminating in the [[spoiler:''The Avengers: Infinity War'' films]].
** This film also has the distinction of being the first entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to be based on the creations of writers and artists other than Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. The original comic was created by Arnold Drake and Gene Colan.

-->'''Ronan''': ''[horrified]'' You're ''mortal! '''HOW?!'''''

* ThroatLight: At the end, when Rocket joins the other Guardians in sharing the devastating energy of the power stone, its purple glow can be seen coming from his throat.

* SmokeShield: A classic example, used by the Ravagers against the ''Dark Aster''. Interesting because it's not smoke, but rather appears to be HardLight at first, and could be misconstrued for a weapon.

* VillainHasAPoint: During his audience with Thanos, Ronan correctly points out that it was Gamora, not him, who made this mess and their intel has confirmed she meant to betray them the whole time. Yet the Mad Titan summons him and is trying to scapegoat to Accuser.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
** Starting a tense action-oriented fight in a busy capital city, with hundreds of civilian bystanders nearby? Then you will all get arrested very quickly by the local SpacePolice.
** As Nebula and Ronan the Accuser find out, engaging in EvilGloating only gives the protagonists enough time to shoot you in the face.
** Drax the Destroyer finds out it doesn't matter how mad you are about the death of your family, trying to take on the BigBad alone will result in [[CurbStompBattle getting your ass thoroughly kicked]] if they are ''significantly'' more powerful than you. Not to mention, your allies will quickly get sick of your RevengeBeforeReason!
** For Gamora it doesn't matter how tough or deadly an assassin you are, if you're stuck alone and weaponless in prison with a mob of pissed off convicts and thoroughly disinterested guards, you will need help to avoid being murdered!
** Even though the team had their criminal records expunged as a reward for their service, they are still subject to the law and are forbidden from thieving or murdering. To Rocket, the concept of his antisocial tendencies often involving both thieving and murdering is so foreign, Rhomann Dey has to explain it to him.
** As Peter Quill found out the hard way, trying to [[DefrostingIceQueen put the moves on an emotionally-distant female assassin]] is not a good idea, especially with his reputation as a HandsomeLech.
** As the Collector found out, spending a long time hyping up the powers of the Infinity Stones and the [[AGodAmI omnipotent powers granted to the holder]] in full earshot of the slave girl you've horribly mistreated at every turn up to this point, and ''then'' leaving it exposed and within her grasp? [[SarcasmMode Real genius, buddy.]]

[[GuardiansOfTheGalaxy/GoTGTropesAToC Tropes # to C]] | [[GuardiansOfTheGalaxy/GoTGTropesDToJ Tropes D to J]] | [[GuardiansOfTheGalaxy/GoTGTropesKToR Tropes K to R]] | '''Tropes S to Z''' | [[YMMV/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2014 YMMV]] | [[Trivia/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2014 Trivia]]

[[GuardiansOfTheGalaxy/GoTGTropesAToC Tropes # to C]] | [[GuardiansOfTheGalaxy/GoTGTropesDToJ Tropes D to J]] | [[GuardiansOfTheGalaxy/GoTGTropesKToR Tropes K to R]] | '''Tropes S to Z''' | [[YMMV/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy YMMV]] | [[Trivia/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy Trivia]]

* ShoutOut: Collected in [[ShoutOut/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy their own subpage]] for this movie.

** In the end, [[spoiler:Yondu opens his capsule expecting to find the Infinity Gem as promised by Quill but finds a troll doll figure inside. In other words, he got ''trolled''.]]

* VillainBall: Ronan could have achieved his goals easily if he tried a more subtle approach like just taking a nondescript shuttle to Xandar and using the Infinity Stone without drawing attention to himself. Instead he had to make a big production of it by having his easily recognized flagship fly to Xandar and giving an [[EvilGloating archetypal monologue]] about what he's going to do before actually doing it, which gave the Guardians and the Nova Corps the opportunity to fight back. And later, when all Ronan has to do to win is use his warhammer to ''touch the ground he's standing on'', he pauses to gloat ''even more''. He even keeps Rocket alive to hear it. This gives Rocket enough time to [[spoiler:reassemble his gun and shoot the Infinity Gem out of Ronan's grip, although not without a little help from Quill challenging Ronan to a dance-off, baffling the villain long enough for Rocket to take the shot]].

* SigilSpam: The Nova Corps puts their starburst symbol all over the place. Their fighter ships themselves are shaped like starbursts. Even Xandar's ''capital city'' resembles the sigil when seen from above.

* VillainBall: Ronan could have achieved his goals easily if he tried a more subtle approach like just taking a nondescript shuttle to Xandar and using the Infinity Stone without drawing attention to himself. Instead he had to make a big production of it by having his easily recognized flagship fly to Xandar and giving an [[EvilGloating archetypal monologue]] about what he's going to do before actually doing it, which gave the Guardians and the Nova Corps the opportunity to fight back. And later, when all Ronan has to do to win is ''touch the ground'', he pauses to gloat ''more''. He even keeps Rocket alive to hear it. This gives Rocket enough time to [[spoiler:reassemble his gun and shoot the Infinity Gem out of Ronan's grip, although not without a little help from Quill challenging Ronan to a dance-off, baffling the villain long enough for Rocket to take the shot]].