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** The school bully/archnemesis is named [[Film/IronEagle Knotcher,]] not to mention Zack's own nick is IronBeagle.
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** [[spoiler: A kid named [[Film/{{Wargames}}Lightman figures out the only winning move is not to play]].]]
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** [[spoiler: A kid named [[Film/{{Wargames}}Lightman [[Film/{{Wargames}} Lightman figures out the only winning move is not to play]].]]
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** [[spoiler: A kid named [[Film/{{Wargames}}Lightman figures out the only winning move is not to play]].]]
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* TheAlliance: The Earth Defense Alliance from the ''Armada'' and ''Terra Firma'' games. [[spoiler:It's real and has been active for decades]].
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* TheAlliance: The Earth Defense Alliance from the ''Armada'' and ''Terra Firma'' games. [[spoiler:It's real and has been active for decades]].
* AndYouThoughtItWasAGame: The entire novel is based around certain popular video games actually being training simulations for an impending alien invasion. [[spoiler:In a more specific example, the "Icebreaker" mission within the titular game is later revealed to have been actual attack on the alien base on Europa.]]
* AndYouThoughtItWasAGame: The entire novel is based around certain popular video games actually being training simulations for an impending alien invasion. [[spoiler:In a more specific example, the "Icebreaker" mission within the titular game is later revealed to have been actual attack on the alien base on Europa.]]
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* SecretTest: The titular video game - among many others - is revealed to be a training simulation to identify potential EDA recruits and train the population at large to control defense drones. [[spoiler:And on at least one occasion, gamers unknowingly take part in an actual mission against the alien invaders.]]
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* HotMom: Pamela Lightman. Zack mentions that, growing up, he had the worst Oedipal complex ever because of that.
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* MST3KMantra: In-universe example: Zack looks past all the apparent PlotHoles in Armada and Terra Firma's story. But he becomes suspicious when the EDA claims everything was true.
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* MST3KMantra: In-universe example: Zack looks past all the apparent PlotHoles in Armada and Terra Firma's story. But story, but he becomes suspicious when the EDA claims everything was true.
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* OedipalComplex: Zack mentions that, growing up, he had the worst Oedipal complex ever because his mother was so attractive.
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* KillSat: One is present in a NintendoHard ''Armada'' mission, which involves an attempt at destroying the alien drone-control base. [[spoiler:The mission is real and is also a failure. The KillSat is destroyed, but the EDA has another one. Zack manages to destroy it before it completes its task, which signals to the alien AI that humans are not mindless beasts]].
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** The mission to destroy the alien homeworld is also of this variety. The players complain about the mission being impossibly hard, since they are expected to protect the KillSat sent to melt the planet's ice cap and launch nukes at their base against waves of alien drones. [[spoiler:The mission does indeed happen, and the reason it's so difficult is because they're controlling actual drones sent to take out the alien base on Europa]].
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* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: Takes place in 2018,despite being published in 2015.
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* SuperWristGadget: The Q-Comms or Quantum Communicator devices given to EDA members can be used to [[CommLinks contact anyone anywhere]], control drones, and [[FrickinLaserBeams fire lasers]]
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* SuperWristGadget: The Q-Comms or Quantum Communicator devices given to EDA members can be used to [[CommLinks contact anyone anywhere]], control drones, and [[FrickinLaserBeams fire lasers]]lasers]].
* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: Takes place in 2018, despite being published in 2015.
* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: Takes place in 2018, despite being published in 2015.
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* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: Takes place in 2018,despite being published in 2015.
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* GenreSavvy: Zack Lightman is almost dangerously genre savvy. It's a result of consuming insane levels of popculture. Most of the other characters are also like this.
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* GenreSavvy: Zack Lightman is almost dangerously genre savvy. It's a result of consuming insane levels of popculture. Most of the other characters are also like this. This becomes a huge plot point later when it's pointed out how the Europans are employing a large amount of movie tropes in their invasion plans, many of which go against logic. such as waiting 40 years to invade when they could have destroyed earth much easier such as sending an astroid. [[spoiler: This was intentional as a test of whether mankind can overcome their basic warlike, kill or be killed survival instincts with logic and intelligence.]]
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* SomeoneToRememberHimBy: A variation with Zack. He was born before his dad's death, but just barely. [[spoiler:A more literal example with Xavier Jr., resulting from a single act of sex between the still-alive Xavier and Pamela before his real death]].
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* MilitariesAreUseless: Conventional armed forces are helpless before the threat of the alien invasion, especially since [[spoiler:the Disruptor scrambles Earth's magnetic field, rendering all our modern means of warfare (e.g. GPS, radio communications) useless. To top it off, alien weapons and defenses are vastly superior to any conventional military's. Even the EDA is largely rendered inert by the Disruptor removing the means of controlling human drones]].
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* PreClimaxClimax: Three couples hook up a few hours before the invasion begins, despite just meeting one another, because [[spoiler:they don't expect them (or humanity) to survive]]. Zack also wonders if [[LoveInterest Larkin]] is doing the same.
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* BadassGay: [[spoiler:Shin and Milo]].
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* HumongousMecha: Both the EDA and the aliens have them. The human Sentinel mechs look like a typical bipedal kind and even have a cockpit for emergency manual control (they're normally controlled via [[SubspaceAnsible quantum link]]). The alien mechs look like huge praying mantises.
* KilledMidSentence: [[spoiler:Milo]], while quoting Dr. Lazarus[=/=]Alexander Dane from ''Film/GalaxyQuest''.
--> ''By Grabthar's hammer, you shall...''
--> ''By Grabthar's hammer, you shall...''
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* MamaBear: Pamela Lightman - she tries to defend Zack with a baseball bat against alien drones
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* MamaBear: Pamela Lightman - she tries to defend Zack with a baseball bat against alien dronesdrones.
* ManlyTears: [[spoiler:Xavier Lightman]] sheds some after [[spoiler:Graham]] is killed by an alien HumongousMecha.
* MechaMooks: Both the EDA and the aliens use various types of AttackDones to do their fighting.
* ManlyTears: [[spoiler:Xavier Lightman]] sheds some after [[spoiler:Graham]] is killed by an alien HumongousMecha.
* MechaMooks: Both the EDA and the aliens use various types of AttackDones to do their fighting.
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* FantasticRankSystem: The ranks in the EDA appear to be based on US Air Force ranks, except for the fact that the supreme commander of EDA has the rank of admiral (above a general).
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* LeeroyJenkins: Zack's friends sometimes call him that, as his MilitaryMaverick tactics occasionally cause him to break formation and rush into battle. And yes, sometimes he screams the trope's name.
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* SubspaceAnsible: Quantum communication allows one to have real-time communication (including video) across half the galaxy. However, the aliens have developed the Disrupter to counter short-range communication (long-range is unaffected, since both ends of the link need to be within the Disrupter field for the jamming to work).
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* DisappearedDad: Zack's dad died in an explosion in his workplace when Zack was less than an year old. Later in the book, [[spoiler: he turns out to be alive but [[DaddyHadAGoodReasonForAbandoningYou had a good reason for faking his death]]]]
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* DisappearedDad: Zack's dad died in an explosion in his workplace when Zack was less than an year old. Later in the book, [[spoiler: he turns out to be alive but [[DaddyHadAGoodReasonForAbandoningYou had a good reason for faking his death]]]]death]]]].
* EscortMission: Before being recruited, Zack participates in an ''Armada'' mission that involves protecting a KillSat, as it attempts to destroy the control base on the Sobrukai homeworld. The players complain at how ridiculously difficult the mission is, and, indeed, it ends in a failure. [[spoiler:The attack was a real attempt at ending the threat of the AlienInvasion by destroying the drone-control center on Europa. The players were controlling real drones and didn't know it]].
* EscortMission: Before being recruited, Zack participates in an ''Armada'' mission that involves protecting a KillSat, as it attempts to destroy the control base on the Sobrukai homeworld. The players complain at how ridiculously difficult the mission is, and, indeed, it ends in a failure. [[spoiler:The attack was a real attempt at ending the threat of the AlienInvasion by destroying the drone-control center on Europa. The players were controlling real drones and didn't know it]].
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* TheAlliance: The Earth Defense Alliance from the ''Armada'' and ''Terra Firma'' games. [[spoiler:It's real and has been active for decades]].
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** Alexis Larkin and Zack say [[Literature/Dune The Litany Against Fear]] before the invasion begins.
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** Alexis Larkin and Zack say [[Literature/Dune [[Literature/{{Dune}} The Litany Against Fear]] before the invasion begins.begins.
*** Earlier, a guy jokingly tells Zack that his new Q-comm also functions as a [[Film/{{Dune}} weirding module]], prompting [[spoiler:Ray]] to point out that it's a Creator/DavidLynch invention just for the movie and was absent in the books. Zack brushes him off, saying that it doesn't matter, since weirding modules are cool.
*** Earlier, a guy jokingly tells Zack that his new Q-comm also functions as a [[Film/{{Dune}} weirding module]], prompting [[spoiler:Ray]] to point out that it's a Creator/DavidLynch invention just for the movie and was absent in the books. Zack brushes him off, saying that it doesn't matter, since weirding modules are cool.
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* HotMom: Pamela Lightman. Zack mentions that, growing up, he had the worst Oedipal complex ever because of that.
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* StrongFamilyResemblance: It's mentioned multiple times that Zack is a near-exact likeness of his dead father, and he realizes how painful it must be for his mother to have to keep looking at someone who looks just like her late husband every morning, while he asks unending questions about him.
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** Ray claims music by ''Music/{{Rush}}'' lines up perfectly with [[Series/{{Chuck}} attack patterns in video games]].
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* ArcNumber: The number three [[ReadyPlayerOne shows up once again]] throughout the book, which is again divided into three sections. The invasion comes in three waves, Debbie has three sons, Moon Base Alpha has (initially) only three crew members. Zack, Debbie, and Whoadie [[spoiler: are the final three survivors of the Moon base Alpha crew. There are also nine members of the alien organization tasked with testing Humanity with the invasion, which is three three times]].
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* ArcNumber: The number three [[ReadyPlayerOne shows up once again]] throughout the book, which is again divided into three sections. The invasion comes in three waves, Debbie has three sons, Moon Base Alpha has (initially) only three crew members. Zack, Debbie, and Whoadie [[spoiler: are the final three survivors of the Moon base Alpha crew. There are also nine members of the alien organization tasked with testing Soldarity (once Humanity with the invasion, joins), which is three three times]].
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* ArcNumber: The number three [[ReadyPlayerOne shows up once again]] throughout the book, which is again divided into three sections. The invasion comes in three waves, Debbie has three sons, Moon Base Alpha has (initially) only three crew members. Zack, Debbie, and Whoadie [[spoiler: are the final three survivors of the Moon base Alpha crew]].
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* ArcNumber: The number three [[ReadyPlayerOne shows up once again]] throughout the book, which is again divided into three sections. The invasion comes in three waves, Debbie has three sons, Moon Base Alpha has (initially) only three crew members. Zack, Debbie, and Whoadie [[spoiler: are the final three survivors of the Moon base Alpha crew]].crew. There are also nine members of the alien organization tasked with testing Humanity with the invasion, which is three three times]].
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* ConservationOfNinjutsu: In the Battle of Crystal Palace, the EDA manages to destroy most of the attacking force with relative ease. But as their numbers dwindle, the drones become harder and harder to kill. The last one actually manages to [[spoiler: evade everyone and damage a small area]]
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* ConservationOfNinjutsu: In the Battle of Crystal Palace, the EDA manages to destroy most of the attacking force with relative ease. But as their numbers dwindle, the drones become harder and harder to kill. The last one actually manages to [[spoiler: evade everyone and damage a small area]]area. This is because the alien machine controlling them has fewer distraction than controlling an armada of ships. This is also why the Glaive fighters behave like their video-game counterparts, because they're still being controlled through AI.]]
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* ArcNumber: The number three [[ReadyPlayerOne shows up once again]] throughout the book, which is again divided into three sections. The invasion comes in three waves, Debbie has three sons, Moon Base Alpha has (initially) only three crew members. Zack, Debbie, and Whoadie [[spoiler: are the final three survivors of the Moon base Alpha crew]].
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* {{Foreshadowing}}: Early on, Zack mentions that due to the explosion that killed his father essentially vaporizing his body, his mom didn't have to go through the pain of having to pick out her husband's corpse in the morgue, and the settlement money that they got from suing the company his dad worked at left them with a lot of money to move into a new house, noting "how lucky can one family get?" [[spoiler:It turns out that the cause of death is so there [[NeverFoundTheBody wouldn't be a body left over]], because Zack's father is still alive. The huge amount of settlement money was due to the EDA giving them large sums of money so they'd still be financially well off even without him.]]
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* TheReveal: [[spoiler:Not only is Zack's father still alive, he turns out to be a high-ranking member of the Earth Defense Alliance, ''and'' he's also [=RedJive=], the highest ranking player in the ''Armada'' game.]]
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* RiteOfPassage: [[spoiler: The whole alien invasion turns out to be one for the humans. It is essentially a [[Literature/Dune gom jabbar]] test administered by a group of aliens to see if humanity can oversome its animal instincts and become worthy of joining them. They have administered it to multiple other races as well and it is implied that some of them failed and were destroyed]]
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* RiteOfPassage: [[spoiler: The whole alien invasion turns out to be one for the humans. It is essentially a [[Literature/Dune gom jabbar]] test administered by a group of aliens to see if humanity can oversome overcome its animal instincts and become worthy of joining them. They have administered it to multiple other races as well and it is implied that some of them failed and were destroyed]]
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* RiteOfPassage: [[spoiler: The whole alien invasion turns out to be one for the humans. It is essentially a [[Literature/Dune gom jabbar]] test administered by a group of aliens to see if humanity can oversome its animal instincts and become worthy of joining them. They have administered it to multiple other races as well and it is implied that some of them failed and were destroyed]]
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** Alexis Larkin and Zack say [[Literature/Dune The Litany Against Fear]] before the invasion begins.
