History Literature / Armada

* AMillionIsAStatistic: Tens of millions of people are killed in the fighting during the first wave alone. [[spoiler: After Zack passes the secret test on behalf of humanity, the aliens tell him not to grieve too heavily for the cost of passing the test, as the cost of ''failing'' the test would have been the extermination of the human race. Zack, understandably, doesn't like this one bit.]]

* BuryYourGays: [[spoiler: Shin and Milo are some of the first casualties of the war]] %%Move to GayGuyDiesFirst when that is launched

''Armada'' is a 2015 novel by Ernest Cline. Much like his previous work ''Literature/ReadyPlayerOne'', Armada is full of pop culture references - mainly from [[TheEighties The Eighties]], since the author is, as anyone can see, [[OneOfUs a geek]].

* BuryYourGays: [[spoiler: Shin and Milo are some of the first casualties of the war]]

''Armada'' is a 2015 novel by Ernest Cline. Much like his previous work [[Literature/ReadyPlayerOne Ready Player One]], Armada is full of pop culture references - mainly from [[TheEighties The Eighties]], since the author is, as anyone can see, [[OneOfUs a geek]].

* RuleOfCool: Invoked twice in-universe. The EDA base in Nebraska is called The Crystal Palace and the Moon Base Alpha is nicknamed [[Film/MadMaxBeyondThunderDome Thunderdome]] because "it has a dome, and we fight inside it, just like [[Film/MadMax Mad Max]]. And because Thunderdome sounds cooler than Drone Operations Center".

* ArcNumber: The number three [[Literature/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 Soldarity (once Humanity joins), which is three three times]]. Possibly a reference to most early video games such as PacMan and DonkeyKong having three lives.

** The top five ranked players in Armada are nicknamed [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne The Flying Circus]] by the rest of the players.

* ImportedAlienPhlebotinum: The technologies used to fight the invasion such as the [[CommLinks QComm]], FasterThanLightTravel are all reverse engineered from the alien drones

* 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.

** The school bully/archnemesis is named [[Film/IronEagle Knotcher,]] not to mention Zack's own handle is Iron Beagle.

** The top five ranked players in Armada are nicknamed [[Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus The Flying Circus]] by the rest of the players.

* SeinfeldianConversation: The two Mikes are arguing about the coolest fictional melee weapon. Cruz prefers [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Bilbo's Sting]] while Diehl thinks [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Mjolnir]] is the best. Zack doesn't participate in the conversation, but mentions that Film/Excalibur would be his choice.

* StringTheory: Zack's father has a note full of data that is supposed to prove that the government is sponsoring all the alien related movies, videogames, etc. to familiarize people with the idea of aliens invading.

** The school bully/archnemesis is named [[Film/IronEagle Knotcher,]] not to mention Zack's own nick is IronBeagle.
** Cruz's nick in Armada is [[Literature/TheKingkillerChronicle Kvothe]]

** Admiral Vance's nick is [[Film/TopGun Viper]]. Later, it's revealed that he got it from his favourite movie.

* GeneralRipper: [[spoiler: Admiral Archibald Vance aka Viper]] turns out to be one. He's still a good guy - he's just doing what he thinks is the right thing. Zack even lampshades this by calling him Dr. Strangelove

* ArcNumber: The number three [[Literature/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 Soldarity (once Humanity joins), which is three three times]].

* MisappliedPhlebotinum: In-universe. Zack wonders why if the ''Franchise/StarWars'' universe had SubspaceAnsible technology, they didn't have remote control StarFighters instead of putting actual pilots in danger.

* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: Xavier Lightman]] does this multiple times. Also done by [[spoiler: Viper, though he is rescued before he dies. Also, Chen upon hearing that his sister is most likely dead]]

* 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 Soldarity (once Humanity joins), which is three three times]].

* 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.]]