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* PurpleIsTheNewBlack: Purple is associated with midnight, [[DownplayedTrope but so are black and blue]].
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* DidYouJustHaveSex: Dess and Jonathan debate this about Rex and Melissa in ''Touching Darkness.''
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* IsThatWhatTheyreCallingItNow: Dess teases Jessica and Jonathan about 'takign their time getting home.'
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* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Angie asking Rex what happened to his father.
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* AntiMagicalFaction: [[spoiler:The Grayfoot family took down the 1950s midnighters and is in the employ of the darklings.]]
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* {{Magocracy}}: [[spoiler:It turns out that Bixby was one for thousands of years, with daylighters living in terror of midnighters who believed it was their right to rule Bixby however they saw fit.]]
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* MeaningfulName: Some of the weapons comment on the situation in which they're used, such as Foolhardiness. Dess also gives Rex a knife name [[spoiler:Animalization]] in 'Blue Noon'', which he doesn't appreciate
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* PoweredByAForsakenChild: The halflings, [[spoiler:who are midnighters made half-darkling so that they can communicate with human agents through the lore.]]
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* KeepingSecretsSucks: Jess hates lying to her family about midnight, and ends up in trouble with them because she can't come clean about what's going on. [[spoiler:At the end of the series, Beth feels this way about not being able to tell their parents what happened to Jessica.]]
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* LaserGuidedAmnesia: One of the more morally-ambiguous ways Melissa uses her powers over the course of the books.
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* HowDoIShotWeb: Melissa in particular struggles to use her powers, and blames her failure to find Dess for several years [[spoiler:and nearly leaving Rex's father a vegetable]] on her youth and inexperience.
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* EmotionEater: [[spoiler:The elder darklings do this.]]
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* PerkyGoth: Dess.
to:
* PerkyGoth: Dess.PurpleEyes: Darklings have them, and he midnighters (with the exception of Jess) get eyes that flash purple during the secret hour. Rex's eyes occasionally flash purple during the day [[spoiler:as his darkling becomes more powerful throughout ''Blue Noon''.]]
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* INeverSaidItWasPoison: Jess mentioning that she knows Cassie lives in Jenks.
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* BelievingTheirOwnLies: Melissa suggests this happened on a massive scale [[spoiler:with the ancient midnighters. Someone, somewhere down the line, decided that they were justified in treating daylighters however they wanted. The idea spread through mindcasting so that future generations literally ''could not believe anything else''. The only thing that finally ends the transmission of the tainted memories is the genocide that wiped out the midnighters in the 1950s.]]
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* BattleCouple: [[OfficialCouple Jessica and Jonathan]] and by the end of book 2 [[spoiler: Rex and Melissa]].
to:
* BattleCouple: [[OfficialCouple Jessica and Jonathan]] and by the end of the second book 2 [[spoiler: Rex and Melissa]].Melissa]].
* BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind: [[spoiler:Madeleine's attempt to help Rex with his darkling side becomes one of these: she loses control of the ancient mindcasters in her memory, who decide to destroy the half-darkling "abomination.".]]
* BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind: [[spoiler:Madeleine's attempt to help Rex with his darkling side becomes one of these: she loses control of the ancient mindcasters in her memory, who decide to destroy the half-darkling "abomination.".]]
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* IdiotBall: Rex calling Angie from his home phone, which it never occurred to him might be tapped. [[WhatAnIdiot She's disgusted.]]
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** [[spoiler: Poor Dess gets mind raped pretty badly twice in the second book. First by Madeline, although that wasn't entirely mind rape as she planted useful information and then gave Dess a trick to freely block and unblock it. Second by Melissa, trying by brute mental force to tear down said barrier and get said information out of Dess.]] She certainly isn't happy about it, but she survives with her sanity intact. Mostly.
to:
** [[spoiler: Poor Dess gets mind raped pretty badly twice in the second book. First by Madeline, although that wasn't entirely mind rape as she planted useful information and then gave Dess a trick to freely block and unblock it. Second by Melissa, trying by brute mental force to tear down said barrier and get said information out of Dess.]] She certainly isn't happy about it, but she survives with her sanity intact. Mostly.
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* SingleTear: Both Jessica and Melissa get a moment in ''Blue Noon''.
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* HypocriticalHumor: Dess calling the other midnighters "goth" or "emo." Melissa calls her on it.
--> Dess: "This dress is ''charcoal''."
--> Dess: "This dress is ''charcoal''."
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* InSeriesNickname: Lots and lots.
** Jess and [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname Dess]] usually go by abbreviations of their name for day-to-day use.
** Rex calls Melissa 'Cowgirl' after the cowgirl pajamas she was wearing when they met, [[spoiler:and she starts calling him 'Loverboy' as their friendship grows into a relationship,]] both examples of an AffectionateNickname.
** Jonathan gets 'Flyboy' and Jessica is jokingly called 'the all-powerful flashlight bringer' due to their powers.
** People call Melissa and Madeleine 'the queen bitch.' The latter also gets 'bitch goddess' and 'the Vile One.'
** [[TheNicknamer Dess]] does this to tease people, using 'Maddy' and 'Rexy' sometimes. Madeleine calls her 'Dessy' once or twice as revenge.
** Jess and [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname Dess]] usually go by abbreviations of their name for day-to-day use.
** Rex calls Melissa 'Cowgirl' after the cowgirl pajamas she was wearing when they met, [[spoiler:and she starts calling him 'Loverboy' as their friendship grows into a relationship,]] both examples of an AffectionateNickname.
** Jonathan gets 'Flyboy' and Jessica is jokingly called 'the all-powerful flashlight bringer' due to their powers.
** People call Melissa and Madeleine 'the queen bitch.' The latter also gets 'bitch goddess' and 'the Vile One.'
** [[TheNicknamer Dess]] does this to tease people, using 'Maddy' and 'Rexy' sometimes. Madeleine calls her 'Dessy' once or twice as revenge.
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* TokenEvilTeammate: [[spoiler: Rex]].
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* WeCanRuleTogether: [[spoiler:The elder darklings offer to let Rex join their hunt in the third book.]]
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* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Touching a mindcaster is often figured as sexual throughout the second book (to the point that Dess even calls it "doing the psychic nasty"). [[spoiler:By extension, Melissa reading Dess' mind without her permission is likened to ''rape'', although Jessica stops just short of actually using the word.]]
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* BittersweetEnding: The last book.
to:
* BittersweetEnding: The last book. [[spoiler:The blue hour has been sealed back up and humankind at large is safe from the Darklings' threat again. However, Jess is now stuck permanently in the blue hour and the blue hour's area of effect is spreading, meaning that the Darklings can spread out some more... As can the Midnighters, since more people can access the blue hour more easily.]]
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* [[YearInsideHourOutside Hour Inside Millisecond Outside]]
* TheHiddenHour: Obviously
* TheHiddenHour: Obviously
to:
* [[YearInsideHourOutside Hour Inside Millisecond Outside]]
YearInsideHourOutside: Only a few milliseconds pass between the start of the blue hour and its end for mundanes.
* TheHiddenHour:ObviouslyOnly people born at exactly midnight can access it, and all sorts of nasty monsters like to roam around in it.
* TheHiddenHour:
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* WhenTheClockStrikesTwelve
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* WhenTheClockStrikesTwelveWhenTheClockStrikesTwelve: TimeStandsStill unless you're a Midnighter, and everything takes on a blue tinge. And Darklings and Slithers roam about.
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----
to:
----
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Not to be confused with the [[TheAuthority Midnighter]].
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Not to be confused with the [[TheAuthority [[ComicBook/TheAuthority Midnighter]].
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fixed hyperlinks & spelling
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* TheLoad: Jessica [[spoiler:(for most of the first book)]], who attracts Slithers and Darklings like roadkill attracts flies. Then she learns what [[GameBreaker her power]] is.
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* TheLoad: Jessica [[spoiler:(for most of the first book)]], who attracts Slithers and Darklings like roadkill attracts flies. Then she learns what [[GameBreaker her power]] is.
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* TownWithADarkSecret: Or [[strike:12]] [[ArcNumber 13]].
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* TownWithADarkSecret: Or [[strike:12]] [[ArcNumber 13]].
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* AbusiveParents: Rex's father. [[spoiler: That is, until Melissa mind-rapes him.]]
* AlphaBitch: Constanza Grayfoot is the fashion obsessed queen of the school who struts about with her girl posse and dreams of being an actress in L.A. She's part Native American, not blonde, and is more harmlessly superficial than actually evil, so she's not a straight example.
* AlphaBitch: Constanza Grayfoot is the fashion obsessed queen of the school who struts about with her girl posse and dreams of being an actress in L.A. She's part Native American, not blonde, and is more harmlessly superficial than actually evil, so she's not a straight example.
to:
* AbusiveParents: Rex's father. [[spoiler: That is, until Melissa mind-rapes {{MindRape}}s him.]]
* AlphaBitch: Constanza Grayfoot is thefashion obsessed fashion-obsessed queen of the school who struts about with her girl posse and dreams of being an actress in L.A. She's part Native American, not blonde, and is more harmlessly superficial than actually evil, so she's not a straight example.
* AlphaBitch: Constanza Grayfoot is the
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* BadassNormal: Jessica and Jonathan during the normal hours, since their powers are useless outside of Midnight. Though Johnathan can still work out angles and jumps for LeParkour, he just can't do it while leaping five stories in the air anymore.
* BattleCouple: [[OfficialCouple Jessica and Jonathan]] and by the end of book 2 [[spoiler: Rex and Melissa]]
* BetaCouple: [[spoiler: Rex and Melissa]]
* BattleCouple: [[OfficialCouple Jessica and Jonathan]] and by the end of book 2 [[spoiler: Rex and Melissa]]
* BetaCouple: [[spoiler: Rex and Melissa]]
to:
* BadassNormal: Jessica and Jonathan during the normal hours, since their powers are useless outside of Midnight. Though Johnathan can still work out angles and jumps for LeParkour, he just can't do it while leaping leap five stories in the air anymore.
* BattleCouple: [[OfficialCouple Jessica and Jonathan]] and by the end of book 2 [[spoiler: Rex andMelissa]]
Melissa]].
* BetaCouple: [[spoiler: Rex andMelissa]]Melissa]].
* BattleCouple: [[OfficialCouple Jessica and Jonathan]] and by the end of book 2 [[spoiler: Rex and
* BetaCouple: [[spoiler: Rex and
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* BlessedWithSuck: Melissa's power, until she learns how to control it. Reading minds sounds cool, until you realize that you're reading everyone's mind at once and you can't turn it off. Now imagine being stuck with that in high school.
to:
* BlessedWithSuck: Melissa's power, until she learns how to control it. Reading minds sounds cool, until you realize that you're reading everyone's mind at once and you can't turn it off. Now imagine being stuck with that in high school.''high school''.
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* CursedWithAwesome: Being able to enter the Blue Time seems really cool at first. Then you bump into the nasty things that live there. You still get some really snazzy superpower out of it, though, some of which (polymath, mindcaster, [[NoodleImplements metallurge]]) are possibly even more useful outside Midnight.
to:
* CursedWithAwesome: Being able to enter the Blue Time seems really cool at first. Then you bump into the [[EldritchAbomination nasty things things]] that live there. You still get some really snazzy superpower out of it, though, some of which (polymath, mindcaster, [[NoodleImplements metallurge]]) are possibly even more useful outside Midnight.
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** WordOfGod says it's [[spoiler: Jess]], which means that [[spoiler:Rex and Dess]] are SupportingProtagonists.
* EldritchAbomination - All the Slithers and Darklings probably count, but the [[spoiler: elder Darklings especially]].
* EldritchAbomination - All the Slithers and Darklings probably count, but the [[spoiler: elder Darklings especially]].
to:
** WordOfGod says it's [[spoiler: Jess]], which means that [[spoiler:Rex and Dess]] are SupportingProtagonists.
{{Supporting Protagonist}}s.
*EldritchAbomination - EldritchAbomination: All the Slithers and Darklings probably count, but the [[spoiler: elder Darklings especially]].
*
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* EvilIsDeathlyCold: The darklings. Also slither bites.
* FearDiscoverPower: Type 1 seems to be associated with the nastier sorts of darkling. [[spoiler:Rex can do it too, and at one point intimidates another character by doing... ''something'' to make himself resemble a snake.]]
* FearDiscoverPower: Type 1 seems to be associated with the nastier sorts of darkling. [[spoiler:Rex can do it too, and at one point intimidates another character by doing... ''something'' to make himself resemble a snake.]]
to:
* EvilIsDeathlyCold: The darklings. Also darklings and slither bites.
* FearDiscoverPower: Type 1 seems to be associated with the nastier sorts of darkling. [[spoiler:Rex can do it too, and at one point intimidates another character by doing... ''something'' to make himself resemble a snake.]]
* FearDiscoverPower: Type 1 seems to be associated with the nastier sorts of darkling. [[spoiler:Rex can do it too, and at one point intimidates another character by doing...
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* FiveManBand: There is definitely some overlap, but here's how it falls for the most part. Note: YMMV.
** TheHero: Skill-wise, it's Jessica, the [[spoiler: Flame Bringer]]. Personality-wise, it's Rex.
** TheHero: Skill-wise, it's Jessica, the [[spoiler: Flame Bringer]]. Personality-wise, it's Rex.
to:
* FiveManBand: There is definitely some overlap, but here's how it falls for the most part. Note: YMMV.
part[[note]]YMMV[[/note]].
** TheHero: Skill-wise, it's Jessica, the [[spoiler:Flame Bringer]].[[ChosenOne flame-bringer]]]]. Personality-wise, it's Rex.
** TheHero: Skill-wise, it's Jessica, the [[spoiler:
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** TheSmartGuy: Both ways, it's Dess, the Polymath.
** TheChick: Both Jess and Melissa, the Mindcaster, could be argued. Jess is more likely, however, because Melissa's personality doesn't suit at all.
** TheChick: Both Jess and Melissa, the Mindcaster, could be argued. Jess is more likely, however, because Melissa's personality doesn't suit at all.
to:
** TheSmartGuy: Both ways, it's Dess, the Polymath.
polymath.
** TheChick: Both Jess and Melissa, theMindcaster, mindcaster, could be argued. Jess is more likely, however, because Melissa's personality doesn't suit at all.
** TheChick: Both Jess and Melissa, the
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* GoodWithNumbers: The Polymath power. Dess can do lengthy, difficult, and intricate calculations easily in her head, and she can come up with thirteen-letter names in an instant.
to:
* GoodWithNumbers: The Polymath power.Polymaths. Dess can do lengthy, difficult, and intricate calculations easily in her head, and she can come up with thirteen-letter names in an instant.
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* ImprovisedWeapon: Since any piece of a metal alloy given a 13-letter name is a deadly weapon against the Darklings, most of the weapons tend to be fairly mundane (and sometimes bizarre or random) objects, like screws, bolts, hubcaps, silverware, trash can lids, and one particularly badass microphone stand.
* JumpPhysics: The Acrobat power. During Midnight, gravity's pull on Jonathan and whoever he's holding hands with is sharply decreased. He puts the jumps in most {{Platform Game}}s to shame.
* TheLoad: Jessica, [[spoiler: for most of the first book]], who attracts Slithers and Darklings like roadkill attracts flies. [[GameBreaker Then she learns what her power is.]]
* MagikarpPower: Jessica
* ManipulativeBastard: [[spoiler: Madeline, an old Mindcaster. Among many other things, she used her power to convince Melissa's and Dess's mothers to push either just a little earlier or later, so they'd be born exactly at midnight.]]
** [[spoiler: Melissa too. ...Actually, this is pretty much par for the course for Mindcasters, apparently. Both of them affectionately (or not) get the title "Queen Bitch" at some point. And dear lord do they both ever prove that they deserve it.]]
* JumpPhysics: The Acrobat power. During Midnight, gravity's pull on Jonathan and whoever he's holding hands with is sharply decreased. He puts the jumps in most {{Platform Game}}s to shame.
* TheLoad: Jessica, [[spoiler: for most of the first book]], who attracts Slithers and Darklings like roadkill attracts flies. [[GameBreaker Then she learns what her power is.]]
* MagikarpPower: Jessica
* ManipulativeBastard: [[spoiler: Madeline, an old Mindcaster. Among many other things, she used her power to convince Melissa's and Dess's mothers to push either just a little earlier or later, so they'd be born exactly at midnight.]]
** [[spoiler: Melissa too. ...Actually, this is pretty much par for the course for Mindcasters, apparently. Both of them affectionately (or not) get the title "Queen Bitch" at some point. And dear lord do they both ever prove that they deserve it.]]
to:
* ImprovisedWeapon: Since any piece of a metal alloy given a 13-letter name is a deadly weapon against the Darklings, most of the weapons and defenses tend to be fairly mundane (and sometimes bizarre or random) objects, like screws, bolts, paper clips, hubcaps, silverware, trash can lids, letter openers, a fence or two, and one particularly badass {{badass}} microphone stand.
* JumpPhysics:The Acrobat power. Acrobats. During Midnight, the blue time, gravity's pull on Jonathan and whoever or whatever he's holding hands with touching is sharply decreased. He puts the jumps in most {{Platform Game}}s to shame.
* TheLoad:Jessica, [[spoiler: for Jessica [[spoiler:(for most of the first book]], book)]], who attracts Slithers and Darklings like roadkill attracts flies. [[GameBreaker flies. Then she learns what [[GameBreaker her power is.]]
power]] is.
* MagikarpPower:Jessica
[[spoiler:Jessica]].
* ManipulativeBastard: [[spoiler: Madeline, an oldMindcaster.mindcaster. Among many other things, she used her power to convince Melissa's and Dess's mothers to push either just a little earlier or later, so they'd be born exactly at midnight.]]
** [[spoiler: Melissatoo. ...Actually, too...actually, this is pretty much par for the course for Mindcasters, mindcasters, apparently. Both of them affectionately (or not) get the title "Queen Bitch" at some point. And dear lord do they both ever prove that they deserve it.]]
* JumpPhysics:
* TheLoad:
* MagikarpPower:
* ManipulativeBastard: [[spoiler: Madeline, an old
** [[spoiler: Melissa
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* MindRape: Mindcasters are good at this. [[spoiler: Melissa accidentally mind raped Rex and Johnathan on a small scale when they touched her, her mind raping was responsible for Rex's father turning into a vegetable.]]
to:
* MindRape: Mindcasters are good at this. [[spoiler: Melissa accidentally mind raped Rex and Johnathan on a small scale when they touched her, her and her mind raping was responsible for Rex's father turning into a vegetable.]]
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* NumerologicalMotif: With 12 (for the Darklings) and 13 (for the Midnighters). Factors of both numbers exert equal power as well.
to:
* NumerologicalMotif: With 12 (for the Darklings) and 13 (for the Midnighters). Factors of both numbers exert equal power as well.
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* PairTheSpares: Actually sort of averted, since Rex and Melissa had the couple vibe before they formally hooked up, and Dess is still single at the end of the series. Actually, since Dess never expresses romantic affection for anyone or anything (except maybe math and numbers), it's possible she's Asexual.
to:
* PairTheSpares: Actually sort of averted, since Rex and Melissa had the couple vibe before they formally hooked up, and Dess is still single at the end of the series. Actually, since Dess never expresses romantic affection for anyone or anything (except maybe math and numbers), it's possible she's Asexual.{{Asexual}}.
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* SchoolSavedMyLife: Inverted. All of the Midnighters' powers correlate to a school subject, which they excel at because of the powers. Except Melissa. Dess: Trigonometry, and probably engineering, Jonathan: Physics, Rex: History, Jess: [[spoiler:Chemistry]]
to:
* SchoolSavedMyLife: Inverted. All of the Midnighters' powers correlate to a school subject, which they excel at because of the powers. Except Melissa. powers (except Melissa). Dess: Trigonometry, math (trigonometry this year), and probably engineering, engineering as well; Jonathan: Physics, physics; Rex: History, history; Jess: [[spoiler:Chemistry]][[spoiler:chemistry]].
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** actually, [[spoiler: [[AWizardDidIt a Darkling did it]]]].
* TokenEvilTeammate: [[spoiler: Rex ]]
* TokenEvilTeammate: [[spoiler: Rex ]]
to:
** actually, Actually, [[spoiler: [[AWizardDidIt a Darkling did it]]]].
* TokenEvilTeammate: [[spoiler:Rex ]]Rex]].
* TokenEvilTeammate: [[spoiler:
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Changed line(s) 25 (click to see context) from:
* CursedWithAwesome: Being able to enter the Blue Time seems really cool at first. Then you bump into the nasty things that live there. You still get some really snazzy superpower out of it, though, some of which (polymath, mindcaster, [[NoodleImplement metallurge]]) are possibly even more useful outside Midnight.
to:
* CursedWithAwesome: Being able to enter the Blue Time seems really cool at first. Then you bump into the nasty things that live there. You still get some really snazzy superpower out of it, though, some of which (polymath, mindcaster, [[NoodleImplement [[NoodleImplements metallurge]]) are possibly even more useful outside Midnight.
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* FoeYay: Dess and Melissa.
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->''Strange things happen at midnight in Bixby, Oklahoma...''
''Midnighters'' is a young-adult book series written by Scott Westerfeld. It's set in the small town of Bixby, Oklahoma (which, incidentally, does exist in RealLife). The main premise is that there are 25 hours in a day. The 25th hour is nicknamed "the blue time" because everything has a slightly blue glow, and takes place right [[TimeStandsStill after]] the stroke of midnight.
This is much [[DarthWiki/WorseThanItSounds Worse Than It Sounds]] for the Heroes, because creatures called darklings and [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes slithers]] inhabit the blue time, which are as nasty as they sound. Also, technology and most ordinary people become [[TimeStandsStill frozen in time]], and look like they came straight out of UncannyValley, according to the [[FiveManBand Midnighters]] crew.
They're the heroes, and are the only people who can walk around and be not frozen in the blue time. They are Jessica, Jonathan, [[DefrostingIceQueen Melissa]], [[JerkAss Rex]] and [[EmbarrassingFirstName Desdemona]] (who goes by Dess, for obvious reasons). They all have nonstandard [[StockSuperpowers powers]] (and are very sensitive to light).
Jessica's power is [[spoiler: [[GameBreaker that she can make technology work in the blue time]]]], and Jonathan is an acrobat, which means he has an extreme ability [[LeParkour to jump]]. Melissa is a mindcaster, which means she can read minds (and she can't stop, she's [[BlessedWithSuck constantly bombarded]] except during the blue time. [[UpToEleven And she goes to high school]].) Rex is a Seer, meaning that he can see only things related to the blue time; everything else is blurry without his CoolShades. Desdemona is a polymath, meaning she is really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, ''really'' [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower good at math]].
Not to be confused with the [[TheAuthority Midnighter]].
----
'''Midnighters tropes'''
* AbusiveParents: Rex's father. [[spoiler: That is, until Melissa mind-rapes him.]]
* AlphaBitch: Constanza Grayfoot is the fashion obsessed queen of the school who struts about with her girl posse and dreams of being an actress in L.A. She's part Native American, not blonde, and is more harmlessly superficial than actually evil, so she's not a straight example.
* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Beth. But she starts to annoy Jess only after she realizes that Jess was hiding something. And she actually has a personality.
* BadassNormal: Jessica and Jonathan during the normal hours, since their powers are useless outside of Midnight. Though Johnathan can still work out angles and jumps for LeParkour, he just can't do it while leaping five stories in the air anymore.
* BattleCouple: [[OfficialCouple Jessica and Jonathan]] and by the end of book 2 [[spoiler: Rex and Melissa]]
* BetaCouple: [[spoiler: Rex and Melissa]]
* BittersweetEnding: The last book.
* BlessedWithSuck: Melissa's power, until she learns how to control it. Reading minds sounds cool, until you realize that you're reading everyone's mind at once and you can't turn it off. Now imagine being stuck with that in high school.
* ChosenOne: The Flame-bringer.
* CursedWithAwesome: Being able to enter the Blue Time seems really cool at first. Then you bump into the nasty things that live there. You still get some really snazzy superpower out of it, though, some of which (polymath, mindcaster, [[NoodleImplement metallurge]]) are possibly even more useful outside Midnight.
* DecoyProtagonist: The real protagonist of the trilogy is either [[spoiler: Jessica, Rex, or Dess.]]
** WordOfGod says it's [[spoiler: Jess]], which means that [[spoiler:Rex and Dess]] are SupportingProtagonists.
* EldritchAbomination - All the Slithers and Darklings probably count, but the [[spoiler: elder Darklings especially]].
* EnemyWithin: [[spoiler: Rex in ''Blue Noon'', as a result of a sort of twisted SplitPersonalityMerge.]]
* EvilIsDeathlyCold: The darklings. Also slither bites.
* FearDiscoverPower: Type 1 seems to be associated with the nastier sorts of darkling. [[spoiler:Rex can do it too, and at one point intimidates another character by doing... ''something'' to make himself resemble a snake.]]
* {{Fictionary}}: The Lore seems to be its own entirely different language, although we don't get to see it beyond the symbols for the talents of the FiveManBand. Seers seem to be born with the ability to read and understand the language of the Lore, but it is possible for others (including non-Midnighters) to learn it.
* FiveManBand: There is definitely some overlap, but here's how it falls for the most part. Note: YMMV.
** TheHero: Skill-wise, it's Jessica, the [[spoiler: Flame Bringer]]. Personality-wise, it's Rex.
** TheLancer: Jonathan (even forming a RedOniBlueOni with Rex).
** TheBigGuy: Skill-wise, it's [[spoiler: Jessica]]
** TheSmartGuy: Both ways, it's Dess, the Polymath.
** TheChick: Both Jess and Melissa, the Mindcaster, could be argued. Jess is more likely, however, because Melissa's personality doesn't suit at all.
* FoeYay: Dess and Melissa.
* FriendlyEnemy: [[spoiler: Angie, eventually.]]
* GoodWithNumbers: The Polymath power. Dess can do lengthy, difficult, and intricate calculations easily in her head, and she can come up with thirteen-letter names in an instant.
* HatesBeingTouched: Melissa. [[spoiler:She gets better, though.]]
* HalfHumanHybrid: [[spoiler: Anathea, a Seer from 50 years ago that got turned into a "Halfling," a human-Darkling hybrid. She gets progressively weaker, so the Darklings try to make a new one out of Rex. It works for a while, but he gets better. Though he still carries some of the traits, like an aversion to math, metal, and the number 13, and has the occasional predatory instinct slip.]]
* [[YearInsideHourOutside Hour Inside Millisecond Outside]]
* ImprovisedWeapon: Since any piece of a metal alloy given a 13-letter name is a deadly weapon against the Darklings, most of the weapons tend to be fairly mundane (and sometimes bizarre or random) objects, like screws, bolts, hubcaps, silverware, trash can lids, and one particularly badass microphone stand.
* JumpPhysics: The Acrobat power. During Midnight, gravity's pull on Jonathan and whoever he's holding hands with is sharply decreased. He puts the jumps in most {{Platform Game}}s to shame.
* TheLoad: Jessica, [[spoiler: for most of the first book]], who attracts Slithers and Darklings like roadkill attracts flies. [[GameBreaker Then she learns what her power is.]]
* MagikarpPower: Jessica
* ManipulativeBastard: [[spoiler: Madeline, an old Mindcaster. Among many other things, she used her power to convince Melissa's and Dess's mothers to push either just a little earlier or later, so they'd be born exactly at midnight.]]
** [[spoiler: Melissa too. ...Actually, this is pretty much par for the course for Mindcasters, apparently. Both of them affectionately (or not) get the title "Queen Bitch" at some point. And dear lord do they both ever prove that they deserve it.]]
* MayflyDecemberRomance: [[spoiler: Jessica and Jonathan, after Jessica becomes confined to the Blue Time in exchange for fixing the rift between the normal hours and Midnight. Jonathan will continue to age as normal, but Jessica only exists for 1 hour each day and therefore will age by 1 day roughly every 3 weeks.]]
* MindRape: Mindcasters are good at this. [[spoiler: Melissa accidentally mind raped Rex and Johnathan on a small scale when they touched her, her mind raping was responsible for Rex's father turning into a vegetable.]]
** [[spoiler: Poor Dess gets mind raped pretty badly twice in the second book. First by Madeline, although that wasn't entirely mind rape as she planted useful information and then gave Dess a trick to freely block and unblock it. Second by Melissa, trying by brute mental force to tear down said barrier and get said information out of Dess.]] She certainly isn't happy about it, but she survives with her sanity intact. Mostly.
* NeverMessWithGranny: Madeline. Yeesh.
* NewTransferStudent: Being a new student at tiny Bixby High School gives Jessica an almost celebrity status when she arrives.
* NumerologicalMotif: With 12 (for the Darklings) and 13 (for the Midnighters). Factors of both numbers exert equal power as well.
* TheOphelia: Melissa.
* OminousMusicBoxTune: Dess filed down some of the pegs on her music box to make it sound more like this.
* OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent: From 12:01 AM to 11:59 PM. (Although Rex's, Melissa's, and Dess's powers do work in the daylight hours.)
* PairTheSpares: Actually sort of averted, since Rex and Melissa had the couple vibe before they formally hooked up, and Dess is still single at the end of the series. Actually, since Dess never expresses romantic affection for anyone or anything (except maybe math and numbers), it's possible she's Asexual.
* PerkyGoth: Dess.
* SchoolSavedMyLife: Inverted. All of the Midnighters' powers correlate to a school subject, which they excel at because of the powers. Except Melissa. Dess: Trigonometry, and probably engineering, Jonathan: Physics, Rex: History, Jess: [[spoiler:Chemistry]]
* SeeThruSpecs: The Seer power. Rex is mostly blind without his glasses, but things touched by Midnight (including Midnighters) appear in sharp focus. When he wears his glasses, "normal" things are clear, but stuff involving Midnight gets blurry (or outright invisible in the case of runes and lore).
* SeriousBusiness: The source of the tension between Rex and Jonathan. Rex wants to learn all there is to know about Midnight and thinks there's some deep higher purpose to the existence of Midnighters and their powers, while Jonathan (who has the fun power) thinks Rex is being way too StopHavingFunGuys about it.
* ShownTheirWork: While he may have gotten the time frames wrong (see FridgeLogic and the JustBugsMe page), Westerfeld still had to do a decent amount of research, primarily on numbering systems, making this series overall a welcome subversion of WritersCannotDoMath.
* SupportingProtagonist: One of the characters in the running for overall series main character is [[spoiler: Dess, TheSmartGuy.]]
* {{Telepathy}}: The Mindcaster power. But unless you know how to control it properly, [[BlessedWithSuck it's far more of a hassle than a perk]].
* ThirteenIsUnlucky: For Slithers and Darklings, that is. If you're a human, it's your best weapon.
* TimeStandsStill: Of the "moving incredibly fast" variety.
** actually, [[spoiler: [[AWizardDidIt a Darkling did it]]]].
* TokenEvilTeammate: [[spoiler: Rex ]]
* TownWithADarkSecret: Or [[strike:12]] [[ArcNumber 13]].
* UnreliableNarrator: The Lore conveniently neglects to mention the things the area's [[spoiler: [[AncientConspiracy old Midnighters]]]] did to stay in power.
* WhenTheClockStrikesTwelve
* YouAreGrounded
----
''Midnighters'' is a young-adult book series written by Scott Westerfeld. It's set in the small town of Bixby, Oklahoma (which, incidentally, does exist in RealLife). The main premise is that there are 25 hours in a day. The 25th hour is nicknamed "the blue time" because everything has a slightly blue glow, and takes place right [[TimeStandsStill after]] the stroke of midnight.
This is much [[DarthWiki/WorseThanItSounds Worse Than It Sounds]] for the Heroes, because creatures called darklings and [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes slithers]] inhabit the blue time, which are as nasty as they sound. Also, technology and most ordinary people become [[TimeStandsStill frozen in time]], and look like they came straight out of UncannyValley, according to the [[FiveManBand Midnighters]] crew.
They're the heroes, and are the only people who can walk around and be not frozen in the blue time. They are Jessica, Jonathan, [[DefrostingIceQueen Melissa]], [[JerkAss Rex]] and [[EmbarrassingFirstName Desdemona]] (who goes by Dess, for obvious reasons). They all have nonstandard [[StockSuperpowers powers]] (and are very sensitive to light).
Jessica's power is [[spoiler: [[GameBreaker that she can make technology work in the blue time]]]], and Jonathan is an acrobat, which means he has an extreme ability [[LeParkour to jump]]. Melissa is a mindcaster, which means she can read minds (and she can't stop, she's [[BlessedWithSuck constantly bombarded]] except during the blue time. [[UpToEleven And she goes to high school]].) Rex is a Seer, meaning that he can see only things related to the blue time; everything else is blurry without his CoolShades. Desdemona is a polymath, meaning she is really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, ''really'' [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower good at math]].
Not to be confused with the [[TheAuthority Midnighter]].
----
'''Midnighters tropes'''
* AbusiveParents: Rex's father. [[spoiler: That is, until Melissa mind-rapes him.]]
* AlphaBitch: Constanza Grayfoot is the fashion obsessed queen of the school who struts about with her girl posse and dreams of being an actress in L.A. She's part Native American, not blonde, and is more harmlessly superficial than actually evil, so she's not a straight example.
* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Beth. But she starts to annoy Jess only after she realizes that Jess was hiding something. And she actually has a personality.
* BadassNormal: Jessica and Jonathan during the normal hours, since their powers are useless outside of Midnight. Though Johnathan can still work out angles and jumps for LeParkour, he just can't do it while leaping five stories in the air anymore.
* BattleCouple: [[OfficialCouple Jessica and Jonathan]] and by the end of book 2 [[spoiler: Rex and Melissa]]
* BetaCouple: [[spoiler: Rex and Melissa]]
* BittersweetEnding: The last book.
* BlessedWithSuck: Melissa's power, until she learns how to control it. Reading minds sounds cool, until you realize that you're reading everyone's mind at once and you can't turn it off. Now imagine being stuck with that in high school.
* ChosenOne: The Flame-bringer.
* CursedWithAwesome: Being able to enter the Blue Time seems really cool at first. Then you bump into the nasty things that live there. You still get some really snazzy superpower out of it, though, some of which (polymath, mindcaster, [[NoodleImplement metallurge]]) are possibly even more useful outside Midnight.
* DecoyProtagonist: The real protagonist of the trilogy is either [[spoiler: Jessica, Rex, or Dess.]]
** WordOfGod says it's [[spoiler: Jess]], which means that [[spoiler:Rex and Dess]] are SupportingProtagonists.
* EldritchAbomination - All the Slithers and Darklings probably count, but the [[spoiler: elder Darklings especially]].
* EnemyWithin: [[spoiler: Rex in ''Blue Noon'', as a result of a sort of twisted SplitPersonalityMerge.]]
* EvilIsDeathlyCold: The darklings. Also slither bites.
* FearDiscoverPower: Type 1 seems to be associated with the nastier sorts of darkling. [[spoiler:Rex can do it too, and at one point intimidates another character by doing... ''something'' to make himself resemble a snake.]]
* {{Fictionary}}: The Lore seems to be its own entirely different language, although we don't get to see it beyond the symbols for the talents of the FiveManBand. Seers seem to be born with the ability to read and understand the language of the Lore, but it is possible for others (including non-Midnighters) to learn it.
* FiveManBand: There is definitely some overlap, but here's how it falls for the most part. Note: YMMV.
** TheHero: Skill-wise, it's Jessica, the [[spoiler: Flame Bringer]]. Personality-wise, it's Rex.
** TheLancer: Jonathan (even forming a RedOniBlueOni with Rex).
** TheBigGuy: Skill-wise, it's [[spoiler: Jessica]]
** TheSmartGuy: Both ways, it's Dess, the Polymath.
** TheChick: Both Jess and Melissa, the Mindcaster, could be argued. Jess is more likely, however, because Melissa's personality doesn't suit at all.
* FoeYay: Dess and Melissa.
* FriendlyEnemy: [[spoiler: Angie, eventually.]]
* GoodWithNumbers: The Polymath power. Dess can do lengthy, difficult, and intricate calculations easily in her head, and she can come up with thirteen-letter names in an instant.
* HatesBeingTouched: Melissa. [[spoiler:She gets better, though.]]
* HalfHumanHybrid: [[spoiler: Anathea, a Seer from 50 years ago that got turned into a "Halfling," a human-Darkling hybrid. She gets progressively weaker, so the Darklings try to make a new one out of Rex. It works for a while, but he gets better. Though he still carries some of the traits, like an aversion to math, metal, and the number 13, and has the occasional predatory instinct slip.]]
* [[YearInsideHourOutside Hour Inside Millisecond Outside]]
* ImprovisedWeapon: Since any piece of a metal alloy given a 13-letter name is a deadly weapon against the Darklings, most of the weapons tend to be fairly mundane (and sometimes bizarre or random) objects, like screws, bolts, hubcaps, silverware, trash can lids, and one particularly badass microphone stand.
* JumpPhysics: The Acrobat power. During Midnight, gravity's pull on Jonathan and whoever he's holding hands with is sharply decreased. He puts the jumps in most {{Platform Game}}s to shame.
* TheLoad: Jessica, [[spoiler: for most of the first book]], who attracts Slithers and Darklings like roadkill attracts flies. [[GameBreaker Then she learns what her power is.]]
* MagikarpPower: Jessica
* ManipulativeBastard: [[spoiler: Madeline, an old Mindcaster. Among many other things, she used her power to convince Melissa's and Dess's mothers to push either just a little earlier or later, so they'd be born exactly at midnight.]]
** [[spoiler: Melissa too. ...Actually, this is pretty much par for the course for Mindcasters, apparently. Both of them affectionately (or not) get the title "Queen Bitch" at some point. And dear lord do they both ever prove that they deserve it.]]
* MayflyDecemberRomance: [[spoiler: Jessica and Jonathan, after Jessica becomes confined to the Blue Time in exchange for fixing the rift between the normal hours and Midnight. Jonathan will continue to age as normal, but Jessica only exists for 1 hour each day and therefore will age by 1 day roughly every 3 weeks.]]
* MindRape: Mindcasters are good at this. [[spoiler: Melissa accidentally mind raped Rex and Johnathan on a small scale when they touched her, her mind raping was responsible for Rex's father turning into a vegetable.]]
** [[spoiler: Poor Dess gets mind raped pretty badly twice in the second book. First by Madeline, although that wasn't entirely mind rape as she planted useful information and then gave Dess a trick to freely block and unblock it. Second by Melissa, trying by brute mental force to tear down said barrier and get said information out of Dess.]] She certainly isn't happy about it, but she survives with her sanity intact. Mostly.
* NeverMessWithGranny: Madeline. Yeesh.
* NewTransferStudent: Being a new student at tiny Bixby High School gives Jessica an almost celebrity status when she arrives.
* NumerologicalMotif: With 12 (for the Darklings) and 13 (for the Midnighters). Factors of both numbers exert equal power as well.
* TheOphelia: Melissa.
* OminousMusicBoxTune: Dess filed down some of the pegs on her music box to make it sound more like this.
* OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent: From 12:01 AM to 11:59 PM. (Although Rex's, Melissa's, and Dess's powers do work in the daylight hours.)
* PairTheSpares: Actually sort of averted, since Rex and Melissa had the couple vibe before they formally hooked up, and Dess is still single at the end of the series. Actually, since Dess never expresses romantic affection for anyone or anything (except maybe math and numbers), it's possible she's Asexual.
* PerkyGoth: Dess.
* SchoolSavedMyLife: Inverted. All of the Midnighters' powers correlate to a school subject, which they excel at because of the powers. Except Melissa. Dess: Trigonometry, and probably engineering, Jonathan: Physics, Rex: History, Jess: [[spoiler:Chemistry]]
* SeeThruSpecs: The Seer power. Rex is mostly blind without his glasses, but things touched by Midnight (including Midnighters) appear in sharp focus. When he wears his glasses, "normal" things are clear, but stuff involving Midnight gets blurry (or outright invisible in the case of runes and lore).
* SeriousBusiness: The source of the tension between Rex and Jonathan. Rex wants to learn all there is to know about Midnight and thinks there's some deep higher purpose to the existence of Midnighters and their powers, while Jonathan (who has the fun power) thinks Rex is being way too StopHavingFunGuys about it.
* ShownTheirWork: While he may have gotten the time frames wrong (see FridgeLogic and the JustBugsMe page), Westerfeld still had to do a decent amount of research, primarily on numbering systems, making this series overall a welcome subversion of WritersCannotDoMath.
* SupportingProtagonist: One of the characters in the running for overall series main character is [[spoiler: Dess, TheSmartGuy.]]
* {{Telepathy}}: The Mindcaster power. But unless you know how to control it properly, [[BlessedWithSuck it's far more of a hassle than a perk]].
* ThirteenIsUnlucky: For Slithers and Darklings, that is. If you're a human, it's your best weapon.
* TimeStandsStill: Of the "moving incredibly fast" variety.
** actually, [[spoiler: [[AWizardDidIt a Darkling did it]]]].
* TokenEvilTeammate: [[spoiler: Rex ]]
* TownWithADarkSecret: Or [[strike:12]] [[ArcNumber 13]].
* UnreliableNarrator: The Lore conveniently neglects to mention the things the area's [[spoiler: [[AncientConspiracy old Midnighters]]]] did to stay in power.
* WhenTheClockStrikesTwelve
* YouAreGrounded
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