History Literature / Midnighters

* IdiotBall: Rex calling Angie from his home phone, which it never occurred to him might be tapped. [[WhatAnIdiot She's disgusted.]]

* IsThatWhatTheyreCallingItNow: Dess teases Jessica and Jonathan about 'taking their time getting home.'

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]].

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).

* SchoolSavedMyLife: Inverted. All of the Midnighters' powers correlate to a school subject, which they excel at because of the powers (except Melissa). Dess: math (trigonometry this year), and probably engineering as well; Jonathan: physics; Rex: history; Jess: [[spoiler:chemistry]].

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'''Midnighters tropes'''

* GrayAndBlackMorality: [[spoiler:The darkling's human allies don't like their morally dubious duties (such as kidnapping Rex) but believe it's a better option than allowing midnighters to rule Bixby again.]] It might not hurt that [[EvilPaysBetter it's made them very rich]].

* PurpleEyes: Darklings have them, and the 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''.]]

* 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.

* 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}} microphone stand.

* 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}}.

* 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''.]]

* IsThatWhatTheyreCallingItNow: Dess teases Jessica and Jonathan about 'takign their time getting home.'

* 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

* YouAreGrounded

* UnreliableNarrator: The Lore conveniently neglects to mention the things the area's [[spoiler: [[AncientConspiracy old Midnighters]]]] did to stay in power.