History Recap / LoveDeathAndRobotsPopSquad

* WhoWantsToLiveForever: It generally gets really boring after a while, especially since there are no new people to talk to. And short for hedonistic wish-fulfillment, there isn't much to do, either.

* SpaceAgeStasis: In the book and short, the world described and shown has been as it has for untold thousands of years. It's stagnant. Progress for culture, art and technology has slowed to such a crawl. So much so that the immortals' own civilization is crumbling beneath their feet, yet no one cares; it barely even gets a passing mention in the original story.

* FantasticSlurs: Those who have children are referred to as "Breeders". [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]], as "breeder" is a real insult used by (some) anti-natalists.

* SpaceAgeStasis: In the book and short, the world described and sh0own has been as it has for untold thousands of years. It's stagnant. Progress for culture, art and technology has slowed to such a crawl. So much so that the immortals' own civilization is crumbling beneath their feet, yet no one cares; it barely even gets a passing mention in the original story.

* CyberpunkWithAChanceOfRain: It's the future and it's constantly raining. Even in the sunny scenes, it's actually still a downpour. While the weather does seem better in the upper parts of the city, it's constantly raining in the lower levels.

* LivingIsNotSurviving: Eve holds to the position that what humanity is doing at this point, isn't truly ''living'', pointing out what she describes as the dead gaze in Briggs' eyes, and how she hasn't truly felt alive before Melanie was born.

* LivingForeverIsAwesome: Alice holds this view and states that not having children is a small price to pay for immortality. She's proud of spending 20 years to perfect her solo number. This seems to be the general sentiment of the fortunate/upper class.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: The immortal part of the society just can't wrap their heads around ''why'' anyone would rather live in a squalor and constant hiding for the sake of having a child. Since the system has been running for so long, people genuinely no longer ''remember'' what it is to have children around or what they even need.

* ImmortalityImmorality: The society of immortals kills any children born. Not even executes them like one would a criminal, mind you, but sends agents to gun them down like rabid animals. Suffice to say, living forever seems to have done bad things to people's basic humanity. Eve also states that she's "not so in love with myself that I want to go on for ever and ever," implying that there is something morally wrong with someone who'd ''want'' to be immortal instead of raising a new generation to hand the world over to.

** In the original story, Briggs himself has a hard time remembering ''when'' exactly things happened in his life, because he's been around for centuries, to the point even basic trivia has become fuzzy since he learned it so long ago.

* WhoWantsToLiveForever: There seems to be a class divide as those higher up express the opposite sentiment, but for Eve who isn’t so lucky it got boring. She openly states that she's seen too much and lived for too long to keep going anymore, until having Melanie made things seem new again and gave that will back.

* CyberpunkWithAChanceOfRain: It's the future and it's constantly raining. Even in the sunny scenes, it's actually still a downpour.

* WhoWantsToLiveForever: There seems to be a class divide as those higher up express the opposite sentiment, but for some who aren’t so lucky it gets boring. Melanie's mother openly states that she's seen too much and lived for too long to keep going anymore, but having Melanie has made things seem new again and given that will back. In the original story, Briggs himself has a hard time remembering ''when'' exactly things happened in his life, because he's been around for centuries, to the point even basic trivia has become fuzzy since he learned it so long ago.

* LivingForeverIsAwesome: Alice holds this view and states that not having children is a small price to pay for immortality. She's proud of spending 20 years to perfect her solo number. Eve on the other hand [[WhoWantsToLiveForever begs to differ]].

* WhoWantsToLiveForever: It gets boring. Really, really boring. Melanie's mother openly states that she's seen too much and lived for too long to keep going anymore, but having Melanie has made things seem new again. In the original story, Briggs himself has a hard time remembering ''when'' exactly things happened in his life, because he's been around for centuries, to the point even basic trivia has become fuzzy since he learned it so long ago.

* FantasticSlurs: Those who have children are referred to as "Breeders". [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]], as "breeder" is a real insult used by (some) anti-natalists, such as the subreddit r/childfree.

* FantasticSlurs: Those who have children are referred to as "Breeders".

* EmpathyDollShot: The boy raises his dinosaure plushie before getting shot and Briggs later gets uncomfortable while staring at it.

* ImmortalityInducer: The unspecified treatment that grants immortality has to be administered every so often to maintain its effect.

* RayOfHopeEnding: Briggs dies, after he kills his detective partner... but that leaves two "slots" open for other people to live and nobody reported Melanie's existence yet.

* TakeMeInstead: Even offers to trade her own life for that of her child, as that way the population remains static.

* AutoErotica: Alice outright propositions Briggs in his flying car but the latter turns him down because he's not in the mood.
* CollectorOfTheStrange: Inverted. Since toys no longer serve any purpose or goal, they are considered a thing for collectors.
* CompressedAdaptation: A ''lot'' of world-building elements were cut in the transition to the animated format, including Bacigalupi's trademark {{Cryptic Background Reference}}s. For starters, Briggs had second thoughts for far, far longer than just the opening case. And the whole situation - the absolute ban on pregnancies, to prevent overpopulation, along with society advancing in such way the concept of having children is considered weird by itself - are only hinted in the animated short.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: The immortal part of the society just can't wrap their heads around to ''why'' anyone would rather live in a squalor and constant hiding for the sake of having a child. Since the system was running for so long, people genuinely no longer ''remember'' what it is to have children around or what they even need.
* EmpathyDollShot: The boy raises his dinosaure plushie before getting shot and Briggs later gets uncomfortable while staring it.
* FantasticSlurs: Those who have children are refered to as "Breeders".
* HeroicFatigue: Briggs been on the job for centuries, so his tired looks aren't just part of a HardboiledDetective character design.

* ImmortalProcreationClause: Rejuvenation treatments appear to temporarily sterilize the user, as the ones with children have stopped taking them.

* ItIsDehumanizing: Her. Her name is Melanie. Don't call her "it". Meanwhile, the world at large no longer considers children anything else than objects.

* MamaBear: Just because she's polite and soft-spoken, it doesn't mean she won't try going for a gun.

* PopulationControl: To such an extreme form that children are summarily executed by police, without even an attempt to arrest them alive like their parents.

* RetroUniverse: It's eternal Chandler times, despite sky-scrappers reaching above the clouds, hoovering cars and clinical immortality. Part of it comes from the fact humanity itself no longer really progress, at it has no need or reason to do it, instead relishing the relicts of the past to boast how great it is to live forever.
* TinMan: Briggs is a detective, which in this universe means being a child killer. Everyone is convinced he feels absolutely nothing about his job. And he really tries to convince himself about this lack of emotions and attatchment.
* ThousandYardStare: Melanie's mother give it to Briggs
-->'''Eve''':I've been alive for 218 years. I've seen... too much.
* WhoWantsToLiveForever: It gets boring. Really, really boring. Melanie's mother openly stated that she saw too much and lived for too long to keep it going anymore. In the original story, Briggs himself has hard time remembering ''when'' exactly things happend in his life, because he's been around for centuries, to the point even basic trivia became fuzzy, as he learned it so long ago.
* WouldHurtAChild: Briggs and his partner are tasked with the assassination of illegal children. Briggs is shown to be an ApologeticAttacker and has a change of heart at the end.

* FantasticSlurs: Briggs refers to those who have children as "Breeders".

* WouldHurtAChild: Briggs and his partners are tasked with the assassination of illegal children. Briggs is show to be an ApologeticAttacker and has a change of heart at the end.

* AllThereInTheManual: A ''lot'' of world-building elements were cut in the transition to the animated format, including Bacigalupi's trademark {{Cryptic Background Reference}}s. For starters, Briggs had second thoughts for far, far longer than just the opening case. And the whole situation - the absolute ban on pregnancies, to prevent overpopulation, along with society advancing in such way the concept of having children is considered weird by itself - are only hinted in the animated short.
* AllThereInTheScript: Eve (Melanie's mother) and Ruth (the old lady at the beginning)

-->I've been alive for 218 years. I've seen... too much.