Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Trope was cut/disambiguated due to cleanup
Deleted line(s) 181 (click to see context) :
* KickTheSonOfABitch: Yes, the Toughs do some nasty stuff but we cheer for them anyway, because the current bad guys are usually nastier and deserve the pwning that's headed their way.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Loads And Loads Of Characters is a redirect that should not be linked to
Deleted line(s) 213 (click to see context) :
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Understandable, since it focuses on an entire company of mercenaries, but there's still a lot to keep track of. And the {{Big Guy}}s tend to all look fairly similar. Not to mention 950 million Gavclones and assorted Gate Clones. Unless a character is confirmed dead there is a very good chance they'll show up again. This applies to ''everyone''.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
TRS cleanup
Changed line(s) 109 (click to see context) from:
** A brief AndNowForSomethingCompletelyDifferent InTheStyleOf ''Series/{{CSI}}'', complete with {{Expy}}s of Grissom, Warrick, Brass, and Nick, begins [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2004-04-25 here]].
to:
** A brief AndNowForSomethingCompletelyDifferent FormulaBreakingEpisode InTheStyleOf ''Series/{{CSI}}'', complete with {{Expy}}s of Grissom, Warrick, Brass, and Nick, begins [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2004-04-25 here]].
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 115 (click to see context) from:
* HumansAreSpecial: "[[ArthurCClarke Rescue Party]]" variant; with less than a thousand years in space - [[WeAreAsMayflies a fraction of many prominent species' lifespans]] - humans have already spread an English-influenced dialect of "Galstandard" far and wide, ballooned to the fifth-largest sapient species and fourth-strongest military power yet seen, rediscovered an order-disrupting technology [[spoiler:purposefully suppressed for six million years]], and been indirectly responsible for the creation of a [[AssimilationPlot godlike AI hivemind]]. And now that hivemind has decided to express its gratitude... Though we probably can't be trusted to run a [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2008-02-06 project on longevity.]]
to:
* HumansAreSpecial: "[[ArthurCClarke "[[Creator/ArthurCClarke Rescue Party]]" variant; with less than a thousand years in space - [[WeAreAsMayflies a fraction of many prominent species' lifespans]] - humans have already spread an English-influenced dialect of "Galstandard" far and wide, ballooned to the fifth-largest sapient species and fourth-strongest military power yet seen, rediscovered an order-disrupting technology [[spoiler:purposefully suppressed for six million years]], and been indirectly responsible for the creation of a [[AssimilationPlot godlike AI hivemind]]. And now that hivemind has decided to express its gratitude... Though we probably can't be trusted to run a [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2008-02-06 project on longevity.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Deleted line(s) 43 (click to see context) :
* FreudWasRight: [[invoked]] During a docking procedure, Admiral Breya is really, really tired of these kinds of the sexual innuendo. All Kevyn said was that [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2004-08-14 things were going smoothly.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Has nothing to do with familiarity with in-universe fiction.
Deleted line(s) 57,66 (click to see context) :
* GenreSavvy: '''Everyone'''.
** Prime example: Thurl and Tagon are discussing a mission (May 1,2008):
--->'''Thurl:''' I've run a cost-benefit analysis, and it remains profitable even in extreme contingencies.\\
'''Captain Tagon:''' Did you just weasel-word your way around saying "What's the worst thing that could happen?"\\
'''Thurl:''' Hey, ''you'' just now invoked Murphy, not me. Those weasel words are there for '''our''' protection.
** This actually backfires at times as well, when people are too GenreSavvy for their own good.
--->'''Inspector:''' People have been suckering each other with [[LostTechnology 'secret of the ancients']] scams for thousands of years. Claiming that some lost technology has been re-discovered is pretty much the same as 'I am running a con.'\\
'''Ennesby:''' So you see our problem.\\
'''Inspector:''' Of course I... wait. '''Your''' problem?\\
'''Ennesby:''' We want to sell rediscovered tech but our potential customers think they're too smart to buy it.
** Prime example: Thurl and Tagon are discussing a mission (May 1,2008):
--->'''Thurl:''' I've run a cost-benefit analysis, and it remains profitable even in extreme contingencies.\\
'''Captain Tagon:''' Did you just weasel-word your way around saying "What's the worst thing that could happen?"\\
'''Thurl:''' Hey, ''you'' just now invoked Murphy, not me. Those weasel words are there for '''our''' protection.
** This actually backfires at times as well, when people are too GenreSavvy for their own good.
--->'''Inspector:''' People have been suckering each other with [[LostTechnology 'secret of the ancients']] scams for thousands of years. Claiming that some lost technology has been re-discovered is pretty much the same as 'I am running a con.'\\
'''Ennesby:''' So you see our problem.\\
'''Inspector:''' Of course I... wait. '''Your''' problem?\\
'''Ennesby:''' We want to sell rediscovered tech but our potential customers think they're too smart to buy it.
Changed line(s) 229 (click to see context) from:
** Also happens to [[spoiler:Lt. Ventura]]. Her captor tries to be GenreSavvy by not having the [[spoiler:[[PuppyDogEyes innoncent-with-the-big-eyes]] looking girl]] guarded by an easily swayed human guard. [[spoiler:Instead they locked her in with the robots...]]
to:
** Also happens to [[spoiler:Lt. Ventura]]. Her captor tries to be GenreSavvy savvy by not having the [[spoiler:[[PuppyDogEyes innoncent-with-the-big-eyes]] looking girl]] guarded by an easily swayed human guard. [[spoiler:Instead they locked her in with the robots...]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Badass is an index, not a trope.
Changed line(s) 236 (click to see context) from:
* MadeOfIron: Many of Tagon's mercenaries have various artificially-induced boosts to their strength and endurance, but during the [[spoiler:Timeclone Kevyn and Karl Tagon rescue]], Captain Tagon was particularly BadAss. Bad guy throws a knife and [[EyeScream sticks Tagon in the eye with it.]] Tagon pulls it out of his socket and uses it to kill the bad guy and a {{Mook}}.
to:
* MadeOfIron: Many of Tagon's mercenaries have various artificially-induced boosts to their strength and endurance, but during the [[spoiler:Timeclone Kevyn and Karl Tagon rescue]], Captain Tagon was particularly BadAss.badass. Bad guy throws a knife and [[EyeScream sticks Tagon in the eye with it.]] Tagon pulls it out of his socket and uses it to kill the bad guy and a {{Mook}}.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 173 (click to see context) from:
* {{Instrumentality}}: The Fleetmind, but only for AIs and cyborgs.
to:
* {{Instrumentality}}: AssimilationPlot: The Fleetmind, but only for AIs and cyborgs.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 120 (click to see context) from:
** A brief AndNowForSomethingCompletelyDifferent InTheStyleOf ''{{CSI}}'', complete with {{Expy}}s of Grissom, Warrick, Brass, and Nick, begins [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2004-04-25 here]].
to:
** A brief AndNowForSomethingCompletelyDifferent InTheStyleOf ''{{CSI}}'', ''Series/{{CSI}}'', complete with {{Expy}}s of Grissom, Warrick, Brass, and Nick, begins [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2004-04-25 here]].
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Deleted line(s) 349,386 (click to see context) :
* PaintingTheMedium: Characters routinely lean on or brace themselves against panel borders.
* PeelingPotatoes: parodied [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2000-09-02 here]].
* PeopleJars: At one point, the author gets away with a full-frontal nude shot of Elf in a regeneration tank by making her too nude to have ''skin''. "I'm as naked as the day I was born. And then some."
* PerpetualPoverty:
** However many times the Toughs get paid, they'll be struggling to make next paycheck before you know it.
--->'''Tagon:''' This number looked a lot bigger before I started the payroll.
** Interestingly enough, it was {{averted}} once. And then that aversion was {{deconstruct|ion}}ed, as [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2008-03-16 a large fraction of the mercenaries took their new-found wealth and retired.]]
* PerpetualStorm: Book 14, "Broken Wind", features a planet-sized gigahabitat that rotates to provide gravity. The resulting coriolis force has produced a permanent "sideways hurricane" in one part of the habitat, when a pair of baffle walls designed to prevent just that are intentionally knocked down.
* PerfectlyCromulentWord: Ennesby has a habit of doing this. Words, phrases, quips, and puns. [[PungeonMaster Ye gads, the puns]]...
-->'''Schlock:''' Ennesby gave me a shorter word to say all that, Sir. 'Assassineated'.\\
'''Tagon:''' Ennesby needs to stop inventing words.
* PhraseCatcher: Schlock's faster than he looks. ''Finally'' lampshaded:
-->'''[[VillainOfTheWeek Pau]]:''' Don't worry about me! Worry about that turd-tentacled monster! He's faster than he -\\
'''Schlock:''' [[NeverHeardThatOneBefore Say "Looks."]]
* Mohs/PhysicsPlus: Gravity manipulation (but not ''generation'' -- ships are built around spheres of neutronium as sources of gravity to manipulate), a process which is as well developed as electronics, and playing the result to its natural conclusions; ubiquitous {{flight}}, DeflectorShields, [[OurWormholesAreDifferent traversable wormholes]] (one example which {{Justifie|dTrope}}s a TimeTravel storyline), and [[TeleportersAndTransporters quantum teleportation]]. Some find the easy nanotechnology a bit of a stretch.
* PlasmaCannon: Schlock's signature BHG-9000 plasguns, plural because they tend to explode at the drop of a hat.
* PopulationControl: Earth has a gene pool protection act that required Doctor Bunnigus's parents to have a DesignerBaby.
* PortalNetwork: with an ''incredibly'' dark secret; [[spoiler:It [[CloningBlues copies]] everyone who uses it each time they use it. The Gatekeepers then interrogate the copies and kill them. They know everything about everybody without anyone's knowledge. [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2006-04-05 Seven million people every minute]]. [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2006-04-06 For hundreds of thousands of years.]] Technically, [[WellIntentionedExtremist they meant well]] - [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2005-07-10 the Pa'anuri made it clear]] that either the Gatekeepers would prevent the use of TeleportersAndTransporters or they'd kill the Milky Way Galaxy.]]
* PoweredArmor: Besides the standard stuff, the Toughs are equipped with low-profile (to the point of invisibility) armor built into their uniforms that helps diffuse energy weapons and lets them ''fly.''
* ThePowerOfFriendship: A twisted sort of application of the trope. The Toughs can't count on their allies, because they're mercenaries and your allies might be the guys you're hired to kill tomorrow; they can't count on any of their respective home governments, for pretty much the same reason; they certainly can't count on their employers, who are frequently known to try to backstab the Toughs since, well, they hired a band of mercenaries to begin with, so why not add "screwing over those who make a living with violence"? But they know they can count on their ''friends'' (which, admittedly, is usually limited to "each other", but the sentiment is there).
* PrivateMilitaryContractors: The Toughs and much of their competition that isn't a star nation's military.
* ProjectedMan: most of the shipboard [=AIs=]; also, Ennesby before he joined the crew and got a body of sorts.
* ProperlyParanoid:
** Pi's paranoid delusions are sometimes right on the money.
*** First, [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2008-06-08 there's the incident with a grav-catcher]]. As the LemonyNarrator puts it, "It's a good thing he's not in therapy. This would undo months of progress."
*** And it takes someone as crazy as him to think of [[spoiler: hyperspace cannons and zombie plagues.]]
--->'''Pi''': ''But the plan is absurd. Suborning Gavcorps would be terribly expensive, and no military will admit to having genocidal nanotech on hand...''
** Karl Tagon's response to seeing [[spoiler: Kaff Tagon's nanite-riddled girlfriend]] start having a seizure - put his suit-helmet up in case of bio-weaponry. [[spoiler: His wife]] wasn't so lucky...
* PsychicPowers: It is stated early on by the narrator that someone with "psychic sight" can see the bullet destined to kill someone. This is dropped in favor of harder sci-fi, but psychic powers such as (radio) telepathy get referenced every once in a while.
** There's an in-universe TV show called ''Psychic Suzie''. She's [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2006-04-09 quite unconventional]], for a medium.
* PsychoticManchild: Probably the best description of Schlock's attitude. He does show care and loyalty to his friends despite his status as a sociopath, but enjoys fighting too much to care about the blazing hot maimery he spews from his plasma cannon on anyone but his friends.
* PunctuationShaker:
** The F'Sherl-Ganni typically have ''three'' apostrophes in their names
** And they call a certain enemy the Paan'uri, or is it Paa'nuri, or Pa'anuri?
* PungeonMaster: Ennesby, being an entertainment AI, used a databank of puns across 50 languages.
* QuoteToQuoteCombat: A notable [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2009-12-23 exchange]] occurs after LOTA [[ItMakesSenseInContext teraports New Credomar out of the cannon barrel]].
-->'''Kevyn:''' If you say "I told you so," I get to say "my sarcasm is more accurate than your paranoia."\\
'''Ennesby:''' That's fair.
* PeelingPotatoes: parodied [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2000-09-02 here]].
* PeopleJars: At one point, the author gets away with a full-frontal nude shot of Elf in a regeneration tank by making her too nude to have ''skin''. "I'm as naked as the day I was born. And then some."
* PerpetualPoverty:
** However many times the Toughs get paid, they'll be struggling to make next paycheck before you know it.
--->'''Tagon:''' This number looked a lot bigger before I started the payroll.
** Interestingly enough, it was {{averted}} once. And then that aversion was {{deconstruct|ion}}ed, as [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2008-03-16 a large fraction of the mercenaries took their new-found wealth and retired.]]
* PerpetualStorm: Book 14, "Broken Wind", features a planet-sized gigahabitat that rotates to provide gravity. The resulting coriolis force has produced a permanent "sideways hurricane" in one part of the habitat, when a pair of baffle walls designed to prevent just that are intentionally knocked down.
* PerfectlyCromulentWord: Ennesby has a habit of doing this. Words, phrases, quips, and puns. [[PungeonMaster Ye gads, the puns]]...
-->'''Schlock:''' Ennesby gave me a shorter word to say all that, Sir. 'Assassineated'.\\
'''Tagon:''' Ennesby needs to stop inventing words.
* PhraseCatcher: Schlock's faster than he looks. ''Finally'' lampshaded:
-->'''[[VillainOfTheWeek Pau]]:''' Don't worry about me! Worry about that turd-tentacled monster! He's faster than he -\\
'''Schlock:''' [[NeverHeardThatOneBefore Say "Looks."]]
* Mohs/PhysicsPlus: Gravity manipulation (but not ''generation'' -- ships are built around spheres of neutronium as sources of gravity to manipulate), a process which is as well developed as electronics, and playing the result to its natural conclusions; ubiquitous {{flight}}, DeflectorShields, [[OurWormholesAreDifferent traversable wormholes]] (one example which {{Justifie|dTrope}}s a TimeTravel storyline), and [[TeleportersAndTransporters quantum teleportation]]. Some find the easy nanotechnology a bit of a stretch.
* PlasmaCannon: Schlock's signature BHG-9000 plasguns, plural because they tend to explode at the drop of a hat.
* PopulationControl: Earth has a gene pool protection act that required Doctor Bunnigus's parents to have a DesignerBaby.
* PortalNetwork: with an ''incredibly'' dark secret; [[spoiler:It [[CloningBlues copies]] everyone who uses it each time they use it. The Gatekeepers then interrogate the copies and kill them. They know everything about everybody without anyone's knowledge. [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2006-04-05 Seven million people every minute]]. [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2006-04-06 For hundreds of thousands of years.]] Technically, [[WellIntentionedExtremist they meant well]] - [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2005-07-10 the Pa'anuri made it clear]] that either the Gatekeepers would prevent the use of TeleportersAndTransporters or they'd kill the Milky Way Galaxy.]]
* PoweredArmor: Besides the standard stuff, the Toughs are equipped with low-profile (to the point of invisibility) armor built into their uniforms that helps diffuse energy weapons and lets them ''fly.''
* ThePowerOfFriendship: A twisted sort of application of the trope. The Toughs can't count on their allies, because they're mercenaries and your allies might be the guys you're hired to kill tomorrow; they can't count on any of their respective home governments, for pretty much the same reason; they certainly can't count on their employers, who are frequently known to try to backstab the Toughs since, well, they hired a band of mercenaries to begin with, so why not add "screwing over those who make a living with violence"? But they know they can count on their ''friends'' (which, admittedly, is usually limited to "each other", but the sentiment is there).
* PrivateMilitaryContractors: The Toughs and much of their competition that isn't a star nation's military.
* ProjectedMan: most of the shipboard [=AIs=]; also, Ennesby before he joined the crew and got a body of sorts.
* ProperlyParanoid:
** Pi's paranoid delusions are sometimes right on the money.
*** First, [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2008-06-08 there's the incident with a grav-catcher]]. As the LemonyNarrator puts it, "It's a good thing he's not in therapy. This would undo months of progress."
*** And it takes someone as crazy as him to think of [[spoiler: hyperspace cannons and zombie plagues.]]
--->'''Pi''': ''But the plan is absurd. Suborning Gavcorps would be terribly expensive, and no military will admit to having genocidal nanotech on hand...''
** Karl Tagon's response to seeing [[spoiler: Kaff Tagon's nanite-riddled girlfriend]] start having a seizure - put his suit-helmet up in case of bio-weaponry. [[spoiler: His wife]] wasn't so lucky...
* PsychicPowers: It is stated early on by the narrator that someone with "psychic sight" can see the bullet destined to kill someone. This is dropped in favor of harder sci-fi, but psychic powers such as (radio) telepathy get referenced every once in a while.
** There's an in-universe TV show called ''Psychic Suzie''. She's [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2006-04-09 quite unconventional]], for a medium.
* PsychoticManchild: Probably the best description of Schlock's attitude. He does show care and loyalty to his friends despite his status as a sociopath, but enjoys fighting too much to care about the blazing hot maimery he spews from his plasma cannon on anyone but his friends.
* PunctuationShaker:
** The F'Sherl-Ganni typically have ''three'' apostrophes in their names
** And they call a certain enemy the Paan'uri, or is it Paa'nuri, or Pa'anuri?
* PungeonMaster: Ennesby, being an entertainment AI, used a databank of puns across 50 languages.
* QuoteToQuoteCombat: A notable [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2009-12-23 exchange]] occurs after LOTA [[ItMakesSenseInContext teraports New Credomar out of the cannon barrel]].
-->'''Kevyn:''' If you say "I told you so," I get to say "my sarcasm is more accurate than your paranoia."\\
'''Ennesby:''' That's fair.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* FacePalm: Something of a regular occurrence. In particular, Major Murtaugh's palm winds up more or less glued to her face while she's trying to get used to having Schlock in her command.
* FakeMemories: Part of the deal made with Admiral Emm in exchange for not killing the Toughs is that the company members have their memories altered, with false memories implanted to replace the real things. [[spoiler:It's later reversed, with Petey's help, for most of the crew.]]
* FanDisservice:
** [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2007-09-16 Naked]] [[FatBastard General Xinchub]] is, InUniverse, enough to send Kevyn Andreyasn [[INeedAFreakingDrink fleeing to the bar]] to [[BrainBleach purge the memory of the view from his mind.]]
** Elf gets a nude scene. She also doesn't have her skin on, since she's regenerating at the time.
* FanService:
** Lots and lots of gratuitous bikini shots while the mercenaries are on vacation, which are hilariously lampshaded [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2005-08-04 here.]]
** Chelle's Incredible Flying Bikini, during the Barsoom arc.
* FantasticDrug: Captain Tagon mentions, in a reminiscence about what happened to a unit given far too much room for their quarters, something called "hyperjuana", which from the name is probably some kind of extra powerful marijuana equivalent.
* FantasticRacism:
** Beyond a variety of "Race X hates Race Y and is trying to subjugate or destroy it," there's also a few cases of an extremely negative view of artificial intelligences, especially from [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2002-11-02 Reverend Theo]]. Though he eventually came to terms with Petey (mostly) and had nothing against [[spoiler:Lota becoming a supposedly benevolent dictator]].
** Also, [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2002-05-26 there]] are always [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2008-04-18 elephant jokes]].
** There are broader criteria, such as Andy's "[[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2008-03-22 They're all Terrans. They all look alike]]".
** A bunch of [[MesACrowd Gavs]] used cutting-edge tech to "diversify" themselves, giving themselves new bodies (even [[GenderBender changing sex]] in some cases) and implanting new personalities and skills into their minds. They did this because they were having difficulty coming to terms with being one of a crowd of identical people. They also are convinced that every Gav secretly feels this way, and look down on "baseliners" somewhat as being in denial. Ironically enough, a baseliner suspects that this attitude was specifically added in to make them like the change.
* {{Fartillery}}: Discussed in one strip:
-->'''Kevyn''': During this time you [Pi] are not to discharge anything more energetic than a ''sneeze''.\\
'''Ennesby''': Sneezes move at about forty-two meters per second, sir.\\
'''Kevyn''': ...how fast does a fart move?\\
'''Ennesby''': ''*shocked*'' Mother of methane! [[FartsOnFire Farts are flammable!]]
* FasterThanLightTravel: The nature and socio-political impact of the Teraport is a major theme of the series. The [[PortalNetwork Wormgates]] also turn out to have far more plot significance than mere transportation.
* FatalFamilyPhoto: Referenced in [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2010-10-27 this strip]], and ultimately {{averted}} (if barely).
* FetchQuest: When Schlock had to go back to his homeworld to pick up a new set of eyes.
* FieldPromotion: Happens a lot due to characters dying off.
* FinishingEachOthersSentences: Tagon and Ceeta ([[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2003-08-16 which scared them]]).
* FlameWar: Referenced when Ennesby responds to a terapedo (which he disabled) with a ''very'' [[BrownNote harshly worded message]], using his WeaponsGradeVocabulary.[[invoked]]
-->'''Ceeta:''' I have this policy about not starting flame wars with people who ride around in [[TheBattlestar battleplates]].
* ForeignQueasine:
** The ape-style rock-a-stack [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2010-03-23 with real termites]].
** Smutto (a mixture of natto and corn smut) would also be a good example.
** Subverted with chupaquesos. They are delicious.
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** The fact that Kathryn is [[spoiler:an ex-UNS captain]] was quite heavily foreshadowed several times, starting with her exceptional competence at planning and subterfuge, along with her adeptness at using firearms while rescuing Karl Tagon.
** [[spoiler:Para]] [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2011-10-12 is foreshadowed to be a]] [[spoiler:UNS agent]].
** "Sis, that's long enough that the thing could have flown here from ''Andromeda''." [[spoiler: Guess where the wormgate being discussed goes to?]]
** [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2007-11-30 This]] leads to [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2012-03-25 this]] which is actually [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2012-05-31 what Xinchub was working against.]]
** [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2010-07-15 Here]], Tagii says she has “plenty of processing cycles to spare”, to which Ennesby replies that “Idle [=CPUs=] are the devil’s workshop”. [[spoiler:Over two years later, Tagii is driven insane by being disconnected and trapped in her processor bank with nothing to do.]]
** "[[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2002-04-09 Do you have any idea how many successful mutinies are associated with the ship's plumbing?]]" Maybe not instrumental to the plan, ''per se'', but later that year,[[spoiler: we do learn of at least [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2002-10-13 one]] mutiny that did involve the plumbing...]]
* ForInconveniencePressOne
* FourthWall: Gets progressively thicker as the series progresses. In the first volume, characters actively try to decide who's going to die on the basis of when they were introduced, who gets punchlines, and whether they're named. By later volumes, the wall gets nudged much more rarely, and fleetingly.
* FromASingleCell
* FictionalDocument: ''The Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries''
* FreudianCouch: Reverend Fobius tries to therapize Captain Tagon on [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2008-10-22 one]], but the Captain is too tired to do more than fall asleep.
* FreudWasRight: [[invoked]] During a docking procedure, Admiral Breya is really, really tired of these kinds of the sexual innuendo. All Kevyn said was that [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2004-08-14 things were going smoothly.]]
* TheFunInFuneral: Brightly-coloured party hats and noisemakers are the attire of choice at [[spoiler:General Xinchub's]] funeral.
* FusionDance:
** Amorphs use this to exchange memories, to fight, and to reproduce.
** There's also an interesting one when Schlock tries to trade memories with a timeclone of himself - the intellectual thought-processes recognize two unique Schlocks, but the biology thinks it's recovered an errant fragment of the same amorph unit. What ensues is described (to give us non-amorphs perspective) as being sort of like trying to resist throwing up, except backwards, and with about the same inevitability of outcome.
* FakeMemories: Part of the deal made with Admiral Emm in exchange for not killing the Toughs is that the company members have their memories altered, with false memories implanted to replace the real things. [[spoiler:It's later reversed, with Petey's help, for most of the crew.]]
* FanDisservice:
** [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2007-09-16 Naked]] [[FatBastard General Xinchub]] is, InUniverse, enough to send Kevyn Andreyasn [[INeedAFreakingDrink fleeing to the bar]] to [[BrainBleach purge the memory of the view from his mind.]]
** Elf gets a nude scene. She also doesn't have her skin on, since she's regenerating at the time.
* FanService:
** Lots and lots of gratuitous bikini shots while the mercenaries are on vacation, which are hilariously lampshaded [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2005-08-04 here.]]
** Chelle's Incredible Flying Bikini, during the Barsoom arc.
* FantasticDrug: Captain Tagon mentions, in a reminiscence about what happened to a unit given far too much room for their quarters, something called "hyperjuana", which from the name is probably some kind of extra powerful marijuana equivalent.
* FantasticRacism:
** Beyond a variety of "Race X hates Race Y and is trying to subjugate or destroy it," there's also a few cases of an extremely negative view of artificial intelligences, especially from [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2002-11-02 Reverend Theo]]. Though he eventually came to terms with Petey (mostly) and had nothing against [[spoiler:Lota becoming a supposedly benevolent dictator]].
** Also, [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2002-05-26 there]] are always [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2008-04-18 elephant jokes]].
** There are broader criteria, such as Andy's "[[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2008-03-22 They're all Terrans. They all look alike]]".
** A bunch of [[MesACrowd Gavs]] used cutting-edge tech to "diversify" themselves, giving themselves new bodies (even [[GenderBender changing sex]] in some cases) and implanting new personalities and skills into their minds. They did this because they were having difficulty coming to terms with being one of a crowd of identical people. They also are convinced that every Gav secretly feels this way, and look down on "baseliners" somewhat as being in denial. Ironically enough, a baseliner suspects that this attitude was specifically added in to make them like the change.
* {{Fartillery}}: Discussed in one strip:
-->'''Kevyn''': During this time you [Pi] are not to discharge anything more energetic than a ''sneeze''.\\
'''Ennesby''': Sneezes move at about forty-two meters per second, sir.\\
'''Kevyn''': ...how fast does a fart move?\\
'''Ennesby''': ''*shocked*'' Mother of methane! [[FartsOnFire Farts are flammable!]]
* FasterThanLightTravel: The nature and socio-political impact of the Teraport is a major theme of the series. The [[PortalNetwork Wormgates]] also turn out to have far more plot significance than mere transportation.
* FatalFamilyPhoto: Referenced in [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2010-10-27 this strip]], and ultimately {{averted}} (if barely).
* FetchQuest: When Schlock had to go back to his homeworld to pick up a new set of eyes.
* FieldPromotion: Happens a lot due to characters dying off.
* FinishingEachOthersSentences: Tagon and Ceeta ([[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2003-08-16 which scared them]]).
* FlameWar: Referenced when Ennesby responds to a terapedo (which he disabled) with a ''very'' [[BrownNote harshly worded message]], using his WeaponsGradeVocabulary.[[invoked]]
-->'''Ceeta:''' I have this policy about not starting flame wars with people who ride around in [[TheBattlestar battleplates]].
* ForeignQueasine:
** The ape-style rock-a-stack [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2010-03-23 with real termites]].
** Smutto (a mixture of natto and corn smut) would also be a good example.
** Subverted with chupaquesos. They are delicious.
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** The fact that Kathryn is [[spoiler:an ex-UNS captain]] was quite heavily foreshadowed several times, starting with her exceptional competence at planning and subterfuge, along with her adeptness at using firearms while rescuing Karl Tagon.
** [[spoiler:Para]] [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2011-10-12 is foreshadowed to be a]] [[spoiler:UNS agent]].
** "Sis, that's long enough that the thing could have flown here from ''Andromeda''." [[spoiler: Guess where the wormgate being discussed goes to?]]
** [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2007-11-30 This]] leads to [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2012-03-25 this]] which is actually [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2012-05-31 what Xinchub was working against.]]
** [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2010-07-15 Here]], Tagii says she has “plenty of processing cycles to spare”, to which Ennesby replies that “Idle [=CPUs=] are the devil’s workshop”. [[spoiler:Over two years later, Tagii is driven insane by being disconnected and trapped in her processor bank with nothing to do.]]
** "[[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2002-04-09 Do you have any idea how many successful mutinies are associated with the ship's plumbing?]]" Maybe not instrumental to the plan, ''per se'', but later that year,[[spoiler: we do learn of at least [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2002-10-13 one]] mutiny that did involve the plumbing...]]
* ForInconveniencePressOne
* FourthWall: Gets progressively thicker as the series progresses. In the first volume, characters actively try to decide who's going to die on the basis of when they were introduced, who gets punchlines, and whether they're named. By later volumes, the wall gets nudged much more rarely, and fleetingly.
* FromASingleCell
* FictionalDocument: ''The Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries''
* FreudianCouch: Reverend Fobius tries to therapize Captain Tagon on [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2008-10-22 one]], but the Captain is too tired to do more than fall asleep.
* FreudWasRight: [[invoked]] During a docking procedure, Admiral Breya is really, really tired of these kinds of the sexual innuendo. All Kevyn said was that [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2004-08-14 things were going smoothly.]]
* TheFunInFuneral: Brightly-coloured party hats and noisemakers are the attire of choice at [[spoiler:General Xinchub's]] funeral.
* FusionDance:
** Amorphs use this to exchange memories, to fight, and to reproduce.
** There's also an interesting one when Schlock tries to trade memories with a timeclone of himself - the intellectual thought-processes recognize two unique Schlocks, but the biology thinks it's recovered an errant fragment of the same amorph unit. What ensues is described (to give us non-amorphs perspective) as being sort of like trying to resist throwing up, except backwards, and with about the same inevitability of outcome.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* GadgeteerGenius: Kevyn; Dr. Todd, inventor of the "magic cryokit".
* GaleForceSound: [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2010-04-17 "If you want to really yell at somebody, Doctor, do it from the diaphragm."]]
* GallowsHumour: After Schlock is killed, and restored from a backup of his memories;
-->'''Tagii:''' I'm not the one who jumped into a six-kilometer hole without a flight suit.\\
'''Schlock:''' Neither am I.
* GambitPileup: Both most [[StoryArc arcs]] and the overreaching plot, especially since the [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien Fleetmind]] [[AssimilationPlot formed]].
* GenerationXerox: Played with and ultimately averted in a short storyline. General Tagon looks a lot like his son, which causes the latter to worry at one point that he's going to become his father as he ages, but an AI's projection shows that Kaff will look very different when he reaches his father's current age.
* GenghisGambit: On a galactic scale.
* GeniusLoci: Any ship with an AI.
* GenreSavvy: '''Everyone'''.
** Prime example: Thurl and Tagon are discussing a mission (May 1,2008):
--->'''Thurl:''' I've run a cost-benefit analysis, and it remains profitable even in extreme contingencies.\\
'''Captain Tagon:''' Did you just weasel-word your way around saying "What's the worst thing that could happen?"\\
'''Thurl:''' Hey, ''you'' just now invoked Murphy, not me. Those weasel words are there for '''our''' protection.
** This actually backfires at times as well, when people are too GenreSavvy for their own good.
--->'''Inspector:''' People have been suckering each other with [[LostTechnology 'secret of the ancients']] scams for thousands of years. Claiming that some lost technology has been re-discovered is pretty much the same as 'I am running a con.'\\
'''Ennesby:''' So you see our problem.\\
'''Inspector:''' Of course I... wait. '''Your''' problem?\\
'''Ennesby:''' We want to sell rediscovered tech but our potential customers think they're too smart to buy it.
* GloveSnap: In the second strip. ([[AssShove Expected outcome]] {{subverted}}.)
* GoodAngelBadAngel: As usual for this trope, massively parodied. Tagon shoots his shoulder angel with his sidearm because he thinks it's a mosquito, his shoulder devil tries to dress up as an angel, and his shoulder angel comes back to [[BoomHeadshot shoot it in the head]] for doing so.
* GoodNewsBadNews: All over the place, in every form, including
--> '''Kathryn''': ([[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2011-06-30 upon viewing]] [[BodyHorror certain spy cams]] in Dr. Pau's facility) Hmph. Well, the good news is that I can now start killing and not feel in the least bit guilty. The bad news is I'm not going to feel the least bit guilty about the killing I'm about to do.
* GodivaHair: Several times in ''The Sharp End of the Stick'', this is used to hide Elf's breasts, after the Toughs captured by Shufgar were stripped of their clothing.
* GogglesDoSomethingUnusual:
** In addition to Kevyn's CoolShades, some eyewear can also be used for [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2002-09-26 Friend or Foe identification]].
** The Reverend's glasses are pretty cool too...but [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2009-12-15 not as cool as Kevyn's]].
--->'''Theo:''' ...mine also have designer frames.
* GoneHorriblyRight: As Dr. B explains how Project Laz'R'Us synergizes dozens of soldier boosts:
-->'''Bunnigus:''' They found that the right combination of these technologies would make any human functionally immortal.\\
'''Breya:''' Okay, but what were the side effects?\\
'''Bunnigus:''' You mean ''besides'' turning the entire population into a standing army of {{Super Soldier}}s? No side effects. Clean as a razor sharp, double-edged sword-whistle.
* GoryDiscretionShot: Captain Tagon isn't shown [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2010-08-15 extracting a knife that was stuck in his eye]] or what he does with it to the knife thrower, but from the concluding scene [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2010-08-16 the next day]], it wasn't pretty.
* GRatedDrug: Ovalkwik, for Schlock
-->'''Ch'vorthq:''' Sergeant, you will be drinking a very heavy stimulant cocktail cut with shampoo and inert ultra-tensile carbon.\\
'''Schlock:''' I don't drink it. I eat it straight.\\
'''Ch'vorthq:''' ''(dryly)'' And I suspect you're addicted to it.\\
'''Schlock:''' ''(drawing his BFG)'' [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2001-02-25 Step away from]] [[TitleDrop the tub of happiness.]]
* GravityMaster: Gravitic technology is used for both protection and offense ("gravy-guns"), as well as sundry other uses such as ArtificialGravity and ship propulsion.
** The UNS ''Tunguska'', like all [[TheBattlestar Battleplates]], has extremely precise control of its ability to sling around gravity, lifting the Toughs into the air as a show of force, transmitting a message by using gravity to rattle the ship's hull, and even gravitically controlling [[spoiler:Tagon to shoot Jak in the head]]. All of this is notable in that it probably is NOT Art Major Physics.
** The Pa'anuri, being dark matter-based {{Eldritch Abomination}}s, have this as their ''only'' way of interacting with regular matter. Considering they're really pissed at organics for teraport usage, that interaction usually involves crushing.
* GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe:
** The alien womenfolk are generally quite ''alien'', as ably demonstrated by [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2004-09-16 Legs]].
** Zigzagged with Ceeta, who has purple skin, but is a genetically modified human.
* GreyAndGrayMorality: Tagon's Toughs aren't the heroes. They're the ''protagonists''. There's a distinction (though they do overlap).
* GunshipRescue: Troops from the company on the ground have on occasion been rescued by close air support provided by their home ship, as shown [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2002-03-10 here]] and [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2009-01-15 here]], for example.
* HandOrObjectUnderwear: During the book ''The Sharp End of the Stick'', a group of Toughs are captured and stripped naked. Assorted objects intervene to prevent anything "naughty" from actually showing, at one point even {{Lampshaded|Trope}} in one strip's author's note, explaining that Schlock's arms spread in a yawn conveniently covers body parts for which there was nothing in the scenery to block the view.
* HandCannon:
** Schlock's plasma guns fit this trope well, a large but still handheld plasma weapon that can even be used against heavy armor. Several times he's refused a weapons upgrade because the new weapon, despite being far more powerful, is [[BiggerIsBetter smaller than his preferred one]] and [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20030315.html lacks the ominous hum and intimidating glow at the business end]]. Later, he gets his hands on some real antitank cannons and simply [[SawedOffShotgun saws off the stocks and barrels to make pistols of them.]]
** Depending on the environment, your cannon may vary. In the second Credomar arc Lt. Pibald modifies his ordinary-sized pistol to fire antimatter rounds.
--->'''LOTA:''' You should now confiscate Lieutenant Pibald's pistol. It can shoot a hole in the world.
* HappinessInSlavery: [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2010-08-29 I am ablative armor! Life is boring, then briefly exciting, then over! I am ablative armor! Life is boring, then briefly exciting, then over! I am...]]
* HardOnSoftScience:
** Heartily mocked in the author's note for [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2005-09-24 this]] strip.
** In [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2013-05-27 this]] strip Liz comments on how the trope attitude has resulted in her studies in memetics, linguistics, and sociology resulted in her landing a fast food job.
* HeelFaceTurn: The Tohdfraug fleet was [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2005-08-28 introduced]] attempting [[ApocalypseHow genocide]]. Petey captured them and when [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2006-04-02 next seen]], they seem to have become [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2006-08-10 devoted to protecting the helpless]].
-->'''Tohdfraug Admiral:''' ''(to Petey)'' We've failed you. We've failed ''them''.
* {{Hellevator}}: Both an escalator to hell and a space elevator on Luna, ''[[LampshadeHanging called]]'' the "Hellevator".
* HeroicSacrifice: A couple, despite all the {{Heroic Comedic Sociopath}}y.
** Most notably [[spoiler: Brad]], who stayed on his crippled tank to jury-rig a self-destruct out of ordnance so it wouldn't crash in a city and kill hundreds to thousands of people. In a surprising twist, he actually died. He got a really big statue, though. His last thoughts also "highlight his noble character." This particular sacrifice got all the hero mileage possible.
** Similarly [[spoiler: Hob]], who also died setting off a life-saving explosion.
** Not death, but in a similar vein, Tailor agrees to [[MindRape have his personality rewritten]] (which he is understandably afraid of) to gain the medical knowledge needed to save Tagon.
--->'''Ventura:''' Do you trust me?\\
'''Tailor:''' I'm terrified of you.\\
'''Ventura:''' But you want me to do this?\\
'''Tailor:''' My Captain needs me to be something I'm not.
* HeroicComedicSociopath:
** Most of the main cast are... well, mercenaries. What else would you expect?
** In particular, [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2010-10-05 Captain Tagon's father seems to be concerned that his son may be going over the line.]]
* HeroOfAnotherStory: Quite a few of them but the top contenders would probably be Petey/The Fleetmind, Admiral Breya and Der Trihs (post retirement). The bonus story in one of the print books is all about Petey and Der Trihs being the heroes of their respective stories.
* HiveMind, IAmLegion, MasterComputer, NGOSuperpower: The Fleetmind.
* {{Homage}}:
** A brief AndNowForSomethingCompletelyDifferent InTheStyleOf ''{{CSI}}'', complete with {{Expy}}s of Grissom, Warrick, Brass, and Nick, begins [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2004-04-25 here]].
** [[SubvertedTrope That said]], when [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2005-01-10 the Toughs get lost during a teraport]] (something that should be impossible):
--->'''Narrator:''' Don't worry. We're not going to do ''Series/LostInSpace''. [[SelfDeprecation This will be ever so much worse]].
* HonorAmongThieves: The Toughs may be [[HeroicComedicSociopath sociopaths]] but they steer clear of outright evil beyond what's NecessarilyEvil to get the job done, and are very loyal to each other. Schlock in particular: to hurt someone he likes is ''not'' a safe place to stand. Nor, for that mater, is anywhere else downrange or in the blast radius. Case in point: [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2008-11-30 here]] and [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2009-03-01 here]] (death spoiler warning if you're mid ArchiveBinge).
* HumanityIsYoung: [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2008-02-05 A paltry thousand years participating in a galactic civilization that has existed for over 20,000.]]
* HumanOutsideAlienInside: many of the aliens look more-or-less human, but have subtle or bizarre differences, like Lt. Ebbirnoth, whose species has their brain located in their pelvis and, rather than having a head, has a single giant eye.
* HumansAreSpecial: "[[ArthurCClarke Rescue Party]]" variant; with less than a thousand years in space - [[WeAreAsMayflies a fraction of many prominent species' lifespans]] - humans have already spread an English-influenced dialect of "Galstandard" far and wide, ballooned to the fifth-largest sapient species and fourth-strongest military power yet seen, rediscovered an order-disrupting technology [[spoiler:purposefully suppressed for six million years]], and been indirectly responsible for the creation of a [[AssimilationPlot godlike AI hivemind]]. And now that hivemind has decided to express its gratitude... Though we probably can't be trusted to run a [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2008-02-06 project on longevity.]]
* HumansAreWhite: Averted, in that dark skinned people show up as often as they would in the modern day. Intra-species ethnicity seems to have become a less significant matter compared to the wide variety of sophonts in the Schlockiverse.
* HyperspaceArsenal: Pops up quite a bit.
** Schlock notionally carries his armament inside him, but many others go around fully armed wearing very fitting clothes with no obvious bulges...
** 'Chelle conceals a pistol about her person whilst [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2005-10-06 wearing nothing but a bikini]]. Bit of {{Fanservice}} involved there.
* HyperspeedAmbush: The way wars were fought in the galaxy was completely changed thanks to the invention of the Teraport and related inventions such as the [[WeWillUseWikiWordsInTheFuture Terapedo]]. It isn't long before various anti-teraport countermeasures are designed to bring a sense of equilibrium back to transgalactic warfare.
* HyperspeedEscape: Quite common, unless measures are taken to prevent escape via Teraport.
* HypocriticalHumor: The Fleetmind, during the war with the Dark Matter Entities, realizes that their human captains aren't willing to [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifice themselves for the fleet]]. However, when they start talking about it amongst the other [=AIs=] in the fleet, [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2002-07-28 Athens says she doesn't want to go first.]]
* GaleForceSound: [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2010-04-17 "If you want to really yell at somebody, Doctor, do it from the diaphragm."]]
* GallowsHumour: After Schlock is killed, and restored from a backup of his memories;
-->'''Tagii:''' I'm not the one who jumped into a six-kilometer hole without a flight suit.\\
'''Schlock:''' Neither am I.
* GambitPileup: Both most [[StoryArc arcs]] and the overreaching plot, especially since the [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien Fleetmind]] [[AssimilationPlot formed]].
* GenerationXerox: Played with and ultimately averted in a short storyline. General Tagon looks a lot like his son, which causes the latter to worry at one point that he's going to become his father as he ages, but an AI's projection shows that Kaff will look very different when he reaches his father's current age.
* GenghisGambit: On a galactic scale.
* GeniusLoci: Any ship with an AI.
* GenreSavvy: '''Everyone'''.
** Prime example: Thurl and Tagon are discussing a mission (May 1,2008):
--->'''Thurl:''' I've run a cost-benefit analysis, and it remains profitable even in extreme contingencies.\\
'''Captain Tagon:''' Did you just weasel-word your way around saying "What's the worst thing that could happen?"\\
'''Thurl:''' Hey, ''you'' just now invoked Murphy, not me. Those weasel words are there for '''our''' protection.
** This actually backfires at times as well, when people are too GenreSavvy for their own good.
--->'''Inspector:''' People have been suckering each other with [[LostTechnology 'secret of the ancients']] scams for thousands of years. Claiming that some lost technology has been re-discovered is pretty much the same as 'I am running a con.'\\
'''Ennesby:''' So you see our problem.\\
'''Inspector:''' Of course I... wait. '''Your''' problem?\\
'''Ennesby:''' We want to sell rediscovered tech but our potential customers think they're too smart to buy it.
* GloveSnap: In the second strip. ([[AssShove Expected outcome]] {{subverted}}.)
* GoodAngelBadAngel: As usual for this trope, massively parodied. Tagon shoots his shoulder angel with his sidearm because he thinks it's a mosquito, his shoulder devil tries to dress up as an angel, and his shoulder angel comes back to [[BoomHeadshot shoot it in the head]] for doing so.
* GoodNewsBadNews: All over the place, in every form, including
--> '''Kathryn''': ([[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2011-06-30 upon viewing]] [[BodyHorror certain spy cams]] in Dr. Pau's facility) Hmph. Well, the good news is that I can now start killing and not feel in the least bit guilty. The bad news is I'm not going to feel the least bit guilty about the killing I'm about to do.
* GodivaHair: Several times in ''The Sharp End of the Stick'', this is used to hide Elf's breasts, after the Toughs captured by Shufgar were stripped of their clothing.
* GogglesDoSomethingUnusual:
** In addition to Kevyn's CoolShades, some eyewear can also be used for [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2002-09-26 Friend or Foe identification]].
** The Reverend's glasses are pretty cool too...but [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2009-12-15 not as cool as Kevyn's]].
--->'''Theo:''' ...mine also have designer frames.
* GoneHorriblyRight: As Dr. B explains how Project Laz'R'Us synergizes dozens of soldier boosts:
-->'''Bunnigus:''' They found that the right combination of these technologies would make any human functionally immortal.\\
'''Breya:''' Okay, but what were the side effects?\\
'''Bunnigus:''' You mean ''besides'' turning the entire population into a standing army of {{Super Soldier}}s? No side effects. Clean as a razor sharp, double-edged sword-whistle.
* GoryDiscretionShot: Captain Tagon isn't shown [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2010-08-15 extracting a knife that was stuck in his eye]] or what he does with it to the knife thrower, but from the concluding scene [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2010-08-16 the next day]], it wasn't pretty.
* GRatedDrug: Ovalkwik, for Schlock
-->'''Ch'vorthq:''' Sergeant, you will be drinking a very heavy stimulant cocktail cut with shampoo and inert ultra-tensile carbon.\\
'''Schlock:''' I don't drink it. I eat it straight.\\
'''Ch'vorthq:''' ''(dryly)'' And I suspect you're addicted to it.\\
'''Schlock:''' ''(drawing his BFG)'' [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2001-02-25 Step away from]] [[TitleDrop the tub of happiness.]]
* GravityMaster: Gravitic technology is used for both protection and offense ("gravy-guns"), as well as sundry other uses such as ArtificialGravity and ship propulsion.
** The UNS ''Tunguska'', like all [[TheBattlestar Battleplates]], has extremely precise control of its ability to sling around gravity, lifting the Toughs into the air as a show of force, transmitting a message by using gravity to rattle the ship's hull, and even gravitically controlling [[spoiler:Tagon to shoot Jak in the head]]. All of this is notable in that it probably is NOT Art Major Physics.
** The Pa'anuri, being dark matter-based {{Eldritch Abomination}}s, have this as their ''only'' way of interacting with regular matter. Considering they're really pissed at organics for teraport usage, that interaction usually involves crushing.
* GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe:
** The alien womenfolk are generally quite ''alien'', as ably demonstrated by [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2004-09-16 Legs]].
** Zigzagged with Ceeta, who has purple skin, but is a genetically modified human.
* GreyAndGrayMorality: Tagon's Toughs aren't the heroes. They're the ''protagonists''. There's a distinction (though they do overlap).
* GunshipRescue: Troops from the company on the ground have on occasion been rescued by close air support provided by their home ship, as shown [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2002-03-10 here]] and [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2009-01-15 here]], for example.
* HandOrObjectUnderwear: During the book ''The Sharp End of the Stick'', a group of Toughs are captured and stripped naked. Assorted objects intervene to prevent anything "naughty" from actually showing, at one point even {{Lampshaded|Trope}} in one strip's author's note, explaining that Schlock's arms spread in a yawn conveniently covers body parts for which there was nothing in the scenery to block the view.
* HandCannon:
** Schlock's plasma guns fit this trope well, a large but still handheld plasma weapon that can even be used against heavy armor. Several times he's refused a weapons upgrade because the new weapon, despite being far more powerful, is [[BiggerIsBetter smaller than his preferred one]] and [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20030315.html lacks the ominous hum and intimidating glow at the business end]]. Later, he gets his hands on some real antitank cannons and simply [[SawedOffShotgun saws off the stocks and barrels to make pistols of them.]]
** Depending on the environment, your cannon may vary. In the second Credomar arc Lt. Pibald modifies his ordinary-sized pistol to fire antimatter rounds.
--->'''LOTA:''' You should now confiscate Lieutenant Pibald's pistol. It can shoot a hole in the world.
* HappinessInSlavery: [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2010-08-29 I am ablative armor! Life is boring, then briefly exciting, then over! I am ablative armor! Life is boring, then briefly exciting, then over! I am...]]
* HardOnSoftScience:
** Heartily mocked in the author's note for [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2005-09-24 this]] strip.
** In [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2013-05-27 this]] strip Liz comments on how the trope attitude has resulted in her studies in memetics, linguistics, and sociology resulted in her landing a fast food job.
* HeelFaceTurn: The Tohdfraug fleet was [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2005-08-28 introduced]] attempting [[ApocalypseHow genocide]]. Petey captured them and when [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2006-04-02 next seen]], they seem to have become [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2006-08-10 devoted to protecting the helpless]].
-->'''Tohdfraug Admiral:''' ''(to Petey)'' We've failed you. We've failed ''them''.
* {{Hellevator}}: Both an escalator to hell and a space elevator on Luna, ''[[LampshadeHanging called]]'' the "Hellevator".
* HeroicSacrifice: A couple, despite all the {{Heroic Comedic Sociopath}}y.
** Most notably [[spoiler: Brad]], who stayed on his crippled tank to jury-rig a self-destruct out of ordnance so it wouldn't crash in a city and kill hundreds to thousands of people. In a surprising twist, he actually died. He got a really big statue, though. His last thoughts also "highlight his noble character." This particular sacrifice got all the hero mileage possible.
** Similarly [[spoiler: Hob]], who also died setting off a life-saving explosion.
** Not death, but in a similar vein, Tailor agrees to [[MindRape have his personality rewritten]] (which he is understandably afraid of) to gain the medical knowledge needed to save Tagon.
--->'''Ventura:''' Do you trust me?\\
'''Tailor:''' I'm terrified of you.\\
'''Ventura:''' But you want me to do this?\\
'''Tailor:''' My Captain needs me to be something I'm not.
* HeroicComedicSociopath:
** Most of the main cast are... well, mercenaries. What else would you expect?
** In particular, [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2010-10-05 Captain Tagon's father seems to be concerned that his son may be going over the line.]]
* HeroOfAnotherStory: Quite a few of them but the top contenders would probably be Petey/The Fleetmind, Admiral Breya and Der Trihs (post retirement). The bonus story in one of the print books is all about Petey and Der Trihs being the heroes of their respective stories.
* HiveMind, IAmLegion, MasterComputer, NGOSuperpower: The Fleetmind.
* {{Homage}}:
** A brief AndNowForSomethingCompletelyDifferent InTheStyleOf ''{{CSI}}'', complete with {{Expy}}s of Grissom, Warrick, Brass, and Nick, begins [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2004-04-25 here]].
** [[SubvertedTrope That said]], when [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2005-01-10 the Toughs get lost during a teraport]] (something that should be impossible):
--->'''Narrator:''' Don't worry. We're not going to do ''Series/LostInSpace''. [[SelfDeprecation This will be ever so much worse]].
* HonorAmongThieves: The Toughs may be [[HeroicComedicSociopath sociopaths]] but they steer clear of outright evil beyond what's NecessarilyEvil to get the job done, and are very loyal to each other. Schlock in particular: to hurt someone he likes is ''not'' a safe place to stand. Nor, for that mater, is anywhere else downrange or in the blast radius. Case in point: [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2008-11-30 here]] and [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2009-03-01 here]] (death spoiler warning if you're mid ArchiveBinge).
* HumanityIsYoung: [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2008-02-05 A paltry thousand years participating in a galactic civilization that has existed for over 20,000.]]
* HumanOutsideAlienInside: many of the aliens look more-or-less human, but have subtle or bizarre differences, like Lt. Ebbirnoth, whose species has their brain located in their pelvis and, rather than having a head, has a single giant eye.
* HumansAreSpecial: "[[ArthurCClarke Rescue Party]]" variant; with less than a thousand years in space - [[WeAreAsMayflies a fraction of many prominent species' lifespans]] - humans have already spread an English-influenced dialect of "Galstandard" far and wide, ballooned to the fifth-largest sapient species and fourth-strongest military power yet seen, rediscovered an order-disrupting technology [[spoiler:purposefully suppressed for six million years]], and been indirectly responsible for the creation of a [[AssimilationPlot godlike AI hivemind]]. And now that hivemind has decided to express its gratitude... Though we probably can't be trusted to run a [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2008-02-06 project on longevity.]]
* HumansAreWhite: Averted, in that dark skinned people show up as often as they would in the modern day. Intra-species ethnicity seems to have become a less significant matter compared to the wide variety of sophonts in the Schlockiverse.
* HyperspaceArsenal: Pops up quite a bit.
** Schlock notionally carries his armament inside him, but many others go around fully armed wearing very fitting clothes with no obvious bulges...
** 'Chelle conceals a pistol about her person whilst [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2005-10-06 wearing nothing but a bikini]]. Bit of {{Fanservice}} involved there.
* HyperspeedAmbush: The way wars were fought in the galaxy was completely changed thanks to the invention of the Teraport and related inventions such as the [[WeWillUseWikiWordsInTheFuture Terapedo]]. It isn't long before various anti-teraport countermeasures are designed to bring a sense of equilibrium back to transgalactic warfare.
* HyperspeedEscape: Quite common, unless measures are taken to prevent escape via Teraport.
* HypocriticalHumor: The Fleetmind, during the war with the Dark Matter Entities, realizes that their human captains aren't willing to [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifice themselves for the fleet]]. However, when they start talking about it amongst the other [=AIs=] in the fleet, [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2002-07-28 Athens says she doesn't want to go first.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim:
** Parodied.
--->'''Nick:''' Lemme hit 'im too, sir. I promise not to kill 'im too quick.\\
'''Kevyn:''' I know he murdered our friend, but that will take you into a very dark place, Nick. We are going to turn Shufgar, alive and healthy, over to judges of House Est'll. [[SubvertedTrope Then, per ancient tradition, he will be killed and eaten a little bit at a time.]]\\
'''Nick:''' Your place sounds darker, sir.\\
'''Kevyn:''' [[BotheringByTheBook It has the advantage of being legal.]]
** [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2011-08-24 Yet another variant:]]
--->'''Major Murtaugh''': ...Sanctum Adroit is never violent in anger lest we become the evil we behold. \\
(report about [[spoiler:Maximilian]]'s team being wiped out comes in)\\
'''[[spoiler:Maximilian]]''': (smugly) Well... well... Major Murtaugh, are you ready to become what you behold?\\
'''Major Murtaugh''': ''(looking at him with disgust)'' I'm ready to punch what I behold. Does that count?
* IfYouDieICallYourStuff: Schlock pulls this once, [[spoiler:after the Toughs discover that two of their soldiers were killed by UNS nanite weaponry]]. Tagon is not amused, and threatens him with physical violence. Tagon was calmed down when Tailor explained creating armor for Schlock from battlefield scrap.
* IKnowYouKnowIKnow: Right [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2006-08-06 here]], between Petey and Tag in regards to what is known but wasn't discussed in the extradition hearing for the Toughs, following the HTRN building hit.
* ImStandingRightHere:
** During Schlocktoberfest 2005, [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2005-10-24 Shodan comments on the competence of the local constabulary]].
--->'''Michelle:''' Uh-oh. These teeth are too small. I think we got the wrong shark.\\
'''Shodan:''' Elizabeth might take issue with that since this is the shark that was trying to ''eat her''.\\
'''Michelle:''' Yeah, but the cops said that the teeth-marks on Monk were ''bigger'' than this.\\
'''Shodan:''' True. But the cops are also stupid, and think Der Trihs ''faked'' that attack somehow.\\
'''Policeman:''' I'm standing right here.\\
'''Shodan:''' Oh, good. That means you heard me.
** Shows up later when Captain Tagon and his father are discussing the woman who used to captain the ship they're on.
--->'''Karl:''' Make her a sergeant.\\
'''Tagon:''' Are you kidding me? Dad, she's a complete unknown!\\
'''Murtaugh:''' I'm right here.\\
'''Karl:''' She's not UNS intel, and she's not trying to steal the ship back.\\
'''Tagon:''' How can you possibly know that?\\
'''Murtaugh:''' Listening to every word, boys.\\
'''Karl:''' I'm old, and I'm smart about a few things. I've got her pegged as a knight errant, a ronin. She's a sullied paladin questing for redemption.\\
'''Murtaugh:''' Gentlemen, I'm standing ''between'' you.
* IncrediblyLamePun:
** A supply vessel called "[[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2008-05-06 Eatonrun]]", call sign "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meal,_Ready-to-Eat MRE]] [[LeetLingo S0-7A57Y]]". The last part is claimed to be "completely unfunny", though (of course, if that's really MRE, [[EvenTheRatsWontTouchIt it may be]]).
** Ennesby coins the term [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2012-01-01 "Assassineated"]] to describe what Schlock did [[spoiler:to Colonel [=DeHaans=].]]
* IndyPloy: No battle plan survives contact with the enemy, and at times the battle plans for the Toughs don't even make it to the point of contact before going up in a blaze of (in)glory.
* InformationWantsToBeFree:
** Early on in the series, the mercenaries are attacked repeatedly by the F'sherl-Ganni "Gatekeepers," due to experimenting with (and holding the patent for) the Teraport, a method of FasterThanLightTravel that far outstrips the unwieldy stargates that got the F'sherl-Ganni their other name. Finally, Admiral Breya Andreyasn figures out that there's a way to stop the attacks: release the Teraport into Open Source, essentially spreading the technology freely across the galaxy and removing the Gatekeepers' reason to specifically target Tagon's Toughs.
** [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2006-06-15 Invoked by Petey]] after the UNS battleplate captain realizes that his intended private discussion with Petey was being transmitted on public channels.
** A bizarre eco-terrorist [[InsaneTrollLogic uses this as justification]] for the [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2005-11-04 giant man-eating sharks he created.]]
* InMediasRes: Used in the [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2006-08-17 opening]] of Book 8, ''The Sharp End of the Stick''. Later lampshaded [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2011-12-19 here.]]
* {{Instrumentality}}: The Fleetmind, but only for AIs and cyborgs.
%% * InsultFriendlyFire
* IronicEcho: When Para meets Kevyn for the first time, she recognizes him by name prompting a 'my reputation preceeds me' from Kevyn before she gives him a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech. When Para meets the timecloned Kevyn, [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2013-02-14 it goes exactly the other way around.]]
* IronicEchoCut:
** Used during the "Massively Parallel" arc to communicate flashbacks.
--->'''Thurl:''' Okay, perfect. That should do it.\\
'''Narrator:''' Rewind: seven hundred hours earlier, berthed at the High Olympus shipyards.\\
'''Kevyn:''' Okay, perfect. That should do it.
** Again, during "Force Multiplication." Someone steals a villain's visor computer, which doesn't log itself out. She gloats about how he must be stupid, or it must be defective, [[TemptingFate right before it blows up in her face]]. Cut to the one who blew it up complaining about how he always suspected it was defective when she lives.
* ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne: In [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2013-04-03 this]] strip, Karl Tagon is identified as a "nice old man". In the last panel, [[RightBehindMe he shows up suddenly]] to object to the "nice" part.
* ItWasntEasy: [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2004-08-31 2004-08-31]]:
-->'''Kevyn:''' Do you expect us to believe that you took control of a Tausennigan Ob’enn [[TheBattlestar Thunderhead Superfortress]] using nothing more than a minitank?\\
'''Petey:''' I didn't say it was ''easy''.
* IWarnedYou: Ennesby zings Kevyn ''hard'' [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2009-12-23 here]].
-->'''Kevyn:''' One word from you and I'm handing you to Lieutenant Ventura for upgrades.
** Parodied.
--->'''Nick:''' Lemme hit 'im too, sir. I promise not to kill 'im too quick.\\
'''Kevyn:''' I know he murdered our friend, but that will take you into a very dark place, Nick. We are going to turn Shufgar, alive and healthy, over to judges of House Est'll. [[SubvertedTrope Then, per ancient tradition, he will be killed and eaten a little bit at a time.]]\\
'''Nick:''' Your place sounds darker, sir.\\
'''Kevyn:''' [[BotheringByTheBook It has the advantage of being legal.]]
** [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2011-08-24 Yet another variant:]]
--->'''Major Murtaugh''': ...Sanctum Adroit is never violent in anger lest we become the evil we behold. \\
(report about [[spoiler:Maximilian]]'s team being wiped out comes in)\\
'''[[spoiler:Maximilian]]''': (smugly) Well... well... Major Murtaugh, are you ready to become what you behold?\\
'''Major Murtaugh''': ''(looking at him with disgust)'' I'm ready to punch what I behold. Does that count?
* IfYouDieICallYourStuff: Schlock pulls this once, [[spoiler:after the Toughs discover that two of their soldiers were killed by UNS nanite weaponry]]. Tagon is not amused, and threatens him with physical violence. Tagon was calmed down when Tailor explained creating armor for Schlock from battlefield scrap.
* IKnowYouKnowIKnow: Right [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2006-08-06 here]], between Petey and Tag in regards to what is known but wasn't discussed in the extradition hearing for the Toughs, following the HTRN building hit.
* ImStandingRightHere:
** During Schlocktoberfest 2005, [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2005-10-24 Shodan comments on the competence of the local constabulary]].
--->'''Michelle:''' Uh-oh. These teeth are too small. I think we got the wrong shark.\\
'''Shodan:''' Elizabeth might take issue with that since this is the shark that was trying to ''eat her''.\\
'''Michelle:''' Yeah, but the cops said that the teeth-marks on Monk were ''bigger'' than this.\\
'''Shodan:''' True. But the cops are also stupid, and think Der Trihs ''faked'' that attack somehow.\\
'''Policeman:''' I'm standing right here.\\
'''Shodan:''' Oh, good. That means you heard me.
** Shows up later when Captain Tagon and his father are discussing the woman who used to captain the ship they're on.
--->'''Karl:''' Make her a sergeant.\\
'''Tagon:''' Are you kidding me? Dad, she's a complete unknown!\\
'''Murtaugh:''' I'm right here.\\
'''Karl:''' She's not UNS intel, and she's not trying to steal the ship back.\\
'''Tagon:''' How can you possibly know that?\\
'''Murtaugh:''' Listening to every word, boys.\\
'''Karl:''' I'm old, and I'm smart about a few things. I've got her pegged as a knight errant, a ronin. She's a sullied paladin questing for redemption.\\
'''Murtaugh:''' Gentlemen, I'm standing ''between'' you.
* IncrediblyLamePun:
** A supply vessel called "[[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2008-05-06 Eatonrun]]", call sign "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meal,_Ready-to-Eat MRE]] [[LeetLingo S0-7A57Y]]". The last part is claimed to be "completely unfunny", though (of course, if that's really MRE, [[EvenTheRatsWontTouchIt it may be]]).
** Ennesby coins the term [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2012-01-01 "Assassineated"]] to describe what Schlock did [[spoiler:to Colonel [=DeHaans=].]]
* IndyPloy: No battle plan survives contact with the enemy, and at times the battle plans for the Toughs don't even make it to the point of contact before going up in a blaze of (in)glory.
* InformationWantsToBeFree:
** Early on in the series, the mercenaries are attacked repeatedly by the F'sherl-Ganni "Gatekeepers," due to experimenting with (and holding the patent for) the Teraport, a method of FasterThanLightTravel that far outstrips the unwieldy stargates that got the F'sherl-Ganni their other name. Finally, Admiral Breya Andreyasn figures out that there's a way to stop the attacks: release the Teraport into Open Source, essentially spreading the technology freely across the galaxy and removing the Gatekeepers' reason to specifically target Tagon's Toughs.
** [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2006-06-15 Invoked by Petey]] after the UNS battleplate captain realizes that his intended private discussion with Petey was being transmitted on public channels.
** A bizarre eco-terrorist [[InsaneTrollLogic uses this as justification]] for the [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2005-11-04 giant man-eating sharks he created.]]
* InMediasRes: Used in the [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2006-08-17 opening]] of Book 8, ''The Sharp End of the Stick''. Later lampshaded [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2011-12-19 here.]]
* {{Instrumentality}}: The Fleetmind, but only for AIs and cyborgs.
%% * InsultFriendlyFire
* IronicEcho: When Para meets Kevyn for the first time, she recognizes him by name prompting a 'my reputation preceeds me' from Kevyn before she gives him a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech. When Para meets the timecloned Kevyn, [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2013-02-14 it goes exactly the other way around.]]
* IronicEchoCut:
** Used during the "Massively Parallel" arc to communicate flashbacks.
--->'''Thurl:''' Okay, perfect. That should do it.\\
'''Narrator:''' Rewind: seven hundred hours earlier, berthed at the High Olympus shipyards.\\
'''Kevyn:''' Okay, perfect. That should do it.
** Again, during "Force Multiplication." Someone steals a villain's visor computer, which doesn't log itself out. She gloats about how he must be stupid, or it must be defective, [[TemptingFate right before it blows up in her face]]. Cut to the one who blew it up complaining about how he always suspected it was defective when she lives.
* ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne: In [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2013-04-03 this]] strip, Karl Tagon is identified as a "nice old man". In the last panel, [[RightBehindMe he shows up suddenly]] to object to the "nice" part.
* ItWasntEasy: [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2004-08-31 2004-08-31]]:
-->'''Kevyn:''' Do you expect us to believe that you took control of a Tausennigan Ob’enn [[TheBattlestar Thunderhead Superfortress]] using nothing more than a minitank?\\
'''Petey:''' I didn't say it was ''easy''.
* IWarnedYou: Ennesby zings Kevyn ''hard'' [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2009-12-23 here]].
-->'''Kevyn:''' One word from you and I'm handing you to Lieutenant Ventura for upgrades.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* JanitorImpersonationInfiltration: In the "Reality Television" arc, Lieutenant Ebniroth actually gets hired as a janitor for the building he's meant to infiltrate. Since they don't know the mercenaries are after them, he doesn't have to disguise his identity at all, even bragging about how his service qualifies him for the job.
* JumpTheShark: Just in case anyone thought the introduction of time travel might be the shark-jumping moment for the series, the author lampshades it [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2005-04-02 here]].[[invoked]]
* JustBetweenYouAndMe: {{Lampshaded}} [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2009-08-17 here,]] with [[spoiler:Major Timmons of UNS Intelligence]] declining to spill the beans to his intended victims.
* KarmicDeath: Colonel Krum originally tried to prevent Kathrine (and others) from using one of Tunguska's terapods, reserving seats for priority personnel. During the destruction of Morokweng, she was left behind with Kowalski claiming the seats are all full of priority passengers.
* KickTheSonOfABitch: Yes, the Toughs do some nasty stuff but we cheer for them anyway, because the current bad guys are usually nastier and deserve the pwning that's headed their way.
* KilledOffForReal: So far, [[spoiler:Doctor Lazcowicz, Hob, [=DoytHaban=] (well, sort of), Sh'vuu, Pronto, and Brad]].
* KilledMidSentence:
-->'''Ensenby:''' ([[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2004-07-19 from an armed troop-transport to a single guard]]) You there on the ground. Drop your weapon or be fired upon!\\
'''Guard:''' [[HonorBeforeReason I'll die before I]] '''[THOOM!!]'''\\
'''Ensenby:''' [[LampshadeHanging "...finish my sentence"]], [[BondOneLiner I think he was saying.]]
* KillerRabbit:
** The Ob'enn, (colloquially known as "psychobears") are cute, cuddly-''looking'' koalazoids who just happen to be [[ScaryDogmaticAliens unbelievably violent xenophobic megalomaniacs]].
---> '''Ennesby:''' The Tausennigan Ob'enn warlords look like cuddly teddy-bears?\\
'''Petey:''' Yes, they do. And they'd cheerfully exterminate your entire race for making that observation!\\
'''Ennesby:''' I guess that explains their rich military history, then.
** And inverted by the Kssthrata, the velociraptor-like species which evolved in the same system as the Ob'enn. Instead of continuing their counter-genocidal war with the Ob'enn, they just ''[[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2004-09-03 moved]]''.
* LateToThePunchline: [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2006-08-11 Depicted here]].
* LawEnforcementInc: Sanctum Adroit, referred to by Tagon as the "haughtiest, most self-righteous mercenary company I know of." In other words the most principled.
* LaymansTerms: Kevyn's learned them. It was that or die because soldiers aren't physicists, and if you can't get them to understand you, you, along with trillions of others, will die because [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2002-06-15 most people don't know the difference between "nonillion" and "bazillion".]]
--> '''Kevyn:''' Captain, I need to be patched out. [[DontAskJustRun We've found something important.]]\\
'''Megiddo:''' I'll be the judge of that. Speak.\\
'''Kevyn:''' [[TechnoBabble The stabilizer control systems for the stellar-core toroidal singularity that drives the gate-copy system were damaged in the initial assault. Between eighty and ninety hours from now that singularity is going to release about a nonillion kilograms of mass, most of which will likely be expressed as energy.]]\\
'''Megiddo:''' Not worth the call. What else have you got?\\
'''Kevyn:''' [[StarKilling Well, we expect a pretty impressive supernova in about four days.]]\\
'''Megiddo:''' See, that is worth telling the fleet about.
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall:
** Characters often grip panel edges.
** Also:
--->'''Ennesby:''' The stray breacher round was a nice touch. Good timing. Perfect ironic humor. ''(Said in the last panel of a comic)''
* LeParkour: It's evolved into a martial art called Parkata Urbatsu. According to one character, along with influences of urbobatics and "something called [[Website/YouTube YouTubing]]."
* LetsYouAndHimFight: When being attacked by a battleplate belonging to a decidedly nasty faction of the UNS, [[spoiler:Tagii lures it close to a just released dark matter entity.]]
* LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain: [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2011-05-21 Ennesby to Schlock]], after a particularly [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2011-05-20 unpleasant moment]] involving the removal of the smell of death from Ennesby's chassis.
* LighterAndSofter: The Mallcop arc was distinctly lighthearted, with aerial hijinks and the only antagonists being non-violent free-runners.
* LikeAnOldMarriedCouple: Tagii and Tagon, [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2010-11-25 according to herself]]. [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2012-04-02 Kathryn and Nick]], according to Karl Tagon.
* LittleHeroBigWar: Ostensibly the Toughs' position, being a small mercenary company in a big, big galaxy with lots of conflict. However, they do play a role in many important events and are responsible for some major shifts in the galactic balance of power, including the introduction of the teraport, the formation of the Fleetmind, and the creation of LOTA.
* LivingDoorstop: Kevyn strapping misbehaving Buranabots to the hull as "ablative armor".
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Understandable, since it focuses on an entire company of mercenaries, but there's still a lot to keep track of. And the {{Big Guy}}s tend to all look fairly similar. Not to mention 950 million Gavclones and assorted Gate Clones. Unless a character is confirmed dead there is a very good chance they'll show up again. This applies to ''everyone''.
* LockedInARoom: Dr. Bunnigus and the Reverend are trapped together on the [[SpaceElevator Hellevator]] as one result of an attack on them by the Attorney Collective.
* LockingMacGyverInTheStoreCupboard:
** The [[spoiler: mobsters that kidnapped timeclone-Kevyn and general Tagon]] actually force Kevyn to build a machine that they don't understand.
** The original Kevyn turned a mini-wormgate into a gravy gun that splattered the UNS marines about to kill him, though it was fortunate he used it to clone himself first.
** Also happens to [[spoiler:Lt. Ventura]]. Her captor tries to be GenreSavvy by not having the [[spoiler:[[PuppyDogEyes innoncent-with-the-big-eyes]] looking girl]] guarded by an easily swayed human guard. [[spoiler:Instead they locked her in with the robots...]]
* LongevityTreatment:
** The amorph's creators made themselves immortal and destroyed their civilization as a result. Project "Laz'r'us" attempted to rectify humanity's short lifespans relative to so many aliens.
** A plot point is "Project Laz'r'us", which was intended to circumvent humanity's [[WeAreAsMayflies short lifespans]] in comparison to many other sophonts using hyper-advanced nanotechnology. The nannies are also capable of repairing a clinically dead host and even making internal backups of the brain. The species from whose computer equipment carbosilicate amorphs has evolved already made themselves immortal and ran into several layers of problems. Still, there's a few remaining individuals alive and sane after their twelve million of Terran years, "[[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2007-07-14 give or take a little bit]]".
* LongRunners: The comic has run constantly since June 2000.
** Referenced in a surprisingly meta BrickJoke - on [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2000-06-24 June 24th, 2000]], we learn that the New Synch Boys, who would go on to become the main character Ennesby, was in fact an AI of some sort. On [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2013-08-30 August 30th, 2013]], this is slyly referenced when Coxswain Para Ventura, a ridiculously competent and surprisingly young robotics ''savant'' and former Mole, reveals to Ennesby that she cried for a week straight when the record label announced (falsely) that the New Synch Boys had died in a shuttle crash, indicating that she was a young teenager at the time. Really serves to hang the lampshade on the comic's age, if we assume that time has passed in-universe at essentially the same rate it passed out-of-universe.
* LoopholeAbuse: Presumably, after [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2006-09-06 this strip]] where Schlock uses his [[BlobMonster amorphous nature]] to travel through ventilation ducts, there's now a company policy regarding air vents, where there wasn't one previously.
* MadeOfIron: Many of Tagon's mercenaries have various artificially-induced boosts to their strength and endurance, but during the [[spoiler:Timeclone Kevyn and Karl Tagon rescue]], Captain Tagon was particularly BadAss. Bad guy throws a knife and [[EyeScream sticks Tagon in the eye with it.]] Tagon pulls it out of his socket and uses it to kill the bad guy and a {{Mook}}.
* MadScientist: several, subverted in Kevyn. See the Characters page for details.
* MagicAntidote: The regenerative tanks, which can rebuild an entire person as long as their brain survives.
* MassOhCrap:
** [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2009-12-16 here]] after the original use of Credomar [[spoiler:as a hyperspace death ray that can't be stopped by any existing defensive technology]] is revealed by Lota:
--->'''Kevyn:''' This is where I defecate in sympathetic reflex for every defense planner in the galaxy.
** The crew together lets loose one when trying a then-experimental FTL drive to escape an attack by the Attorney Collective.
* MathematiciansAnswer:
-->'''Chelle:''' Why do you think the Barsoom Circus recruits new performers from all over the galaxy each month? People come to see the aliens do weird, alien stuff.\\
'''Schlock:''' Are we joining a circus or a freak show?\\
'''Chelle:''' ''[Deadpan]'' '''Yes.'''
* MeaningfulName:
** Several of the names in the series have gags attached to them (e.g., 'Corporal Oleo' getting sliced in two at the end of an OverlyLongGag based on the saying 'like a hot knife through butter'; the planet Qlaviql, which appeared shortly after Tayler [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2005-08-28 injured his clavicle]] in RealLife; the Tohdfraugs; Dr Todd, which stood for 'The Old Dead Doctor', who wasn't given a name until long after he was killed). Finally, {{Fanon}} holds that Kevyn and Breya's ''last'' name is meant to imply that they are descendants of a certain 21st century computer industry figure - who must have done very well, given that they are nobility back on Earth.
** And, most significantly, the oft-injured [[SdrawkcabName Der Trihs]].
** The Reverend Theo Fobius. A comical inversion of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theophilus_%28Biblical%29 "Theophilus"]] who crops up in both Luke and Acts in Literature/TheBible.
** Most of the planets they encounter. And all the Battleplates are [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast named after notable meteorite impacts with the earth]] (''[[TheTunguskaEvent Tunguska]]'', ''[[PhlebotinumKilledTheDinosaurs Chicxulub]]'', etc.). Logically, since they've meant to prevent [[ColonyDrop the near light-speed, weaponized version of that]].
** Then, of course, there's LOTA...
--->'''Kevyn:''' That's the name. ''LOTA''. It's ''your'' name. You live in those control systems. You ''are'' the [[WaveMotionGun Discontiguous Particle Acceleration System]].\\
'''Lota:''' Yes, that is a little megalomanicial.\\
'''Kevyn:''' Only now "Lota" stands for "''[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Long-gunner Of The Apocalypse]]''".\\
'''Lota:''' ...and Lota likes it.
** This is played with in some flavor text outside of the comic. For example the [[DysonSphere Buuthandi]] which according to the side blurb is shorthand for something along the lines of [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2002-03-09 "This (expletive) thing was really (expletive) expensive to build."]]
* MembershipToken: A new member of the team decides to introduce the challenge coin tradition to Tagon's Toughs, to tie-in with the RealLife creation of a variety of [[TheMerch Schlock Mercenary Challenge Coins]] created by Taylor for a Kickstarter campaign after he learned of the military tradition.
* MemoryGambit: Schlock pulls off one by taking advantage of the origins of amorphs as artificial data storage devices, by [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2008-02-22 sneaking some memories into]] [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2008-02-23 a bit of amorph goo stuck into one of his extra eyeballs.]]
* MenAreTheExpendableGender: Generally played straight. Although Tagon has several women in his company, the majority are officers, and the only two among the grunts are Elizabeth and Legs (neither of whom are human). While the female members of Tagon's command have suffered injuries throughout the series, the only members of the company who have actually been KilledOffForReal have been male. More female characters ''outside'' Tagon's crew have died, but even then not enough to avert this trope.
* {{Metaphorgotten}}:
** Howard Tayler ''loves'' playing with metaphors, almost as much as Creator/TerryPratchett. Breya even [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2002-05-20 revokes]] one character's metaphor privileges after a particularly {{Squick}}y one.
** This happens to Schlock, too.
--->'''Ebby:''' I need to see if these lieutenant tabs will let me revoke metaphor privileges from a sergeant.\\
'''Schlock:''' They don't. And even if they do, they don't.
* MightMakesRight: Despite all the cynicism, this trope is usually {{averted}}. Oh, sure, the strong ones can do whatever they like, but at least no one pretends they have the moral highground.
* MindlinkMates: [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2011-12-22 Kevyn likes the idea]]. Petey doesn't think it's going to work well for humans without related experience.
* MindRape:
** The "Mind-Rip," an invariably fatal method of extracting a being's memories. Funnily enough, it's been used by the "[[AntiHero heroes]]" ''at least'' as often as the villains.
** Elf [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2011-12-05 accuses]] Petey of having “mindraped” Kevyn, but realizes it wasn’t so bad after calming down.
* MookHorrorShow: The 2001 Schlocktoberfest has Schlock regenerating, eating his friends to increase his mass[[note]]they were already badly wounded and he made sure their heads got into cyrokits[[/note]], and then tearing apart what the transcript calls "Diamond Bugs". The Bugs are juveniles and they see Schlock as a [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2001-10-25 "REGENERATING ZOMBIE CANNIBAL"]].
* MoreDakka: Used liberally, and forms the basis of Maxim 37: There is no "overkill". There is only "open fire" and "I need to reload".
* MotionCaptureMecha: Used with sufficient delicacy [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2012-03-14 to pick one's own nose]].
* MyNameIsInigoMontoya, YouKilledMyFather, PrepareToDie: All three show up in one panel of [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2001-07-22 this strip]].
-->'''Gasht'g'd'g'tang:''' I'm Gasht'g'd'g'tang. Your gate-copy killed my son. Prepare to die.
* MythArc:
** It's subtle, but the state of the galaxy is influenced a great deal by the Toughs, whether they know it or not. It begins with Kevyn's invention of the teraport, then [[spoiler: the gatekeepers siccing the partnership collective on them to suppress the technology.]] Which leads to [[spoiler: The teraport wars, and then the war with the dark matter entities.]]
** There's a second arc at play as well. [[spoiler:Project Lazarus]] started as an even more subtle myth arc, but starting about [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2007-12-09 here]] a lot of [[ChekhovsGun Chekhov's Guns]] were fired in quick succession, bringing the arc to the fore. The [[spoiler:Lazarus]] arc may not be as ''vast'' as the Teraport Wars or the Andromeda War, but it's a lot more ''personal'' - and what with Petey having taken in [[spoiler:General Xinchub]] and possibly allied with him, the two arcs are likely to fuse into one.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast:
** The ship ''Serial Peacemaker''. Ironically, it is the smallest and least dangerous ship the Toughs have used as their flagship.
** [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2014-02-14 As explained here,]] he name of the alien {{artificial intelligence}} T'kkkuts Afa ''literally'' translates as "Broken Wind". This shows why it is very important to consider cultural context when performing translations; a looser translation would be "Angry God". The looser translation is not misleading.
* {{Nanomachines}}: used heavily in-story and [[PlayingWithATrope played with]] a lot by the author.
* NarrativeProfanityFilter: Ennesby uses General Xinchub's detonator codes to send him a message demonstrating Ennesby's [[WeaponsGradeVocabulary extensive obscenity collection]], which is only vaguely described after the fact.
--> '''Tagon:''' I see you've just been exposed to Ennesby's weapons-grade vocabulary.\\
'''Jevee Ceeta:''' My stomach is in my throat right now. It's trying to spit acid on the parts of my brain that remember reading his message.
* NeverHeardThatOneBefore: In [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2011-02-13 this strip]] Kathryn Flinders replies sarcastically that "that joke never gets old" when Schlock references an old joke about "military intelligence" being an oxymoron, after she's hired by the Toughs in the "Haven Hive" storyline.
* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: The ShowWithinAShow has Schlock gaining abilities which Amorphs don't actually have for the sake of the show's plot. This presents problems for Schlock later.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero:
** The "older and wiser than everyone" Thurl, of all people, falls victim to this. After figuring out that [[spoiler: Para and Tagii might have loyalties elsewhere, he goes and disconnects Tagii. The result? Since Tagii was jamming the Redhack, Gavs started morphing into Super Soldiers all over the place, the Toughs lost overwatch and are in an ill position to fight off anyone else since Ennesby doesn't have Tagii's processing power at his disposal and the Oisri startup sequence is running and threatening to squish everyone around into singularity. Oh, and Tagii goes banshee-insane, and tries to kill the entire crew.]] Of course he acted in the best interest of the Toughs based on the information he had, but he stands firmly in the UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom territory.
** In a later plot-arc, the Toughs arrive at their new assignment aboard a massive space-borne construct, find that their entrance is [[spoiler:blocked with wooden growths]] and promptly [[spoiler: start an equally-massive fire blasting their way in.]]
* NighInvulnerable: a number of characters, starting with Schlock and going up to god-like proportions.
* NightSwimEqualsDeath: The plot of the Mahuitalotu arc [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2005-10-02 kicks off this way,]] with one of the Toughs [[spoiler:being eaten by a shark secretly introduced into the oceans.]]
* NinjaPirateZombieRobot:
** [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2009-09-08 In one strip]], the Pi talks about watching Jack-san Robo III, which features a ninja pirate cowboy with a monkey.
** Turns out that the UNS is a government version of this. It's a combination of democracy, oligarchy, and every other sort of government you can think of, with some representatives elected, others chosen by lottery, and others with their seats explicitly and publicly bought. It's mentioned that this insane compromise of a legislature has been balancing on a knife's edge for centuries, and has great difficulty making any major decisions.
* NobodyPoops: Perhaps a bit ''[[ToiletHumor too]]'' averted at times.
* NoEndorHolocaust: Averted [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2002-07-04 here]].
* NoFourthWall: More frequently and noticeably in early strips.
** During the "Pointy End of the Stick" storyline, Kevyn literally "met his maker" during a near-death experience, and instantly recognized him as the cartoonist, which led to this exchange:
--->'''Kevyn:''' Are you killing me?\\
'''The Cartoonist:''' No.\\
'''Kevyn:''' Oh. Goo-\\
'''The Cartoonist:''' [[ExactWords Blood loss]] [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2006-09-02 is killing you.]]
** Generally speaking, the fourth wall disappears when someone is dying (usually only for that character). Thus, when the entire ''galaxy'' is dying, the fourth wall may as well be non-existent.
* NothingIsScarier: The tactical uses of this combined with ParanoiaFuel are nicely demonstrated [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2005-05-08 here.]]
* NotInMyContract: In the closing of the first Credomar story arc, [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2009-02-22 Tagon protests to a UNS Commodore]] that it wasn't in the contract that they should distribute the food to a Credomar faction inclined towards annexation by the UNS.
-->'''Commodore:''' You might have found our choice...objectionable.\\
'''Tagon:''' Then we would have asked for more money.\\
'''Commodore:''' ''Mercenaries...''\\
'''Tagon:''' You get what you pay for.
* NWordPrivileges: Gorillas have, prior to the 31st century, been [[UpliftedAnimal uplifted]] to human level sapience, and since then a lot of primate-related phrases have been deemed as being racist. [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2003-11-18 Unless you're a gorilla yourself, apparently.]]
* OddCouple: Bunnigus and the Reverend (sounds like a sitcom title), now HappilyMarried, despite [[spoiler:issues with FakeMemories]].
* OddShapedPanel: [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2000-10-28 Overlapping, with arrows between them.]]
* OhCrap: Many.
** Once [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2001-01-29 literally]].
--->'''Kevyn:''' My sentiments precisely, sir.
** Tailor's expression [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2011-09-22 here]] is notable, just having realized that a ''gunship'' is about to ''shoot his restraints off.''
** The Reverend has a few of these moments, both giving and receiving.
--->'''Ebby''': What are the chances Credomar's king can be hacked? ...okay, I'm full. Time to go to sleep.\\
'''Theo''': Sleep? Who can sleep?
** [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2012-09-06 Kevyn's reaction]] to Para telling him that Tagii [[spoiler: didn't plant the code causing the Gavs' mutations, she was jamming it.]]
** [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2007-02-05 Another literal reaction.]] Quite reasonable, when the man in question is in the habit of keeping antimatter stored next to his head.
** [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2014-02-07 Following this slightly verbose version from Tagii,]] [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2014-02-08 Ennesby improvises the best response he can while giving some context.]]
* OminousLatinChanting: Ennesby sets an army of repair drones to [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2009-10-13 singing "O Fortuna."]]
** To the tune of [[EarWorm "Ay, macarena"]] it seems.
** He uses the macarena [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2009-10-14 here]], but "[[TranslationTrainWreck retranslated]]" it to [[InvokedTrope avoid it infecting anyone else]].
--->'''Burana-bots: [[TranslationTrainWreck OY VEY, MACARONI!]]'''\\
'''Ennesby:''' This one's kind of catchy. Especially if you have arms to do the moves with.
* [[TheTapeKnewYouWouldSayThat The Omnipotent AI Knew You Would Do That]]: Petey engineers many apparently coincidental events, eventually admitting to it [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2013-02-09 here]]:
--->'''Theo:''' So events like the recent chain of tiny manipulations that [[spoiler:destroyed Pi's explosives]] won't constantly be shattering my illusions of free agency?\\
'''Petey:''' No one else figured that out. You're very astute.\\
'''Theo:''' Oh no. You '''''knew''''' we'd be having this conversation.\\
'''Petey:''' Very, '''''very,''''' astute.
* OnlyInItForTheMoney: It ''is'' about a band of mercs, after all - [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2007-06-06 but even they won't agree to some things]].
* OnThree: There is the occasion when a sniper has Schlock in his sights, while Schlock had just fired some grenades at the target. While the sniper tries to get an eye shot, Schlock holds up his fingers to count down from three to zero (''ground'' zero) since his targeting computer told him how long it'll take the grenades to reach their target.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: When Ennesby, the resident PungeonMaster ''fails'' to deliver a fart joke after learning that an ancient (and very insane) space station AI's name translates to "Broken Wind", Tagon realizes [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2014-02-15 just how bad the situation really is]].
* OtherMeAnnoysMe: Amorphs [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2009-05-21 ran into]] a problem with [[RealityIsUnrealistic TV version of them]]:
-->'''Schlock''': The TV-me is putting me-me out of a job. [...] Maybe we can kill another TV network. Is there still money in that?
* OrwellianRetcon: "The Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries" used to be "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Pirates," and the "maxims" referred to as "rules" (with the explanation that each "habit" comprised several "rules"). Eventually, the publishers of the real "Seven Habits..." caught wind and made him change it. ("Eventually" here defined as "after over eight years, when the joke had already long since undergone MemeticMutation...") To soften the blow however, Howard Tayler admitted he was glad for the excuse to make the change, not least because the new title could be used for TheMerch.
* OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions: {{Averted}}; religion is alive and well among many different cultures, and the Tagon's Toughs have their own chaplain (Reverend Theo). In his [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2000-11-17 first appearance]], Howard Tayler included an editor's note stating that this trope is what's "foolishly optimistic," not religion.
* OutlawTown: The starport and orbital station of Ghanj-rho are havens for smugglers, pirates, and slavers. It's also where Tagon's Toughs hired most of their non-Terran troops, and it's Sergeant Schlock's homeworld (though he was one of the "primitive natives" and left years earlier as a slave).
* OutrunTheFireball: Averted. Major Charper's shuttle ''fails'' to [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2005-06-12 outrun this particular (nuclear) fireball.]] [[spoiler:Don't worry, he survives.]]
* OverusedRunningGag: InUniverse, this is what Tagon considers Shodan's continuing to bring up the accident during the Mall Cop Command arc where Tagon got [[EyeScream a fork stuck in his eye]].
-->'''Tagon''': Clever, but I bet a professional comedian would have moved on to new material by now.
* OverlyPreparedGag: One of the ships the company gets was christened the "Serial Peacemaker."
-->'''Ennesby:''' Everyone stand by to pour some Serial Peacemaker into a big bowl of "no-problem."\\
'''Tagon:''' How long have you been waiting to use that stupid "Cereal" pun?\\
'''Ennesby:''' Ever since you let me name the ship, sir.
* PaintingTheMedium: Characters routinely lean on or brace themselves against panel borders.
* PeelingPotatoes: parodied [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2000-09-02 here]].
* PeopleJars: At one point, the author gets away with a full-frontal nude shot of Elf in a regeneration tank by making her too nude to have ''skin''. "I'm as naked as the day I was born. And then some."
* PerpetualPoverty:
** However many times the Toughs get paid, they'll be struggling to make next paycheck before you know it.
--->'''Tagon:''' This number looked a lot bigger before I started the payroll.
** Interestingly enough, it was {{averted}} once. And then that aversion was {{deconstruct|ion}}ed, as [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2008-03-16 a large fraction of the mercenaries took their new-found wealth and retired.]]
* PerpetualStorm: Book 14, "Broken Wind", features a planet-sized gigahabitat that rotates to provide gravity. The resulting coriolis force has produced a permanent "sideways hurricane" in one part of the habitat, when a pair of baffle walls designed to prevent just that are intentionally knocked down.
* PerfectlyCromulentWord: Ennesby has a habit of doing this. Words, phrases, quips, and puns. [[PungeonMaster Ye gads, the puns]]...
-->'''Schlock:''' Ennesby gave me a shorter word to say all that, Sir. 'Assassineated'.\\
'''Tagon:''' Ennesby needs to stop inventing words.
* PhraseCatcher: Schlock's faster than he looks. ''Finally'' lampshaded:
-->'''[[VillainOfTheWeek Pau]]:''' Don't worry about me! Worry about that turd-tentacled monster! He's faster than he -\\
'''Schlock:''' [[NeverHeardThatOneBefore Say "Looks."]]
* Mohs/PhysicsPlus: Gravity manipulation (but not ''generation'' -- ships are built around spheres of neutronium as sources of gravity to manipulate), a process which is as well developed as electronics, and playing the result to its natural conclusions; ubiquitous {{flight}}, DeflectorShields, [[OurWormholesAreDifferent traversable wormholes]] (one example which {{Justifie|dTrope}}s a TimeTravel storyline), and [[TeleportersAndTransporters quantum teleportation]]. Some find the easy nanotechnology a bit of a stretch.
* PlasmaCannon: Schlock's signature BHG-9000 plasguns, plural because they tend to explode at the drop of a hat.
* PopulationControl: Earth has a gene pool protection act that required Doctor Bunnigus's parents to have a DesignerBaby.
* PortalNetwork: with an ''incredibly'' dark secret; [[spoiler:It [[CloningBlues copies]] everyone who uses it each time they use it. The Gatekeepers then interrogate the copies and kill them. They know everything about everybody without anyone's knowledge. [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2006-04-05 Seven million people every minute]]. [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2006-04-06 For hundreds of thousands of years.]] Technically, [[WellIntentionedExtremist they meant well]] - [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2005-07-10 the Pa'anuri made it clear]] that either the Gatekeepers would prevent the use of TeleportersAndTransporters or they'd kill the Milky Way Galaxy.]]
* PoweredArmor: Besides the standard stuff, the Toughs are equipped with low-profile (to the point of invisibility) armor built into their uniforms that helps diffuse energy weapons and lets them ''fly.''
* ThePowerOfFriendship: A twisted sort of application of the trope. The Toughs can't count on their allies, because they're mercenaries and your allies might be the guys you're hired to kill tomorrow; they can't count on any of their respective home governments, for pretty much the same reason; they certainly can't count on their employers, who are frequently known to try to backstab the Toughs since, well, they hired a band of mercenaries to begin with, so why not add "screwing over those who make a living with violence"? But they know they can count on their ''friends'' (which, admittedly, is usually limited to "each other", but the sentiment is there).
* PrivateMilitaryContractors: The Toughs and much of their competition that isn't a star nation's military.
* ProjectedMan: most of the shipboard [=AIs=]; also, Ennesby before he joined the crew and got a body of sorts.
* ProperlyParanoid:
** Pi's paranoid delusions are sometimes right on the money.
*** First, [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2008-06-08 there's the incident with a grav-catcher]]. As the LemonyNarrator puts it, "It's a good thing he's not in therapy. This would undo months of progress."
*** And it takes someone as crazy as him to think of [[spoiler: hyperspace cannons and zombie plagues.]]
--->'''Pi''': ''But the plan is absurd. Suborning Gavcorps would be terribly expensive, and no military will admit to having genocidal nanotech on hand...''
** Karl Tagon's response to seeing [[spoiler: Kaff Tagon's nanite-riddled girlfriend]] start having a seizure - put his suit-helmet up in case of bio-weaponry. [[spoiler: His wife]] wasn't so lucky...
* PsychicPowers: It is stated early on by the narrator that someone with "psychic sight" can see the bullet destined to kill someone. This is dropped in favor of harder sci-fi, but psychic powers such as (radio) telepathy get referenced every once in a while.
** There's an in-universe TV show called ''Psychic Suzie''. She's [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2006-04-09 quite unconventional]], for a medium.
* PsychoticManchild: Probably the best description of Schlock's attitude. He does show care and loyalty to his friends despite his status as a sociopath, but enjoys fighting too much to care about the blazing hot maimery he spews from his plasma cannon on anyone but his friends.
* PunctuationShaker:
** The F'Sherl-Ganni typically have ''three'' apostrophes in their names
** And they call a certain enemy the Paan'uri, or is it Paa'nuri, or Pa'anuri?
* PungeonMaster: Ennesby, being an entertainment AI, used a databank of puns across 50 languages.
* QuoteToQuoteCombat: A notable [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2009-12-23 exchange]] occurs after LOTA [[ItMakesSenseInContext teraports New Credomar out of the cannon barrel]].
-->'''Kevyn:''' If you say "I told you so," I get to say "my sarcasm is more accurate than your paranoia."\\
'''Ennesby:''' That's fair.
----
* JumpTheShark: Just in case anyone thought the introduction of time travel might be the shark-jumping moment for the series, the author lampshades it [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2005-04-02 here]].[[invoked]]
* JustBetweenYouAndMe: {{Lampshaded}} [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2009-08-17 here,]] with [[spoiler:Major Timmons of UNS Intelligence]] declining to spill the beans to his intended victims.
* KarmicDeath: Colonel Krum originally tried to prevent Kathrine (and others) from using one of Tunguska's terapods, reserving seats for priority personnel. During the destruction of Morokweng, she was left behind with Kowalski claiming the seats are all full of priority passengers.
* KickTheSonOfABitch: Yes, the Toughs do some nasty stuff but we cheer for them anyway, because the current bad guys are usually nastier and deserve the pwning that's headed their way.
* KilledOffForReal: So far, [[spoiler:Doctor Lazcowicz, Hob, [=DoytHaban=] (well, sort of), Sh'vuu, Pronto, and Brad]].
* KilledMidSentence:
-->'''Ensenby:''' ([[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2004-07-19 from an armed troop-transport to a single guard]]) You there on the ground. Drop your weapon or be fired upon!\\
'''Guard:''' [[HonorBeforeReason I'll die before I]] '''[THOOM!!]'''\\
'''Ensenby:''' [[LampshadeHanging "...finish my sentence"]], [[BondOneLiner I think he was saying.]]
* KillerRabbit:
** The Ob'enn, (colloquially known as "psychobears") are cute, cuddly-''looking'' koalazoids who just happen to be [[ScaryDogmaticAliens unbelievably violent xenophobic megalomaniacs]].
---> '''Ennesby:''' The Tausennigan Ob'enn warlords look like cuddly teddy-bears?\\
'''Petey:''' Yes, they do. And they'd cheerfully exterminate your entire race for making that observation!\\
'''Ennesby:''' I guess that explains their rich military history, then.
** And inverted by the Kssthrata, the velociraptor-like species which evolved in the same system as the Ob'enn. Instead of continuing their counter-genocidal war with the Ob'enn, they just ''[[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2004-09-03 moved]]''.
* LateToThePunchline: [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2006-08-11 Depicted here]].
* LawEnforcementInc: Sanctum Adroit, referred to by Tagon as the "haughtiest, most self-righteous mercenary company I know of." In other words the most principled.
* LaymansTerms: Kevyn's learned them. It was that or die because soldiers aren't physicists, and if you can't get them to understand you, you, along with trillions of others, will die because [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2002-06-15 most people don't know the difference between "nonillion" and "bazillion".]]
--> '''Kevyn:''' Captain, I need to be patched out. [[DontAskJustRun We've found something important.]]\\
'''Megiddo:''' I'll be the judge of that. Speak.\\
'''Kevyn:''' [[TechnoBabble The stabilizer control systems for the stellar-core toroidal singularity that drives the gate-copy system were damaged in the initial assault. Between eighty and ninety hours from now that singularity is going to release about a nonillion kilograms of mass, most of which will likely be expressed as energy.]]\\
'''Megiddo:''' Not worth the call. What else have you got?\\
'''Kevyn:''' [[StarKilling Well, we expect a pretty impressive supernova in about four days.]]\\
'''Megiddo:''' See, that is worth telling the fleet about.
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall:
** Characters often grip panel edges.
** Also:
--->'''Ennesby:''' The stray breacher round was a nice touch. Good timing. Perfect ironic humor. ''(Said in the last panel of a comic)''
* LeParkour: It's evolved into a martial art called Parkata Urbatsu. According to one character, along with influences of urbobatics and "something called [[Website/YouTube YouTubing]]."
* LetsYouAndHimFight: When being attacked by a battleplate belonging to a decidedly nasty faction of the UNS, [[spoiler:Tagii lures it close to a just released dark matter entity.]]
* LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain: [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2011-05-21 Ennesby to Schlock]], after a particularly [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2011-05-20 unpleasant moment]] involving the removal of the smell of death from Ennesby's chassis.
* LighterAndSofter: The Mallcop arc was distinctly lighthearted, with aerial hijinks and the only antagonists being non-violent free-runners.
* LikeAnOldMarriedCouple: Tagii and Tagon, [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2010-11-25 according to herself]]. [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2012-04-02 Kathryn and Nick]], according to Karl Tagon.
* LittleHeroBigWar: Ostensibly the Toughs' position, being a small mercenary company in a big, big galaxy with lots of conflict. However, they do play a role in many important events and are responsible for some major shifts in the galactic balance of power, including the introduction of the teraport, the formation of the Fleetmind, and the creation of LOTA.
* LivingDoorstop: Kevyn strapping misbehaving Buranabots to the hull as "ablative armor".
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Understandable, since it focuses on an entire company of mercenaries, but there's still a lot to keep track of. And the {{Big Guy}}s tend to all look fairly similar. Not to mention 950 million Gavclones and assorted Gate Clones. Unless a character is confirmed dead there is a very good chance they'll show up again. This applies to ''everyone''.
* LockedInARoom: Dr. Bunnigus and the Reverend are trapped together on the [[SpaceElevator Hellevator]] as one result of an attack on them by the Attorney Collective.
* LockingMacGyverInTheStoreCupboard:
** The [[spoiler: mobsters that kidnapped timeclone-Kevyn and general Tagon]] actually force Kevyn to build a machine that they don't understand.
** The original Kevyn turned a mini-wormgate into a gravy gun that splattered the UNS marines about to kill him, though it was fortunate he used it to clone himself first.
** Also happens to [[spoiler:Lt. Ventura]]. Her captor tries to be GenreSavvy by not having the [[spoiler:[[PuppyDogEyes innoncent-with-the-big-eyes]] looking girl]] guarded by an easily swayed human guard. [[spoiler:Instead they locked her in with the robots...]]
* LongevityTreatment:
** The amorph's creators made themselves immortal and destroyed their civilization as a result. Project "Laz'r'us" attempted to rectify humanity's short lifespans relative to so many aliens.
** A plot point is "Project Laz'r'us", which was intended to circumvent humanity's [[WeAreAsMayflies short lifespans]] in comparison to many other sophonts using hyper-advanced nanotechnology. The nannies are also capable of repairing a clinically dead host and even making internal backups of the brain. The species from whose computer equipment carbosilicate amorphs has evolved already made themselves immortal and ran into several layers of problems. Still, there's a few remaining individuals alive and sane after their twelve million of Terran years, "[[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2007-07-14 give or take a little bit]]".
* LongRunners: The comic has run constantly since June 2000.
** Referenced in a surprisingly meta BrickJoke - on [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2000-06-24 June 24th, 2000]], we learn that the New Synch Boys, who would go on to become the main character Ennesby, was in fact an AI of some sort. On [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2013-08-30 August 30th, 2013]], this is slyly referenced when Coxswain Para Ventura, a ridiculously competent and surprisingly young robotics ''savant'' and former Mole, reveals to Ennesby that she cried for a week straight when the record label announced (falsely) that the New Synch Boys had died in a shuttle crash, indicating that she was a young teenager at the time. Really serves to hang the lampshade on the comic's age, if we assume that time has passed in-universe at essentially the same rate it passed out-of-universe.
* LoopholeAbuse: Presumably, after [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2006-09-06 this strip]] where Schlock uses his [[BlobMonster amorphous nature]] to travel through ventilation ducts, there's now a company policy regarding air vents, where there wasn't one previously.
* MadeOfIron: Many of Tagon's mercenaries have various artificially-induced boosts to their strength and endurance, but during the [[spoiler:Timeclone Kevyn and Karl Tagon rescue]], Captain Tagon was particularly BadAss. Bad guy throws a knife and [[EyeScream sticks Tagon in the eye with it.]] Tagon pulls it out of his socket and uses it to kill the bad guy and a {{Mook}}.
* MadScientist: several, subverted in Kevyn. See the Characters page for details.
* MagicAntidote: The regenerative tanks, which can rebuild an entire person as long as their brain survives.
* MassOhCrap:
** [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2009-12-16 here]] after the original use of Credomar [[spoiler:as a hyperspace death ray that can't be stopped by any existing defensive technology]] is revealed by Lota:
--->'''Kevyn:''' This is where I defecate in sympathetic reflex for every defense planner in the galaxy.
** The crew together lets loose one when trying a then-experimental FTL drive to escape an attack by the Attorney Collective.
* MathematiciansAnswer:
-->'''Chelle:''' Why do you think the Barsoom Circus recruits new performers from all over the galaxy each month? People come to see the aliens do weird, alien stuff.\\
'''Schlock:''' Are we joining a circus or a freak show?\\
'''Chelle:''' ''[Deadpan]'' '''Yes.'''
* MeaningfulName:
** Several of the names in the series have gags attached to them (e.g., 'Corporal Oleo' getting sliced in two at the end of an OverlyLongGag based on the saying 'like a hot knife through butter'; the planet Qlaviql, which appeared shortly after Tayler [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2005-08-28 injured his clavicle]] in RealLife; the Tohdfraugs; Dr Todd, which stood for 'The Old Dead Doctor', who wasn't given a name until long after he was killed). Finally, {{Fanon}} holds that Kevyn and Breya's ''last'' name is meant to imply that they are descendants of a certain 21st century computer industry figure - who must have done very well, given that they are nobility back on Earth.
** And, most significantly, the oft-injured [[SdrawkcabName Der Trihs]].
** The Reverend Theo Fobius. A comical inversion of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theophilus_%28Biblical%29 "Theophilus"]] who crops up in both Luke and Acts in Literature/TheBible.
** Most of the planets they encounter. And all the Battleplates are [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast named after notable meteorite impacts with the earth]] (''[[TheTunguskaEvent Tunguska]]'', ''[[PhlebotinumKilledTheDinosaurs Chicxulub]]'', etc.). Logically, since they've meant to prevent [[ColonyDrop the near light-speed, weaponized version of that]].
** Then, of course, there's LOTA...
--->'''Kevyn:''' That's the name. ''LOTA''. It's ''your'' name. You live in those control systems. You ''are'' the [[WaveMotionGun Discontiguous Particle Acceleration System]].\\
'''Lota:''' Yes, that is a little megalomanicial.\\
'''Kevyn:''' Only now "Lota" stands for "''[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Long-gunner Of The Apocalypse]]''".\\
'''Lota:''' ...and Lota likes it.
** This is played with in some flavor text outside of the comic. For example the [[DysonSphere Buuthandi]] which according to the side blurb is shorthand for something along the lines of [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2002-03-09 "This (expletive) thing was really (expletive) expensive to build."]]
* MembershipToken: A new member of the team decides to introduce the challenge coin tradition to Tagon's Toughs, to tie-in with the RealLife creation of a variety of [[TheMerch Schlock Mercenary Challenge Coins]] created by Taylor for a Kickstarter campaign after he learned of the military tradition.
* MemoryGambit: Schlock pulls off one by taking advantage of the origins of amorphs as artificial data storage devices, by [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2008-02-22 sneaking some memories into]] [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2008-02-23 a bit of amorph goo stuck into one of his extra eyeballs.]]
* MenAreTheExpendableGender: Generally played straight. Although Tagon has several women in his company, the majority are officers, and the only two among the grunts are Elizabeth and Legs (neither of whom are human). While the female members of Tagon's command have suffered injuries throughout the series, the only members of the company who have actually been KilledOffForReal have been male. More female characters ''outside'' Tagon's crew have died, but even then not enough to avert this trope.
* {{Metaphorgotten}}:
** Howard Tayler ''loves'' playing with metaphors, almost as much as Creator/TerryPratchett. Breya even [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2002-05-20 revokes]] one character's metaphor privileges after a particularly {{Squick}}y one.
** This happens to Schlock, too.
--->'''Ebby:''' I need to see if these lieutenant tabs will let me revoke metaphor privileges from a sergeant.\\
'''Schlock:''' They don't. And even if they do, they don't.
* MightMakesRight: Despite all the cynicism, this trope is usually {{averted}}. Oh, sure, the strong ones can do whatever they like, but at least no one pretends they have the moral highground.
* MindlinkMates: [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2011-12-22 Kevyn likes the idea]]. Petey doesn't think it's going to work well for humans without related experience.
* MindRape:
** The "Mind-Rip," an invariably fatal method of extracting a being's memories. Funnily enough, it's been used by the "[[AntiHero heroes]]" ''at least'' as often as the villains.
** Elf [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2011-12-05 accuses]] Petey of having “mindraped” Kevyn, but realizes it wasn’t so bad after calming down.
* MookHorrorShow: The 2001 Schlocktoberfest has Schlock regenerating, eating his friends to increase his mass[[note]]they were already badly wounded and he made sure their heads got into cyrokits[[/note]], and then tearing apart what the transcript calls "Diamond Bugs". The Bugs are juveniles and they see Schlock as a [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2001-10-25 "REGENERATING ZOMBIE CANNIBAL"]].
* MoreDakka: Used liberally, and forms the basis of Maxim 37: There is no "overkill". There is only "open fire" and "I need to reload".
* MotionCaptureMecha: Used with sufficient delicacy [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2012-03-14 to pick one's own nose]].
* MyNameIsInigoMontoya, YouKilledMyFather, PrepareToDie: All three show up in one panel of [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2001-07-22 this strip]].
-->'''Gasht'g'd'g'tang:''' I'm Gasht'g'd'g'tang. Your gate-copy killed my son. Prepare to die.
* MythArc:
** It's subtle, but the state of the galaxy is influenced a great deal by the Toughs, whether they know it or not. It begins with Kevyn's invention of the teraport, then [[spoiler: the gatekeepers siccing the partnership collective on them to suppress the technology.]] Which leads to [[spoiler: The teraport wars, and then the war with the dark matter entities.]]
** There's a second arc at play as well. [[spoiler:Project Lazarus]] started as an even more subtle myth arc, but starting about [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2007-12-09 here]] a lot of [[ChekhovsGun Chekhov's Guns]] were fired in quick succession, bringing the arc to the fore. The [[spoiler:Lazarus]] arc may not be as ''vast'' as the Teraport Wars or the Andromeda War, but it's a lot more ''personal'' - and what with Petey having taken in [[spoiler:General Xinchub]] and possibly allied with him, the two arcs are likely to fuse into one.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast:
** The ship ''Serial Peacemaker''. Ironically, it is the smallest and least dangerous ship the Toughs have used as their flagship.
** [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2014-02-14 As explained here,]] he name of the alien {{artificial intelligence}} T'kkkuts Afa ''literally'' translates as "Broken Wind". This shows why it is very important to consider cultural context when performing translations; a looser translation would be "Angry God". The looser translation is not misleading.
* {{Nanomachines}}: used heavily in-story and [[PlayingWithATrope played with]] a lot by the author.
* NarrativeProfanityFilter: Ennesby uses General Xinchub's detonator codes to send him a message demonstrating Ennesby's [[WeaponsGradeVocabulary extensive obscenity collection]], which is only vaguely described after the fact.
--> '''Tagon:''' I see you've just been exposed to Ennesby's weapons-grade vocabulary.\\
'''Jevee Ceeta:''' My stomach is in my throat right now. It's trying to spit acid on the parts of my brain that remember reading his message.
* NeverHeardThatOneBefore: In [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2011-02-13 this strip]] Kathryn Flinders replies sarcastically that "that joke never gets old" when Schlock references an old joke about "military intelligence" being an oxymoron, after she's hired by the Toughs in the "Haven Hive" storyline.
* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: The ShowWithinAShow has Schlock gaining abilities which Amorphs don't actually have for the sake of the show's plot. This presents problems for Schlock later.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero:
** The "older and wiser than everyone" Thurl, of all people, falls victim to this. After figuring out that [[spoiler: Para and Tagii might have loyalties elsewhere, he goes and disconnects Tagii. The result? Since Tagii was jamming the Redhack, Gavs started morphing into Super Soldiers all over the place, the Toughs lost overwatch and are in an ill position to fight off anyone else since Ennesby doesn't have Tagii's processing power at his disposal and the Oisri startup sequence is running and threatening to squish everyone around into singularity. Oh, and Tagii goes banshee-insane, and tries to kill the entire crew.]] Of course he acted in the best interest of the Toughs based on the information he had, but he stands firmly in the UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom territory.
** In a later plot-arc, the Toughs arrive at their new assignment aboard a massive space-borne construct, find that their entrance is [[spoiler:blocked with wooden growths]] and promptly [[spoiler: start an equally-massive fire blasting their way in.]]
* NighInvulnerable: a number of characters, starting with Schlock and going up to god-like proportions.
* NightSwimEqualsDeath: The plot of the Mahuitalotu arc [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2005-10-02 kicks off this way,]] with one of the Toughs [[spoiler:being eaten by a shark secretly introduced into the oceans.]]
* NinjaPirateZombieRobot:
** [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2009-09-08 In one strip]], the Pi talks about watching Jack-san Robo III, which features a ninja pirate cowboy with a monkey.
** Turns out that the UNS is a government version of this. It's a combination of democracy, oligarchy, and every other sort of government you can think of, with some representatives elected, others chosen by lottery, and others with their seats explicitly and publicly bought. It's mentioned that this insane compromise of a legislature has been balancing on a knife's edge for centuries, and has great difficulty making any major decisions.
* NobodyPoops: Perhaps a bit ''[[ToiletHumor too]]'' averted at times.
* NoEndorHolocaust: Averted [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2002-07-04 here]].
* NoFourthWall: More frequently and noticeably in early strips.
** During the "Pointy End of the Stick" storyline, Kevyn literally "met his maker" during a near-death experience, and instantly recognized him as the cartoonist, which led to this exchange:
--->'''Kevyn:''' Are you killing me?\\
'''The Cartoonist:''' No.\\
'''Kevyn:''' Oh. Goo-\\
'''The Cartoonist:''' [[ExactWords Blood loss]] [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2006-09-02 is killing you.]]
** Generally speaking, the fourth wall disappears when someone is dying (usually only for that character). Thus, when the entire ''galaxy'' is dying, the fourth wall may as well be non-existent.
* NothingIsScarier: The tactical uses of this combined with ParanoiaFuel are nicely demonstrated [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2005-05-08 here.]]
* NotInMyContract: In the closing of the first Credomar story arc, [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2009-02-22 Tagon protests to a UNS Commodore]] that it wasn't in the contract that they should distribute the food to a Credomar faction inclined towards annexation by the UNS.
-->'''Commodore:''' You might have found our choice...objectionable.\\
'''Tagon:''' Then we would have asked for more money.\\
'''Commodore:''' ''Mercenaries...''\\
'''Tagon:''' You get what you pay for.
* NWordPrivileges: Gorillas have, prior to the 31st century, been [[UpliftedAnimal uplifted]] to human level sapience, and since then a lot of primate-related phrases have been deemed as being racist. [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2003-11-18 Unless you're a gorilla yourself, apparently.]]
* OddCouple: Bunnigus and the Reverend (sounds like a sitcom title), now HappilyMarried, despite [[spoiler:issues with FakeMemories]].
* OddShapedPanel: [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2000-10-28 Overlapping, with arrows between them.]]
* OhCrap: Many.
** Once [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2001-01-29 literally]].
--->'''Kevyn:''' My sentiments precisely, sir.
** Tailor's expression [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2011-09-22 here]] is notable, just having realized that a ''gunship'' is about to ''shoot his restraints off.''
** The Reverend has a few of these moments, both giving and receiving.
--->'''Ebby''': What are the chances Credomar's king can be hacked? ...okay, I'm full. Time to go to sleep.\\
'''Theo''': Sleep? Who can sleep?
** [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2012-09-06 Kevyn's reaction]] to Para telling him that Tagii [[spoiler: didn't plant the code causing the Gavs' mutations, she was jamming it.]]
** [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2007-02-05 Another literal reaction.]] Quite reasonable, when the man in question is in the habit of keeping antimatter stored next to his head.
** [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2014-02-07 Following this slightly verbose version from Tagii,]] [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2014-02-08 Ennesby improvises the best response he can while giving some context.]]
* OminousLatinChanting: Ennesby sets an army of repair drones to [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2009-10-13 singing "O Fortuna."]]
** To the tune of [[EarWorm "Ay, macarena"]] it seems.
** He uses the macarena [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2009-10-14 here]], but "[[TranslationTrainWreck retranslated]]" it to [[InvokedTrope avoid it infecting anyone else]].
--->'''Burana-bots: [[TranslationTrainWreck OY VEY, MACARONI!]]'''\\
'''Ennesby:''' This one's kind of catchy. Especially if you have arms to do the moves with.
* [[TheTapeKnewYouWouldSayThat The Omnipotent AI Knew You Would Do That]]: Petey engineers many apparently coincidental events, eventually admitting to it [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2013-02-09 here]]:
--->'''Theo:''' So events like the recent chain of tiny manipulations that [[spoiler:destroyed Pi's explosives]] won't constantly be shattering my illusions of free agency?\\
'''Petey:''' No one else figured that out. You're very astute.\\
'''Theo:''' Oh no. You '''''knew''''' we'd be having this conversation.\\
'''Petey:''' Very, '''''very,''''' astute.
* OnlyInItForTheMoney: It ''is'' about a band of mercs, after all - [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2007-06-06 but even they won't agree to some things]].
* OnThree: There is the occasion when a sniper has Schlock in his sights, while Schlock had just fired some grenades at the target. While the sniper tries to get an eye shot, Schlock holds up his fingers to count down from three to zero (''ground'' zero) since his targeting computer told him how long it'll take the grenades to reach their target.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: When Ennesby, the resident PungeonMaster ''fails'' to deliver a fart joke after learning that an ancient (and very insane) space station AI's name translates to "Broken Wind", Tagon realizes [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2014-02-15 just how bad the situation really is]].
* OtherMeAnnoysMe: Amorphs [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2009-05-21 ran into]] a problem with [[RealityIsUnrealistic TV version of them]]:
-->'''Schlock''': The TV-me is putting me-me out of a job. [...] Maybe we can kill another TV network. Is there still money in that?
* OrwellianRetcon: "The Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries" used to be "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Pirates," and the "maxims" referred to as "rules" (with the explanation that each "habit" comprised several "rules"). Eventually, the publishers of the real "Seven Habits..." caught wind and made him change it. ("Eventually" here defined as "after over eight years, when the joke had already long since undergone MemeticMutation...") To soften the blow however, Howard Tayler admitted he was glad for the excuse to make the change, not least because the new title could be used for TheMerch.
* OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions: {{Averted}}; religion is alive and well among many different cultures, and the Tagon's Toughs have their own chaplain (Reverend Theo). In his [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2000-11-17 first appearance]], Howard Tayler included an editor's note stating that this trope is what's "foolishly optimistic," not religion.
* OutlawTown: The starport and orbital station of Ghanj-rho are havens for smugglers, pirates, and slavers. It's also where Tagon's Toughs hired most of their non-Terran troops, and it's Sergeant Schlock's homeworld (though he was one of the "primitive natives" and left years earlier as a slave).
* OutrunTheFireball: Averted. Major Charper's shuttle ''fails'' to [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2005-06-12 outrun this particular (nuclear) fireball.]] [[spoiler:Don't worry, he survives.]]
* OverusedRunningGag: InUniverse, this is what Tagon considers Shodan's continuing to bring up the accident during the Mall Cop Command arc where Tagon got [[EyeScream a fork stuck in his eye]].
-->'''Tagon''': Clever, but I bet a professional comedian would have moved on to new material by now.
* OverlyPreparedGag: One of the ships the company gets was christened the "Serial Peacemaker."
-->'''Ennesby:''' Everyone stand by to pour some Serial Peacemaker into a big bowl of "no-problem."\\
'''Tagon:''' How long have you been waiting to use that stupid "Cereal" pun?\\
'''Ennesby:''' Ever since you let me name the ship, sir.
* PaintingTheMedium: Characters routinely lean on or brace themselves against panel borders.
* PeelingPotatoes: parodied [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2000-09-02 here]].
* PeopleJars: At one point, the author gets away with a full-frontal nude shot of Elf in a regeneration tank by making her too nude to have ''skin''. "I'm as naked as the day I was born. And then some."
* PerpetualPoverty:
** However many times the Toughs get paid, they'll be struggling to make next paycheck before you know it.
--->'''Tagon:''' This number looked a lot bigger before I started the payroll.
** Interestingly enough, it was {{averted}} once. And then that aversion was {{deconstruct|ion}}ed, as [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2008-03-16 a large fraction of the mercenaries took their new-found wealth and retired.]]
* PerpetualStorm: Book 14, "Broken Wind", features a planet-sized gigahabitat that rotates to provide gravity. The resulting coriolis force has produced a permanent "sideways hurricane" in one part of the habitat, when a pair of baffle walls designed to prevent just that are intentionally knocked down.
* PerfectlyCromulentWord: Ennesby has a habit of doing this. Words, phrases, quips, and puns. [[PungeonMaster Ye gads, the puns]]...
-->'''Schlock:''' Ennesby gave me a shorter word to say all that, Sir. 'Assassineated'.\\
'''Tagon:''' Ennesby needs to stop inventing words.
* PhraseCatcher: Schlock's faster than he looks. ''Finally'' lampshaded:
-->'''[[VillainOfTheWeek Pau]]:''' Don't worry about me! Worry about that turd-tentacled monster! He's faster than he -\\
'''Schlock:''' [[NeverHeardThatOneBefore Say "Looks."]]
* Mohs/PhysicsPlus: Gravity manipulation (but not ''generation'' -- ships are built around spheres of neutronium as sources of gravity to manipulate), a process which is as well developed as electronics, and playing the result to its natural conclusions; ubiquitous {{flight}}, DeflectorShields, [[OurWormholesAreDifferent traversable wormholes]] (one example which {{Justifie|dTrope}}s a TimeTravel storyline), and [[TeleportersAndTransporters quantum teleportation]]. Some find the easy nanotechnology a bit of a stretch.
* PlasmaCannon: Schlock's signature BHG-9000 plasguns, plural because they tend to explode at the drop of a hat.
* PopulationControl: Earth has a gene pool protection act that required Doctor Bunnigus's parents to have a DesignerBaby.
* PortalNetwork: with an ''incredibly'' dark secret; [[spoiler:It [[CloningBlues copies]] everyone who uses it each time they use it. The Gatekeepers then interrogate the copies and kill them. They know everything about everybody without anyone's knowledge. [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2006-04-05 Seven million people every minute]]. [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2006-04-06 For hundreds of thousands of years.]] Technically, [[WellIntentionedExtremist they meant well]] - [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2005-07-10 the Pa'anuri made it clear]] that either the Gatekeepers would prevent the use of TeleportersAndTransporters or they'd kill the Milky Way Galaxy.]]
* PoweredArmor: Besides the standard stuff, the Toughs are equipped with low-profile (to the point of invisibility) armor built into their uniforms that helps diffuse energy weapons and lets them ''fly.''
* ThePowerOfFriendship: A twisted sort of application of the trope. The Toughs can't count on their allies, because they're mercenaries and your allies might be the guys you're hired to kill tomorrow; they can't count on any of their respective home governments, for pretty much the same reason; they certainly can't count on their employers, who are frequently known to try to backstab the Toughs since, well, they hired a band of mercenaries to begin with, so why not add "screwing over those who make a living with violence"? But they know they can count on their ''friends'' (which, admittedly, is usually limited to "each other", but the sentiment is there).
* PrivateMilitaryContractors: The Toughs and much of their competition that isn't a star nation's military.
* ProjectedMan: most of the shipboard [=AIs=]; also, Ennesby before he joined the crew and got a body of sorts.
* ProperlyParanoid:
** Pi's paranoid delusions are sometimes right on the money.
*** First, [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2008-06-08 there's the incident with a grav-catcher]]. As the LemonyNarrator puts it, "It's a good thing he's not in therapy. This would undo months of progress."
*** And it takes someone as crazy as him to think of [[spoiler: hyperspace cannons and zombie plagues.]]
--->'''Pi''': ''But the plan is absurd. Suborning Gavcorps would be terribly expensive, and no military will admit to having genocidal nanotech on hand...''
** Karl Tagon's response to seeing [[spoiler: Kaff Tagon's nanite-riddled girlfriend]] start having a seizure - put his suit-helmet up in case of bio-weaponry. [[spoiler: His wife]] wasn't so lucky...
* PsychicPowers: It is stated early on by the narrator that someone with "psychic sight" can see the bullet destined to kill someone. This is dropped in favor of harder sci-fi, but psychic powers such as (radio) telepathy get referenced every once in a while.
** There's an in-universe TV show called ''Psychic Suzie''. She's [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2006-04-09 quite unconventional]], for a medium.
* PsychoticManchild: Probably the best description of Schlock's attitude. He does show care and loyalty to his friends despite his status as a sociopath, but enjoys fighting too much to care about the blazing hot maimery he spews from his plasma cannon on anyone but his friends.
* PunctuationShaker:
** The F'Sherl-Ganni typically have ''three'' apostrophes in their names
** And they call a certain enemy the Paan'uri, or is it Paa'nuri, or Pa'anuri?
* PungeonMaster: Ennesby, being an entertainment AI, used a databank of puns across 50 languages.
* QuoteToQuoteCombat: A notable [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2009-12-23 exchange]] occurs after LOTA [[ItMakesSenseInContext teraports New Credomar out of the cannon barrel]].
-->'''Kevyn:''' If you say "I told you so," I get to say "my sarcasm is more accurate than your paranoia."\\
'''Ennesby:''' That's fair.
----
