Line #195 DarthWiki/QuadrantNine


1	->''"The world is ruled by mad men, Alec."''
2	- Cortex
3
4	Quadrant 9 is a science fiction series and at times a genre deconstruction of superheroism. The series follows the various exploits of a group of four (or a quadrant of) teenage 'professional defenders' who work for the Los Angeles branch of The Association. 'The team' consists of:
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6
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8	Alec Flint
9
10	The Protagonist. A priorly homeless sixteen year old ex con artist and DeadpanSnarker with a liking for complex chemistry and horror literature. He is also a mutant with the ability of 'Atomic-Molecular Shifting'. Or 'morphing/shifting' as he prefers to call it, which gives him the ability to change things (including himself) into any compound or element he likes. It also gives him unusual pigmentation and most people an excuse to be discriminatory towards him.
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12
13
14	Lucy Connors
15
16	A sixteen year old time traveller who refuses to give away any information about her past for fear of destroying the space time continuum. As a result of her evolution she is able to fly, use [[MindOverMatter telekinesis]] and shoot bolts of energy at people. Her answer to any and all problems is violence and she tends to dish out graphic and violent threats that sound dissonant compared to her physique and voice. [[CreepyMonotone She has trouble]] [[EmotionlessGirl expressing her emotions.]]
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18
19
20	Irina Sylva
21
22	An extreme NiceGirl with a love for animals, nature and pretty much everything else. She is an Erthan, a species reincarnated by Mother Nature to protect the Earth in exchange for the Earth protecting them. By way of nature powers. It is part of Erthan culture to be very, [[AllLovingHero very]] nice to people, however, she is nice even by Erthan standards. She is also naive even by Erthan standards and a [[WideEyedIdealist little too straight laced]] [[WrongGenreSavvy for the world she lives in.]]
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24
25
26	F. AKA Fhugonphipadenbridansectorxailavian Briachtconta
27
28	F is an alien rebel from the planet Khoden, which is considered to be one of the most backwards planets in the Inter-Planetary League- mostly because no one knows anything about it thanks to the strict laws that prevent leaving. F, being the free spirit he is, decided to leave for Earth, having learnt English through [[AliensStealCable radio broadcasts]] and some stolen dictionaries [[StrangeSyntaxSpeaker (very, very badly).]] He has a fairly good sense of humour. He is a bit of a tech whiz.
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31
32	[[folder: Tropes Included In This Work:]]
33
34	AccentUponTheWrongSyllable: F does this. Orron also does, but it's less noticable.
35
36	ActionInsuranceGag: When Lucy blows up a door with her powers, Alec asks if the insurance covers it.
37
38	ActionGirl: It's easier to list the non action girls in the series: Flora, Nancy, Jennifer and Charlie.
39
40	ActionGirlfriend: Most of the female characters in a relationship.
41
42	AddedAlliterativeAppeal: The '''L'''eague of '''L'''egitimate Evil.
43
44
45	-Dr Taylor's son, Brett [[spoiler: died in a science research accident, that he was heavily involved in]], at fourteen. Also the rest of the children being tested on in general.
46
47	-During the same episode as the events above, three children are kidnapped from an airport when they get separated from their parents. They'd been gone for under twenty minutes. This doubles as ParanoiaFuel for families going on holiday.
48
49	-[[spoiler: Violet's]] death, murdered by a serial killer at twelve.
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51	-[[spoiler: Alec's psychologist, Flora, working for Cortex and giving him his notes (which contain what he considers compromising details of his personal life).]] Doubles as ParanoiaFuel.
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53	-Barry's wife was [[spoiler: shot dead]] when she was pregnant with their first child.
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55	-CRISIS took 200 children at an elementary school hostage, twelve of them escaped and the rest were [[spoiler: believed dead for the greater part of the plot arc. It's not until it's nearly resolved that they're revealed to be alive and about to be sold to mutant traffickers.]]
56
57	-In the future, numbers are thin and Lucy at least was in the army from age four. She saw a close friend her age die at seven.
58
59	AI: Carl is one.
60
61	AlasPoorVillain: [[spoiler: You can't help but feel a little bit sorry for Alec's dad after he shows up at the door in season 2, clearly feeling very guilty about what happened six years ago, says he's been rehabillitated and tries to talk to Alec, and Alec slams the door in his face. Then again later on when we learn he [[AteHisGun shot himself]] and no one attended his funeral.]]
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63	AmazingTechnicolourPopulation: The mutants all have strangely coloured skin, eyes and hair due to whatever mutated them messing with their DNA.
64
65	AmbiguousDisorder: Webmaster, although he appears to be on the autistic spectrum.
66
67	AnIcePerson: The Chillers.
68
69	ArchEnemy: Cortex to Alec, Leta to Lucy, Hanza to F.
70
71	AntiHero: Lucy, Alec. Although far more notably Lucy.
72
73	AntiVillain: Webmaster is a seventeen year old boy with a rather warped understanding who wants to help humanity get a clean slate. Unfortunately, his plan involves creating a Matrix-style virtual reality and enforcing mass amnesia for his 'good ends'.
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75	ApologizesALot: Alec as a child. He apologizes just about every two seconds in the episode concerning his DarkAndTroubledPast. He apologizes a fair bit as a teen too.
76
77	AteHisGun: [[spoiler: Alec's dad does this off screen at some point between seasons two and three.]]
78
79	Badass: Lucy most notably. Alec, F, Barry and Louise also fall under this trope.
80
81	BadassBookworm: Shift can recite the periodic table. Forwards, backwards and in alphabetical order. He also reads a lot. This does not stop him from single handedly destroying a building in order to save his friend. Cortex is also this along with WickedCultured.
82
83	BadassInDistress: Happens on occasion. Most notably in Home Court Advantage where Alec almost dies and in Inaccurate Pegging where F is nearly executed.
84
85	BattleCouple: Lucy and Alec, F and Zip on occasion.
86
87	BewareTheNiceOnes: When possessed by Mother Nature, Irina nearly takes down a paper factory single-handedly. Keeping in mind the possession wasn't giving her any special abilities besides her normal powers, she could have done that normally if she'd have wanted to. She also quickly disposes of an illusion in the maze and several other non-living things.
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89	BerserkButton: Most characters have one or two.
90
91	Don't hurt children in front of Alec, particularly if said child is Raz Blythe. On a lesser note, don't call him a child/immature/imply he is anything other than an adult.
92
93	Don't steal Irina's sarong or nearly kill pandas (or any other endangered species) (or any animal at all.)
94
95	Don't threaten F's friends or freedom.
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97	Don't lie to or betray Lucy. Also, don't threaten her friends. DON'T call her cute (or short. Or flatchested).
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99	Don't call Raz a wimp.
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101	Don't touch Casper or Louise unless you want the other to beat you up.
102
103	BitterAlmonds: One of Alec's warnings to the team before eating anything the opposition gives you.
104
105	BluntYes:
106	->Man: Are you talking back to me?!
107	->Zip: Yes.
108
109	BraidsOfAction: Lucy has one sometimes.
110
111	BrotherSisterTeam: Casper and Louise.
112
113	ButtMonkey: Badman, of the entire supervillain/hero community. The League of Legitimate Evil, too.
114
115	CardCarryingVillain: Bad Man.
116
117	CatchPhrase:
118	* F:
119	->"Xanthias bleerdischt!"
120	->"Flutzichg!"
121	* Mr Cool:
122	->"ICE to see you!"
123	->"Geddit? X as in Y?"
124
125	CasanovaWannabe: Orron. In spades.
126
127	CasualKink: Orron and his girlfriend Sophie are rather casually into a bit of BDSM.
128
129	CerebusRollercoaster: The series has a habit of going from light hearted slice of life-esque episodes to completely and utterly ''depressing'' pretty quickly.
130
131	CharacterDevelopment: Lucy changes from being an EmotionlessGirl to letting her true personality show and comes to terms with showing emotions and having real relationships with people. Raz also undergoes a fair bit of character development as he learns to be more independent. These are the more notable examples, but others will be in the characters section.
132
133	CharacterTics: Orron's "eyebrows", Alec faceplams quite regularly and also scratches his wrists when he's anxious, Lucy pinches the bridge of her nose when she's annoyed, Zip teleports around rapidly when excited and clicks her fingers repeatedly whilst going "ummmmmm..." when remembering something, usually followed by "AHA! Yes,[...]" and Irina twirls/plays with her hair a lot, particularly when worried.
134
135	ColorCodedForYourConvenience: The Association is typically blue whereas The Utopia League is usually white in colour scheme.
136
137	ColorCodedCharacters: Alec (Green), Lucy (Blue), Irina (Orange), F (Red).
138
139	CutenessProximity: Irina every time she sees an animal. Lucy and Alec with cats and dogs respectively.
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141	DeadGuyPuppet: Leta's charming arsenal.
142
143	DeadpanSnarker: Lots of people- most notably Alec, Carl, and Louise.
144
145	DeathByOriginStory: Alec's mum, Barry's wife, [[spoiler: Brett Taylor]] and F's granddad. Also every Erthan, considering they are all magical reincarnates.
146
147	DefensiveWhat:
148	->Lucy: I don't really agree with [animal testing] either. I mean, there are plenty of murderers and rapists. (beat) ... What?
149
150	DrowningMySorrows: Alec's father, Kendall Flint, does this continuously for at least a decade after his wife dies, becoming an alcoholic living in a MessOfWoe consisting of bottles all over the floor of the house. PlayedForLaughs when Alec attempts this during season 1.
151	-> Shift: I'm sixteen, what's the strongest thing you can sell me?
152	-> Barman: Coffee.
153
154	DumbMuscle: Brute isn't the most intelligent of people, though he has accomplished some rather notable feats of strength.
155
156	-> Brute: When I was a kid I fell into the lion cage at the zoo. You know what happened? ''I'' mauled '''IT!'''
157	-> Alec: Woah.
158	-> Irina: [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Poor lion...]]
159	-> Alec: That's not the issue here!
160
161	DysfunctionJunction: If they have more than three minutes of screen time and they're not traumatized or dead at the start, expect them to be so by the end of the series.
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163	EmotionlessGirl: Lucy starts off as one until she realizes she no longer needs to repress her emotions like in the army.
164
165	EvilBrit: Subverted with Cortex- his accent is fake, he pulls it to 'avoid recognition in public' (or to sound smart, as Alec believes).
166
167	EvilIsPetty: Bad Man, the League of Legitimate Evil. Cortex doesn't shy away from doing this on top of his sadistic tenancies.
168
169	ExactWords: Happens on occasion. Cortex enjoys this trope and insists he never lies. For example, he promises Shift he didn't drug the tea he gave him and agrees to drink from the same pot. Only after Alec gets a sudden dizzy spell does he mention he never said anything about the two saches of 'sugar' he gave to him.
170
171	-> Alec: You said you didn't put anything in it!
172	-> Cortex: I didn't. I suppose it did look quite a lot like sugar, so I can see where the misunderstanding happened.
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174	FakeBrit: InUniverse example with Cortex.
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176	FalseFriend: [[spoiler: Flora to Alec, a psychologist he sees who gives all his notes and sensitive information about his mental state to Cortex.]]
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178	FiveManBand:
179
180	Alec- TheLeader (a type 2) / TheSmartGuy
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182	Lucy- [[TheBigGuy The Big Gal]]
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184	F- TheLancer
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186	Irina- TheHeart
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188	Carl- TeamPet
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190	Orron- TheSixthRanger
191
192	FourPhilosophyEnsemble:
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194	Lucy- The Cynic
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196	Alec- The Realist
197
198	Irina- The Optimist
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200	F- The Apathetic
201
202	FlatWhat: Happens a few times.
203
204	FlippingTheBird: On multiple occasions. F sometimes rotates his open palms around one and other before sticking his index finger out, which is apparently the Khodanian equivalent. He also uses the original after mistaking it as a driving signal a la indicating, etc.
205
206	FriendlessBackground: Irina and Alec. Alec's justifies his nerdiness in that he never had anything else to do other than read all the books in the house as a child. By the age of eleven, he had already far surpassed the other students his age. Irina's justifies her tendancy to push herself on people sometimes.
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208	GenkiGirl: Zip.
209
210	GetARoom: Orron tells Alec and Lucy to get a room because they're having a somewhat romantic conversation. Alec complains that he didn't even touch her.
211
212	GoKartingWithBowser: Irina and Razor have coffee afternoons and sleepovers, which Lucy also gets involved in sometimes. To be fair, Razor isn't the most formidable of villainesses.
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214	GreenThumb: Irina and the Erthans.
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216	GunFu: Zip's preferred fighting style.
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218	HardDrinkingPartyGirl: Louise and Lucy.
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220	HoldMyGlasses:
221	->Alec: Hold my textbooks.
222
223	INeedAFreakingDrink: Louise has a tenancy to do this despite being underage in America.
224	-> Louise: It's legal where I come from! Downs a shot
225
226	IResembleThatRemark: During the tourist shop scene in Crescent Skies, Irina tells Alec he's tight and this happens:
227	->Lucy: I wouldn't call the way you "fixed", in truly massive quotation marks, the shower very responsible.
228	->Alec: ... You just stole my line. Also, I am ''not'' paying that much for some guy to come in and fix stuff for me. I'll just follow the manual. It's just reading. I can do reading.
229	->Lucy: You didn't buy a manual.
230	->Alec: It was like ten dollars!
231
232	KidAmidTheChaos: Lucy tells one to annihilate his enemies during an alien invasion. Irina steps in shortly afterwards.
233
234	KilledOffScreen: [[spoiler: Kendall Flint.]]
235
236	KillerRabbit: One of the animals on Khoden is an extremely cute animal that turns into a giant beast with huge teeth upon Irina cooing over it and fussing it. She carries on stroking it anyway.
237
238	KubrickStare: Lucy uses this just before she breaks all the glass windows in the museum and starts throwing katakanas among other things. Also used by Alec and accompanied by folded arms and finger drumming after he immediately escapes the [[StrappedToAnOperatingTable operating table he was strapped to]] using his powers [[FailedASpotCheck because Quiver didn't realise he could use his ability to turn into air to escape.]]
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240	LackOfEmpathy: Lee and Cortex. Lucy to a ''much'' lesser extent, although at least she has a FreudianExcuse.
241
242	LethalChef: Lucy once cooked dinner. It involved raw meat and she made it without the knowledge that they hadn't evolved to the point where they could eat raw meat, thus making everyone ill.
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244	LikeASonToMe: Barry and the quadrant have this relationship with each other on account of Punch's wife being shot dead while pregnant and none of them having any real parental figures available.
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246	LittleMissBadass: Lucy is considered to be this by many other people. Much to her dismay.
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248	LoveableRogue: Casper, Louise, Zip, Jackie and Raz. Formerly Alec.
249
250	ManipulativeBastard: Cortex is a sadistic man who enjoys psychologically torturing people ForTheEvulz. In his own words, 'I simply enjoy watching people snap'.
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252	MaternalDeathBlameTheChild: This messed [[spoiler: Alec]] up royally, considering his dad never told him his mum died in ''childbirth'', he just continually told him he killed her and refused to explain how, leading him to believe he'd somehow murdered his mother as a child and didn't remember.
253
254	MenCantKeepHouse: Averted and played straight. Alec did all of the housework as a child since his dad was too busy being [[spoiler: drunk and mentally unstable]], so he knows how to cook. He has a habit of putting drinks on coasters, etc, which Lucy teases him about. Barry also seems to manage fine living by himself, however, Orron is allegedly terrible at anything domestic.
255
256	MoralityKitchenSink
257
258	MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate: Cortex has one in psychology. Alec lampshades this while talking to Irina about why he doesn't like therapists/counsellors/psychologists.
259
260	NerdGlasses: Averted and inverted. Lucy, one of the [[BookDumb least intellectual characters in the show]] needs reading glasses for her dyslexia. Neither Alec nor Webmaster wear glasses.
261
262	->Alec: Oh, I don't know, [[DeadpanSnarker maybe it's because being smart isn't an eye disorder?]]
263
264	NiceGirl: Irina is one, as is Violet.
265
266	NoSocialSkills: Lucy, due to her past as a ChildSoldier in the Dystopia.
267
268	NotWearingTights: Webmaster refuses to because he thinks it's silly. The Association don't because this as a whole is associated with criminals and disguises in universe.
269
270	NWordPrivileges: Only mutants are allowed to say "mut", apparently.
271	- Alec: [[DoubleStandard It's called a double standard.]]
272
273	OlderThanTheyLook: Lucy is sixteen. Being five foot two and having a somewhat infantile face has a tenancy to make people think she's twelve or so. And get Alec accused of having a lolita fetish. Neither take kindly to those thoughts.
274
275	OriginsEpisode: Everyone on the team and the Mirage.
276
277	PokeThePoodle: Bad Man lives this trope. The League of Legitimate evil are no strangers to it. Irina's threats to the mech in the zoo consist of this- she threatens to key his car, [[MattressTagGag rip the tag off his mattress]] and leave his taps running.
278
279	-> Bad Man: But... But I stole complimentary mints from a restaurant and tipped the waitress five dollars in cents! Why don't you think I'm evil?!
280
281	PowerIncontinence: Raz has this so badly he can't actually use his powers unless it's by accident, thus accidentally sapping all of the electricity out of the area and having random electricity shooting out of his hands whenever he gets scared until he calms down. Until later on in the series, where he gets control of them, much to Sterilant's surprise.
282
283	PublicExecution: Basically all the capital punishment on Khoden.
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285	PungeonMaster: All of The Chillers, most notably Mr Cool, much to the annoyance of everyone else.
286
287	QuirkyCurls: Zip.
288
289	RapidFireNo: On several occasions.
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291
292
293	RobotBuddy: Carl.
294
295	SlashedThroat: [[spoiler: Violet]]
296
297	SmartPeopleWearGlasses: Played straight with Evan, averted with Alec, Webmaster, Cortex and basically any other "intellegent type" characters in the show.
298
299	StepfordSnarker: [[spoiler: Alec]] snarks mostly because he just is that way but also to cover up his emotional instability.
300
301	StrangeSyntaxSpeaker: F.
302
303	ShockAndAwe: Raz's powers.
304
305	ShoutOut: Alec makes many to various Stephen King novels, which nobody else understands. The more obvious ones are his numerous references to Carrie when prom comes around (since Lucy is a telekinetic) and when talking about Lucy's powers in general and when he starts talking about Misery when Dr Phillips recommends reading something more uplifting. Irina makes references to a few musicals from time to time. F also makes a Dracula reference when he puts on a cape in a gift shop.
306	-> Speedbuzz: Look! I am vampire! Ah-ah-ah-ah!
307
308	SnarkToSnarkCombat: Cortex and Alec. [[PunctuatedForEmphasis Every. Time. They see each other.]] Occasionally Alec and Carl when left alone long enough.
309
310	SophisticatedAsHell: Carl and occasionally Alec. Some of Cortex's dialogue falls into this and F's can when he mixes different levels of formality without knowing.
311
312	SorryIFellOnYourFist: Alec as a child on numerous occasions.
313
314	SorryThatImDying: [[spoiler: Alec.]]
315
316	StatusQuoIsGod: [[spoiler: Lucy's ressurection due to the time loop,]] and a more minor example with Alec cutting the blond streak out of his hair after Home Court Advantage after eight hours or so of exposure to metar.
317
318	SuperheroSchool: There is one in the Association which anyone under eighteen must attend.
319
320	-> Alec: Why don't we just go to public school?
321
322	-> Supervisor: Why don't we just send hormonal teenagers with super powers to public school?
323
324	SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: It takes a fairly long time for sedatives administered through food or drink to work. Also, a few hours after [[spoiler: coming back from the dead]], Alec starts prodding his torso, stating that he signed an organ donor card. Luckily, his organs are not compatible due to his mutation.
325
326	SwissArmySuperPower: Alec's powers would be useless if he weren't an extreme chemistry nerd.
327
328	TeamMom: Irina and to an extent Louise.
329
330	TeamSpirit: Discussed and downplayed. Played for laughs/exaggerated in a manner of speaking when Alec mentions it in his failing speech and everyone starts cheering/hugging/fist bumping/ hi fiving before he can explain that not ''everything'' depends on teamwork and they all ignore him when he tries. He leaves the room shortly afterwards.
331
332	TeethClenchedTeamWork: Cortex offers to open doors for Alec with his Utopia League card, Alec begrugingly accepts and Cortex gladly takes the opportunity to spend the rest of the episode being a prick towards Alec.
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334	TermsOfEndangerment: Plenty of characters use the "buddy" variant. Cortex uses various forms of "child" towards younger people, but tends towards inappropriate FirstNameBasis with older teens or adults.
335
336	TheChainsOfCommanding: A major conflict in the CRISIS plot arc.
337
338	ThereAreNoPsychologists: Averted. Alec sees two, [[spoiler: one of which is working for Cortex, the other which isn't the most helpful but at least legitimate.]]
339
340	ThePowerOfFriendship: Deconstructed, played for laughs, conversed, discussed and lampshaded.
341
342	TheRunaway: Alec is a type 2. Louise was trying to get a better life for her and her brother, since their mum was a neglective deadbeat.
343
344	TookALevelInBadass: Raz takes a rather drastic one in "Social Science". He was a somewhat cowardly child who couldn't use his powers unless it was by accident. By the end of the episode, he completely pwns an entire anti mutant movement. Irina also takes one after [[spoiler: Violet]] is killed.
345
346	UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: The Utopia League want to create a 'utopia' which involves removing all law, order and money. Essentially, a world of every man for himself. Webmaster also wants to create a utopia, his being slightly more orthodox in that he believes erasing everyone's memories of the past would eradicate grudges and mean everyone would get along- however, it would never work in reality.
347
348	WestCoastTeam: The Association has lots of branches. Including, but not limited to, a [[AnimeLand Tokyo division filled with ninjas, mechs and magical girls]].
349
350	WickedCultured: Cortex.
351
352	WiseBeyondTheirYears: Louise in the past. Although she is eighteen during the series in the flashback episode she is seen at 13 basically being Casper's guardian.
353
354	WithDueRespect: A few people say it, mostly directed at Supervisor.
355
356	WouldntHurtAChild: Averted and completely kicked to the kerb. Probably because there are quite a few cast members still in their preteens or children.
357
358	YouthfulFreckles: Zip has them. This makes sense since she was raised on a farm in California- lots of sun.
359
360	[[/folder]]
361
362	'''''CHARACTERS'''''
363
364	''Spoilers are unmarked since the backstories of the characters are frequently plot points but obviously are a very big part of the character themselves.''
365
366	[[folder:Alec Flint]]
367
368	AbusiveParents: Kendall Flint is not a good parent. At all.
369
370	ApologisesALot: As a child, but still apologises a fair bit as a six/seventeen year old, often about things that aren't his fault. [[SorryIFellOnYourFist Like most of the things he was apologising about before.]]
371
372	Badass: He is force to reckon with when properly provoked.
373
374	BadassBookworm: He is frequently seen reading, speaks fluent nerd and can recite the periodic table in three different ways. His first attempt at small talk in the series has him asking Lucy if she likes atomic theory.
375
376	BadassTeacher: Becomes one at the Association, teaching Biology and Chemistry (no surprises there.)
377
378	BrokenSmile: Accompanied by a small, hollow fake laugh when he breaks down.
379
380	CallingTheOldManOut: When his dad shows up uninvited having not spoken to him in six years and Alec now knows what actually happened to his mum, he is not impressed.
381
382	CannotSpitItOut: He spends about twenty seconds repeating "I- do you- would you- uh- heh- would you like to um...- you know, uh- uh. Uh. Like-" when attempting to ask Lucy out.
383
384	CantHoldHisLiquor: Manages to get a hangover after drinking half a cider. [[HardDrinkingPartyGirl Keeping in mind Lucy had nearly a whole crate of beer,]] is younger than him, is smaller than him, is female, and is completely fine, he questions how this is biologically possible.
385
386	Claustrophobia: Justified, since his father locked him in the hall closet on multiple occasions. Alec mentions he was locked in there for nearly three days straight at least once
387
388	CrushBlush: Gets one after Orron notices that he likes Lucy.
389
390	EnragedByIdiocy: Mostly when people ignore blatant evidence. He gets incredibly frustrated with Mary and Isaac, two classmates who still don't believe in evolution, spend two seasons arguing with him about it, then, when it's scientifically proven, claim it was God's plan all along. A similar scenario happens when he listens to a Texan mayor laugh at the idea of evolution and give lots of false evidence against it. He bites his tongue, but the look on his face says it all.
391
392	-> Mary: But evolution's just a theory, right?
393	-> Alec: Gravity's just a theory! Are you afraid we're all going to fall off the Earth?!
394
395	DarkAndTroubledPast: ''Oh, boy.'' Kendall Flint was always mentally unstable until one December night in Alaska the house was completely snowed in and his wife, Diane was giving birth with no one who knew how to deliver a baby and no way of getting to the hospital. She died giving birth, and Kendall named the child the first name he saw upon opening a phone directory, Alec. He "raised" the kid blaming him for Diane's death, and thus Shift's childhood was filled with ambiguous accusations of killing his mother which he remembered nothing of and his father's violent refusal to give details about the event. (Literally violent.) His dad was typically drunk, out of it on pills, or both. Alec reports him taking his sleeping pills with vodka and rationing the heating to pay for his drinking habit. The whole house was always filled with broken glass and empty bottles that Kendall couldn't be bothered to clean up, which Alec accidentally stepped on. Then purposely stepped on. Then cut himself with whatever sharp objects he could find in order to try and take away some of the guilt. Considering his father would beat him if he had done something "wrong", this was the only way he knew how to deal with guilt. Shift also says that he was often locked in the hall closet, once for nearly three days. He also briefly looked after a stray dog, which he named Hawking. His dad shot it when he talked to a teacher about the situation at home and threatened to shoot him if he did it again. He ran away when he was eleven, lived on the streets for a few months and got picked up by some people who were testing genetic engineering program (they were targeting runaways and airports because their was less risk of being caught.) After this, he stayed with the other children, who later became The Mirage. After spending two years with The Mirage, a con goes wrong and he ends up being thrown out onto a road in the middle of Los Anglese because his captors thought he was dead. He healed himself with his powers and spent the next two years homeless until the story takes place. He has a guilt complex until he finds out what actually happened to his mum. Then he gets even more angry with his dad.
396
397	DeadpanSnarker: Is he ever. Especially when faced with an enemy or captured.
398
399	FriendToAllChildren: He believes children should be innocent, and gets [[BerserkButton extremely irritated]] with people who [[WouldHurtAChild try to do them harm.]]
400
401	%%HeroicBSOD: When Lucy dies.
402
403	JadeColoredGlasses: Alec is rather cynical, although he becomes less so over the course of the series. He never goes full wide-eyed idealist again, he just becomes less suspicous of people being nice to him, etc.
404
405	KryptoniteFactor: Metar or Metar Digroveide. (Mtr / Mtr2Gr). All mutants have this. It is gaseous at room temperature but when mixed with Groveium it becomes liquid at room temperature. It is rather expensive due to coming from a different planet. The explanation behind it is that it turns the mutant's antibodies against their mutated cells, then to their actual cells. Eventually, they die from their antibodies destorying their lungs, heart or brain. Depending on how old/heavy you are, how long this takes varies. The average adult male's body weight would take 9 hours for this process to complete, and Alec states it feels like burning from the inside. The entire time. Ouch. The effects are essentially temporary power loss and gradually other side effects like the inablity to walk and loss of consciousness. It can remove powers completely just before a person dies. When Shift is exposed to it during "Home Court Advantage" by eight hours a lock of his hair has turned blond again, he's shaking violently, hallucinating and he isn't forming coherent sentences. (Considering he would take about eight and a half hours to die from it because of his smaller build, this isn't surprising.)
406
407	KryptoniteIsEverywhere: Lots of people seem to have metar in some way shape or form. Alec even lampshades this.
408
409	-> Alec: I thought it was supposed to be expensive.
410
411	LeaveMeAlone: Said word for word and implied multiple times.
412
413	LuminescentBlush: Gets one when talking about romance or embarrassed.
414
415	MadnessMantra: ''"I'mfineI'mfineI'mfineI'mfine..."''
416
417	OmnidisciplinaryScientist: Averted. His field of expertise is chemistry. Although he is in top set for the other two as well, this is only top set in high school and by no means "expert level". He eventually majors in chemistry and minors in biology at college.
418
419	OnlySaneMan: He considers himself this within the Quadrant, because Lucy thinks every problem in the world can be solved with violence, F is eccentric and doesn't really understand Earth and Irina seems to believe she lives in a Disney film. He's probably right.
420
421	ScienceHero: His powers are called molecular-compoundual-atomic manipulation for a reason. The periodic table is like a list of his arsenal.
422
423	SociallyAwkwardHero: A vast quantity of his diaglogue is peppered with "uh" "um" "heh", etc and he becomes very awkward when talking to large groups of people or people he's recently met. Unless they're antagonising, in which case his sarcasm levels rise significantly.
424
425	SuperSerum: One of many organisations trying to get this on the black market tested this on him.
426
427	TheCynic: Downplayed. He grows out of this.
428
429	TheyreCalledPersonalIssuesForAReason: Said word for word by him on a number of occassions.
430
431	ThinkingOutLoud: Does this frequently due to spending two years prior to the series with no one to talk to. This is frequently lampshaded by other characters.
432
433	TrickedOutGloves: His right one has a lighter-type mechanism installed in it by F so he doesn't have to carry his lighter around in a pocket somewhere, since it was a bit of an issue in combat because A- it takes time, B- everyone knew when he was going to set fire to something, usually something explosive, and knew to move out of the way. He can trigger it by pressing his index finger to his thumb and pushing an interior button.
434
435
436	TenMinuteRetirement: He quits The Association briefly during the CRISIS arc while he thinks that 188 children got killed as a result of Supervisor giving them orders to infiltrate the base without rescuing them since it would risk comprimising the mission. He comes back after he realizes he can't do anything to help anyone while he's not in the Quadrant, by leaving he's only leaving Supervisor even more unopposed, and that Supervisor was right when he said the job would follow him until he died. Because in the space of just under a week about four different organisations try to recruit him, all of which are evil, insane, or a combination of the two. Basically, The Association was the lesser of two evils in his opinion.
437
438
439	[[/folder]]
440
441	[[folder:Irina Sylval]]
442
443	AllLovingHero: Understanding and tolerance are her peoples' core values.
444
445	->Lucy: [...] and she'll understand and tolerate the crap out of you. Trust me. It gets really annoying after a while.
446
447	ApologeticAttacker: Literally every time she hits someone she apologises.
448
449	BewareTheNiceOnes: Despite being a sweet teenage girl who likes cuddly things and giggles, she will not take kindly to people hurting her friends and/or innocents.
450
451	CuddleBug: Much to many other characters' annoyance.
452
453	%%GoodIsNotDumb
454
455	SillyRabbitCynicismIsForLosers: Is a very happy go lucky person and basically pulls this on any cynical character in an eight mile radius. It doesn't always work, but she tries.
456
457	WideEyedIdealist: Probably the most idealistic character in the series.
458
459	[[/folder]]
460
461	[[folder:"F" Briachtconta]]
462
463	AmusingAlien: Has his moments.
464
465	MustHaveCaffeine: Apparently drinks a LOT of energy drinks. Partially to do with running, partially to do with all nighters spent on the computer. The most notable instance of this is when he tries hacking into CRISIS. They have 5 different firewalls.
466	-> Irina: Uh, F? Are you sure it's healthy to have that much caffeine in your system at once?
467	-> F: No one can tell me it isn't!
468
469	Determinator: Never gives up on anything, no matter how trivial. This is to do with his culture. Where he comes from...
470	-> F: Not finishing a meal is sign of '''''WEAKNESS!'''''
471
472	[[/folder]]
473
474	[[folder:Lucy]]
475
476	GlowingEyesOfDoom: Invoked. She states that she doesn't have to do this to use her powers, she's just doing it to scare her enemies when it happens.
477
478	BadassAdorable: Much to her chargrin.
479
480	[[/folder]]
481
482	[[folder:Carolin "Zip" Hunt]]
483
484	ActionGirl: The biggest one in the Mirage with her love of guns.
485
486	%%GenkiGirl
487
488	GunFu: Her preferred fighting style.
489
490	%%QuirkyCurls
491
492	%%YouthfulFreckles
493
494	[[/folder]]

Context DarthWiki / QuadrantNine