Rise of the Galeforces (Fanfic)

Adam: I looked at Sarah, aka Stratogale. Stratogale... Gale-force winds... Galeforces. "Would Galeforces sound good?" I asked.

Kate: "Yeah, it does sound good," I said. "It does bring Stratogale to mind."

Sarah: I blushed, naturally. An entire team named after me? They shouldn't have. "Aww, thanks guys," I said. "But even if the team is named after me, I want this to be about all of us. And if Mr. Incredible is The Incredibles' leader, Splashdown should be The Galeforces' leader."

— Adam, Kate, and Sarah Squall, naming the new Super Family Team in town.

Violet and Dash Parr, sibling Supers in training, receive a call from Aperture Science and Technology about an important project downtown. What they find is a discovery that will change their lives forever — a cloning facility housing the late Supers from the Golden Era. Narrowly escaping from the lab with their lives, they meet one of the clones, Sarah Squall a.k.a. Stratogale, and help her reunite with the rest of her family.

And so starts an adventure of a lifetime. Together, the Parrs and the Squalls, as mutual allies, go through all kinds of good-time heroic action involving ticklish situations, no-holds-barred ass-kicking, and new bonds of friendship.

The Incredibles: Rise of the Galeforces is a fanfiction collab by Troper Geosternbergia, known on deviantArt as Shadow-Aspect, and fellow deviantArt compatriot georgemiser. It all started with a comment on one of Shadow-Aspect's deviations, but what blossomed was a fanfiction that explores the backstories and histories of a majority of the late Supers mentioned during the Incredibles movie far better than anything cranked out by the NSA. Although it was a relatively local fanfic, it speculates about what the past Supers' lives may have been like, and it certainly was more comprehensive than all of the NSA files on the bonus DVD put together.

Unfortunately, the fanfic was plagued by massive characterization issues, mostly stemming from a Gary Stu who was stated to be Sarah's brother, as well as a ton of confusing crossover elements. Geosternbergia's then-inflated ego did not help matters as said Gary Stu became increasingly prominent; this eventually came to a head near the end of the fic, when the already tenuous plot finally imploded upon itself, with disastrous and rather gruesome results. Despite promoting the strengths of the fic over the years, Geo eventually tired of it after realizing how flawed it was. He eventually took the time to spork/critique the fic himself upon joining the Protectors of the Plot Continuum, during which one of his agents had a bit of an identity crisis when encountering the fic's badly written characters.

This fanfic provides examples of:

Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene: Several occur throughout all three parts. Most of them expose relationships and past histories of the various characters involved.
Action Girl: Sarah and Kate are the standard Action Girl and Action Mom, respectively.
Adorkable: Both Adam and Vi, but Adam especially. Until you realize how badly written they really are...
Anachronism Stew: The entire story is supposedly set in 1980 but has cell phones, computers advanced enough to play Portal, the Internet, and blink-182. And most of the involved continua don't take place until several decades later.
Animals Hate Him: Ludlow, appropriately enough. Taken to its logical conclusion with a Big Damn Heroes moment involving every animal in the history of animation... and a Cruel and Unusual Death that would put Syndrome's Cape Snag to shame.
Androcles Pterosaur
- GLaDOS, of all characters, pulls this trope later in Episode 4, courtesy of Neo.
Annoying Younger Sibling: Dash, and to a lesser extent, Sarah.
Adam: "You're awfully small to be so hugely irritating."
Artistic License – Paleontology:
- As in the case of the original Jurassic Park movies, any and all paleontological errors are justified by InGen's (and later Aperture's meddling with the incomplete dinosaur DNA.
- Ptero Soarer: Despite being billed as a Pteranodon, Adam's pterosaur form barely even looks like one. However, both he and Word of God clearly handwave this as being a genetically-engineered Aperture bio-weapon.
- Raptor Attack: The Deinonychus are oversized, featherless, and seriously deformed. Velociripper, however, is clearly stated to have bird-like, blood-red plumage, which leads into the Funny Aneurysm moment above.
- There is one minor error on Adam's part, though that can be forgiven courtesy of Rule of Drama. Adam implies that Pteranodon lived at the same time as Deinonychus - while in reality, the latter lived 20 million years earlier.
Asshole Victim:
- It's implied in Dave's flashback that Dean Cartman, aka Phylange, almost became this to Hurricane David. The only reason he lived was that Splashdown gave his life to save him, despite the fact that he'd abused him throughout nearly all of their college days together.
- And in the actual timeline, both of the Big Bads.
Author Appeal: Tickling. Lots and lots of tickling. Mostly of feet. Also, dinosaurs and pterosaurs.
Author Avatar: Adam/Terrordactyl at first, as outright stated by Word of God. He does attempt to diverge into his own character later on, but ends up becoming a Gary Stu through and through.
Back from the Dead
Badass Adorable: All of the children, but especially the younger 'uns. Vi seems to lean more towards Badass Adorkable until she gets turned into a T. rex.
Badass Bookworm: Adam, particularly where dinosaurs are concerned. Unfortunately, that doesn't save him from being a Gary Stu.
Baleful Polymorph: Violet subverts this trope, the consequences ultimately prove fatal for the final Big Bad.
Being Watched: Dash gets this feeling in the museum scene. One has to wonder how skeletons can see you without any eyes...
Berserk Button:
- NEVER call Adam a dinosaur.
- In a similar manner, Dash does NOT like being called a morsel. Velociripper calls him that when he's trying to devour him. And gets roasted.
- Violet gets one in Episode 4, on a meta level no less. Let this much be known, do NOT attempt to take over the story and kill everyone on board, or she will slowly and brutally break you and eventually brutally kill you onscreen.
Beware the Nice Ones: We ARE dealing with superheroes here...
Big Bad: GLaDOS in Episode 1, Ripper in Episode 2 and the first half of Episode 3, and Ludlow from the latter half of Episode 3 onward.
Big "NO!": Ripper, during his Disney Villain Death.
Bloodier and Gorier: Shows slight shades of this in Episode 1, tones it town in Episode 2, flaunts it more obviously in Episode 3, and finally takes it Up to Eleven in Episode 4.
Blow You Away: Adam, mostly in the Wind from Beneath My Wings fashion.
Brain Bleach: Several times in Episode 4, most notably when Ludlow dies.
Break the Cutie: Sarah early on in Episode 4, when she is separated from her family and is forced to watch the plot spiraling off a cliff due to Ludlow's "intervention." Ludlow also tries to invoke the trope on Violet by turning her into a Tyrannosaurus rex, and predictably he fails miserably.
- Played straighter with the baby T. rexes, albeit with potentially deadly consequences. When the protagonists meet them, they have been separated from their parents and each other, and it's heavily implied that Ludlow flat-out abused them before they were rescued. Then he shoots their father in the face, right in front of them, when he comes to their defense. Deconstructed in that this fills the babies with so much pent-up rage and hatred for Ludlow that the moment they're finally freed, they promptly turn on him and tear him to pieces.
Break the Haughty: Ludlow. Described under Humiliation Conga.
Bullying a Dragon: Ludlow's abusive behavior towards the tyrannosaurs is a near-literal case of this trope with deadly consequences.
Cape Snag: Discussed briefly in Chapter 3. Sarah and David both know that their original decision was a stupid idea, so they decide to exclude it in their new costume design.
Captain Ersatz/Expy
- Splashdown is Aquaman as voiced by Ashton Kutcher, and Kate is Freefall as played by Katherine Heigl. Both of them also played a married couple in Killers.
- Sarah is Power Girl, though without the Super Toughness.
- Thunderhead is Thor, only dumber. He also smacks of Kronk in that he is not very smart, is well-chested, and is voiced by Patrick Warburton.
- Taking all the above into consideration, this leaves Adam as the only member of the Squall family without a comic book analogue. Instead, his powers and personality are more likely akin to Jacob Black, though with a Ptero Soarer in place of a wolf.
- On the villain's side, Word of God has stated that Velociripper is Light Yagami, with slight doses of Raptor Attack.
Casual Danger Dialog: Guaranteed whenever Adam's around.
The Chew Toy: Whenever Adam is in the vicinity of anything to do with dinosaurs, you know for sure that he'll get the worst of it.
Clones Are People, Too: Probably the reason why this fanfiction exists.
Cowardly Lion: Kate.
"Spiders! Spiders everywhere! AAAAAAAAAAAH! There's one in my hair!!!"
Critical Research Failure: In-Universe example. Ludlow intends to destroy all species apart from humans. All of them. Such a plan will be doomed to fail regardless of whether or not he is stopped in time for two reasons. Firstly, as is pointed out a few times, humans are apex predators and depend on so many nonhuman species that wiping them out would render them extinct by default. Secondly, there are 8.7 million species, along with 5-10 million bacteria. Add to that the additional fact that at least a few would adapt and survive the outcome, and even a kindergartener's knowledge of biology, and certainly Violet's high-school level tutelage, would have instantly made such a plan theoretically impossible.
Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Thunderhead. Remember that his name's a Stealth Pun on the word "dunderhead"...
Cruel and Unusual Death: Ludlow is eaten by baby tyrannosaurs in front of the entire cast, with all the Screaming at Squick it implies.
Cute Bruiser: Sarah,
Deadpan Snarker: Adam and Vi
Deus ex Machina: The Cretaceous lily, complete with a Tangled reference. Though to be fair, it did make one previous appearance, in which Vi had sent it to Adam as a bouquet.
Dinosaurs Are Dragons: Terrordactyl subverts this trope due to his friendly nature, but V-Wrex, a savage, spiky Tyrannosaurus rex who isn't afraid to kill and eat the soldiers who antagonize her, plays it so straight, it's scary. Her Moment of Awesome at the end of the final battle is even accompanied by the HMS Kraken exploding behind her!
Disney Villain Death: Ripper.
The Dog Bites Back: Ludlow gets hit by this after revealing himself to be an Omnicidal Maniac and an abusive Jerk Ass. First Stormicide, then Ripper, then Violet, then the baby T. rexes all turn on him in rapid succession - and the latter even play this trope in a horrifyingly literal fashion, onscreen no less.
Dropped a Bridge on Him: Dynaguy, and later Dynacide. Though ironically enough, the former turns out to be a subversion.
Earn Your Happy Ending
Eats Babies: Velociripper almost succeeds in killing and devouring Dash during the museum scene, and even calls him a "morsel." (He gets roasted, natch.) He also considers eating Jack-Jack in a later chapter.
Eaten Alive: Adam actually gets swallowed whole by the Spinosaurus at one point. Luckily, he manages to get it to vomit him back out, giving him just enough time to scramble to safety.
Even the Dog Is Ashamed: See Animals Hate Him above.
Everything's Better with Dinosaurs: Yes, and no. Prehistoric creatures both antagonize and aid the heroes throughout the story - and Vi eventually gets to turn into a T.rex to take on the Big Bad.
Everything's Better with Monkeys: Donkey Kong and friends, naturally.
Eye Scream: Ludlow intends to pull this trope on Violet with a sniper rifle. When Chomper pushes her out of the way, he pulls the trigger anyway and blows his eye out at point-blank range. Ouch.
Exit, Eaten By Prehistoric Reptiles: Both of the Big Bads.
Family-Unfriendly Death: Ludlow.
Faux Action Girl: Despite being one of the main characters, Violet doesn't engage in much fighting, and when she does, she mostly plays as the Stone Wall... at first.
Five-Man Band: Three of 'em.
- Adult Parrs/Squalls:
  - The Leader: Mr. Incredible (Also a good Big Guy)
  - The Lancer: Elastigirl
  - The Smart Guy: Splashdown
  - The Big Guy: Thunderhead
  - The Chick: Apogee
- Younger Parrs/Squalls:
  - The Leader/The Chick/The Smart Guy/The Big Guy: Violet
  - The Lancer: Stratogale and Dash
  - The Smart Guy: Terrordactyl
- The Zuckermans:
  - The Leader: Dynaguy
  - The Lancer: Neo
  - The Smart Guy: Macroburst
  - The Big Guy: Phylange
  - The Chick: Chell
  - Sixth Ranger: Stormicide
For Science!: The motivation of InGen's geneticists, which plays them directly into Aperture's hands.
Fossil Revival
Funny Aneurysm: In-universe example. In Chapter 7, Sarah and Adam go into a detailed discussion about deinonychosaur portrayal, complete with a monologue from Adam taken almost word-for-word from Alan Grant's monologue about raptors near the beginning of the first JP movie. This conversation comes back to haunt Sarah in Chapter 8, when they meet Velociripper for the first time.
Genetic Memory
Genre Savvy: All of the characters in varying degrees, but Vi in particular takes it to ridiculous levels.
Genius Bruiser: Not just Mr. Incredible, but also Violet, the most Genre Savvy of the entire cast, once she scales up.
Giant Flyer: Adam's Ptero Soarer form.
Giant Foot of Stomping
Giant Swimmer: King Krok, who is also the only non-sentient InGen creation that is explicitly named.
Gone Horribly Right: The plan to clone the Supers, if you go by just the cloning part. If you think of it as "cloning Supers to use as weapons for Aperture's personal army," it's Gone Horribly Wrong.
Gorn: Ludlow is brutally ripped apart and Eaten Alive, onscreen, by the baby T.rexes in retaliation for the Eye Scream incident above, with blood and entrails spilling in all directions.
Gravity Master: Kate.
Half-Human Hybrid: Adam, aka Sarah's Opposite-Sex Clone.
Heel–Face Turn: Stormicide, and later GLaDOS. The former's husband Dynaguy would also qualify if it weren't for the revelation that he was in fact a Reverse Mole.
Heroic BSoD:
- Sarah gets one after finding out that her mom has been possessed by Aperture.
- ALL of the characters participating in the story end up suffering from varying degrees of this trope when Ludlow, in full view of everyone, is devoured alive by the T.rex trio.
Heroic Sacrifice: Adam averts this due to his Iron Butt-Monkey status. It's almost played straight at the end of Episode 1 though.
Humanity Ensues: A subtle variation. The memories of the organism whose DNA has been cloned are retained in the next life, so to a non-human creature like Adam it may seem as though he were turned into a human being.
Humiliation Conga: Takes up most of Episode 4. Ludlow's plans, which are implied to have taken up over 15 years' preparation, are slowly and painfully unraveled through the course of ten chapters by the Roaring Rampage of Revenge of a single teenage girl, in a single night. Oh, and at the end of it all she has him killed in a truly horrifying manner, in front of all the cast members he'd been treating like dirt up to this point.
I Am Not Weasel: Adam normally takes relatively minor offense to being called names, but his Berserk Button is being called a "dinosaur." It gets even more Hilarious in Hindsight when you realize that he was originally intended as an Aperture bioweapon. If the events of the fanfic provide any clues, the aforementioned D-word may also smack of You Have Outlived Your Usefulness.
Iron Butt-Monkey: If you're as unlucky as Adam, a Healing Factor sure comes in handy.
It Can Think: The raptors in a nutshell. Velociripper, naturally, takes it to its logical conclusion.
Just Desserts: Both of the Big Bads.
Kill All Humans: Velociripper's solution to his percieved Humans Are Bastards problem.
Killer Rabbit: The baby T.rexes, when the Big Bad unknowingly angers them. They don't even care about the fact that everyone's watching them when they reveal their razor-sharp teeth and eat Ludlow alive - they're just that pissed.
LEGO Genetics: Aperture's technology is based on this. It's one of the reasons why they can construct Adam, Sarah's Ptero Soarer Opposite-Sex Clone, using Pteranodon DNA.
Let's Get Dangerous!: Everybody.
Limited Wardrobe: Few of the characters ever change their clothes. They just have one or two choices of civilian outfits, their Super outfits, and that's it.
Made of Iron: Almost EVERYTHING Adam goes through would have killed a grown man. Justified in that he has a Healing Factor as one of his powers.
Make Me Wanna Shout/Gale-Force Sound: ANYONE who has sound manipulation as part of their abilities usually uses it to knock mooks away. Most Supers use the Make Me Wanna Shout variety, but Adam can also use the Gale-Force Sound version, sometimes combined with Wind from Beneath My Wings in his Ptero Soarer form.
Making a Splash: David.
Malignant Plot Tumor: Ludlow, in an incredibly bad way. As if jumping into the plot two dozen chapters too late is bad enough, he makes it even worse by trying to kill everyone else participating. It's truly no wonder Violet develops issues with him in record time... violent issues...
Mama Bear and Papa Wolf: Both the Parr and Squall families are not going to let anyone hurt or take their kids away.
- Ditto for Chomper and Mama. Also inverted, when their babies kill the remaining Big Bad for taking out Chomper's eye.
Mega Crossover: While this is an Incredibles fanfiction, other franchises to be featured include Portal, Megamind, Jurassic Park, Donkey Kong Country, and many more.
Mighty Roar: By none other than the king (and later, queen) of Hollywood roars, Tyrannosaurus rex. It's even used to cap off the epilogue after a partial Title Drop.
Mundane Made Awesome: Even Velociripper's gestures are overly dramatic - so much as flipping a light switch requires a very exaggerated flourish and a bit of elaboration of his course of action.
Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Velociraptors with guns. Ripper in particular is part human, raptor, and robot.
Non-Malicious Monster: Save for the raptors the dinos aren't usually dangerous except hungry, territorial... or under Aperture's control. This is especially true of the T.rexes. Not one is portrayed in a villainous role and, heck, the 'rex parents featured in later episodes actually side with the heroes in gratitude for rescuing their offspring.
Noodle Incident: At the very beginning of the story, Dash narrates that he discovered his static-charge powers when he accidentally set the Parrs' lawn on fire.
No One Could Survive That!:
- For Ludlow, generously (and gruesomely) averted.
- Before that, played straight for a paragraph or so.
Oh, Crap!:
- Chapter 8: Adam gets this when he realizes that his old enemy has returned. "Hello, brother."
- Bob, David, and Dash gets one in Chapter 13 when Dynacide shows up.
Bob: My God... WHAT HAVE THEY DONE?!
- At the start of Chapter 17, Violet has a nightmare in which she's in the scene in the first Jurassic Park movie when the Tyrannosaurus rex breaks out of its pen; she only has a moment to scream in terror when she sees the blood-red eyes staring straight at her. She gets another Oh, Crap! moment later in the same chapter when a real T. rex shows up.
- There's a Mass "Oh, Crap!" moment in Chapter 19 and Chapter 24, both times after the heroes are reunited... just in time for the Spinosaurus to show up.
- Another T-rex elicits this reaction from Violet, Helen, and Dash in Chapter 20, when they realize that it's smack in the middle of their campsite. From the same chapter, Vi gets a minor one when she discovers that Velociripper has found his way back to Isla Nublar.
- Chapter 21: "It's a bird cage."
- Chapter 22: "Carnotaurus! EVERYONE, RUN FOR THE HILLS!" And then the rest of the family get this when Violet is captured.
- Chapter 23: Violet again gets this right before she gets injected with dinosaur serum... and mutated into a T. rex.
- Chapter 28: Sarah and Vi upon meeting the baby Dilophosaurus, in a Shout-Out to Jurassic Park. Then again after Vi's fingers are melted to the bone by its acidic spit.
- Chapter 29, when the dinosaur army bursts out of the HMS BP's cargo hold:
David: "Oh FUCK! EVERYONE OFF THE BOAT!!!"
- Chapter 30: Tony and Kari get this when the Spinosaurus attacks the house. From the same chapter, there's also a Mass "Oh, Crap!" from the adult Supers as Kate goes berserk.
Frozone: Hold on to your butts...
- Chapter 31: A bunch of mooks get this after messing with the wrong character, resulting in a Bring My Brown Pants moment. Helen puts it this way:
But then I noticed that the gang leader wasn't looking at me. His gaze was, very, very slowly, turning upwards. That was when we heard a snort behind us. I noticed that I'd been backed into the rock in the middle of the clearing.
It was not a rock.
- Also from Chapter 31: Kari, when Velociripper breaks into her house. Then Terrordactyl when a bunch of Kronosaurus turn up in the middle of the harbor fight. Then Splashdown upon seeing Ludlow's army.
- Chapter 34: Helen actually utters the trope name upon seeing GLaDOS. Everyone else is quick to join in the Mass "Oh, Crap!" moment until Neo reveals that he managed to turn the robot around. Then Sarah and Dash get this when the HMS Bubonic Plague blows up, and Adam when Ripper reveals himself to be Not Quite Dead. And Ripper himself only has enough time to let out a Big "NO!" when he is finally Killed Off for Real.
- Chapter 35: First Sarah, then Adam let out an anguished Big Word Shout when they think that Violet has been killed off. And in the end, Ludlow lets out "a long, loud, high-pitched, piercing scream of complete and absolute terror" before and while he really is killed off. He apparently thinks they are angels about to take him off to the next life, until they reveal their teeth...
Omnicidal Maniac: Ludlow. Holy Hell Creek, LUDLOW.
One-Winged Angel: Or rather, two winged, in Adam's case. It Makes Sense in Context.
Opposite-Sex Clone: Adam is essentially this to Sarah. In a rare case, he's actually older by a year or two than his genetic sister.
People Jars
Pre Ass Kicking One Liner: "My name is UltraViolet... and I am THROUGH running!"
Pre-Mortem One-Liner: 'Finish him.' The fact that it's Violet of all people who delivers this line makes it especially chilling.
Punny Name: Nearly all the Super names involve a lame pun, a Stealth Pun, or some other kind of wordplay.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: Several are delivered by various characters to Ludlow after his plan to destroy all non-human life is revealed, all of which are more or less completely ignored. The one delivered by Violet in Chapter 26 in particular stands out because it sums up everything that is wrong with him in-universe, and even trumps Sarah's anger to such an extent that it takes her by surprise.
Violet: Did you say what I thought you said? Did you say you wanted to accelerate the mass-extinction we ourselves caused and that we are trying to prevent? Did you say you wanted to eliminate ALL NON-HUMAN LIFE FORMS, and essentially DOOM YOUR OWN SPECIES TO EXTINCTION AS WELL IN THE PROCESS?! All for the innocent mistake of ONE LOUSY BIRD?! HOW STUPID ARE YOU?!?!
Red Eyes, Take Warning, with Hellish Pupils for extra measure:
- Most things under Aperture's care have glowing red eyes, which tend to creep the hell out of most of the characters.
- Ripper subverts it, however; his humanoid form has red eyes, his raptor form has yellow.
- Subverted again with V-Wrex, but in a different way. Even though Sarah freaks out at her updated eye coloration, she, like the other T.rexes, remains all in all heroic.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: Each of the members from one family is essentially a counterpart to the... counterpart of the other in some way or another. David's down-to-earth, practical attitude contrasts with Bob's outgoing nature and reliance on brute strength. Helen's balanced, composed personality come at odds with Kate's flightiness and tendency to panic at the first sign of danger. Sarah's stubbornness and straightforwardness conflict with Violet's introverted, strategic nature. And Dash's hyperactive, quirky, quick-to-act demeanor is in opposition to Adam's scientific, analyzing state of mind.
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Violet pulls a literal version in Episode 4.
Scaled Up: Violet.
Screams Like a Little Girl: Ludlow, before and while he is Eaten Alive by the T.rex trio.
Science Marches On: For the dinos in particular. Keep in mind that this fic is set in 1980, however.
Seldom-Seen Species: Most of the dinosaurs that show up are Stock Dinosaurs but who would have expected Platecarpus, Ornithocheirus, and Mawsonia of all species to have minor roles and cameos?
Shock and Awe: Dash. Well, what did you think he'd do with all that static electricity he would have accumulated through all that running?
- And Thunderhead, naturally.
Shoot the Dog: Ludlow's death at Violet's orders could be considered this.
Showing Their Work: Word of God is surprisingly up to date with the paleontological evidence of the present day.
Slasher Smile: Velociripper. Dear lord, VELOCIRIPPER.
"Exactly as planned."
Stock Dinosaurs: Mostly carnivores, since that's kind of what Aperture wanted. Tyrannosaurus rex, Deinonychus, and Pteranodon all get their Day in the Limelight throughout the story.
- Other Stock Dinosaurs to appear include Apatosaurus, Triceratops, Stegosaurus, Archaeopteryx, Dilophosaurus, Spinosaurus, Carnotaurus, Allosaurus, and Tylosaurus. A Plesiosaurus also makes a cameo in Episode 3.
Techno Babble: When Adam talks about the dinosaurs the families encounter, you know he's going to go into great detail about next to every single anatomical and behavioral aspect that is wrong with them.
Those Two Guys: Splashdown and Thunderhead. Although they ARE technically among the main cast, their roles are still relatively minor enough to qualify.
Threatening Shark: Averted. Splashdown gets a group of them to help out during the battle with Devil Dinosaur, and later on against Dynacide. The presence of King Krok also keeps sharks second-fiddle to Aperture/InGen's own personal navy fleet.
Tickle Torture/Friendly Tickle Torture: GLaDOS loves to use this interrogation method on her test subjects, and there are a few playful tickle scenes as well.
Took a Level in Badass: Many of the more important characters level up in the course of the plot. Adam and Violet eventually end up going into full-scale Suvian territory later on.
Torso with a View: Violet gets this when Ludlow shoots her in the back. She gets better, thanks to the Deus ex Machina above.
Tyke-Bomb: Ludlow attempts to turn Violet into a combination of Baleful Polymorph and this. Violet is not amused, to say the least.
Unstoppable Rage: Calling Adam a "dinosaur" will lead to this trope, especially after he's been Forced to Watch his girlfriend being brutally tortured. He breaks out of his holding tank as a result, leading to a rare moment when Ripper actually flees the scene.
- Taken Up to Eleven when Violet discovers how messed up Ludlow truly is. Since she happens to have been turned into a six-ton T. rex that's Immune to Bullets, well...
Villainous Breakdown: Ludlow goes through a rather disturbing one after Violet forces him through an epic Humiliation Conga in Episode 4. After all of his contingency plans fail, he shoots her in the back, and when she is revived, he sings "Rock of Ages" and starts hallucinating about going to heaven. Too disgusted with the guy to want anything to do with him at this point, Violet sics the baby tyrannosaurs on him, and the last thing he hears is his own terrified screaming as he is ripped to shreds and devoured alive.
Wham Episode: Chapter 25, in which Sarah is separated from her family and now both girls are presumed dead. Chapter 24 may also count.
What Could Possibly Go Wrong?: According to Helen? "Everything."
Who Writes This Crap?!: Well, Adam does, and he is not happy with the result. He even writes his confession that he regretted writing Ludlow into the story into his "The Reason You Suck" Speech.
The Worf Effect:
- The raptors are capable of killing the best of Great White Dinosaur Hunters. That doesn't stop them being defeated by children, though to be fair, the latter had super-powers and were on their own home turf.
- Poor Dynacide gets Worfed by Splashdown and Thunderhead, though with a little help from Donkey Kong and Rambi on the side. And again by T-rex!Violet in Chapter 24.
- In a probable Take That! against Jurassic Park III, T.rex!Violet brutally kills the Spinosaurus for trying to eat Jack-Jack, Tony, and Kari.
- The HMS Kraken, bought in as a final act of desperation by Ludlow, lasts only one scene before being blown up when Vi tosses Ludlow's bomb-vest at it.
Yank The Tyrannosaur's Chain: After nearly a dozen chapters of hard effort, Violet has finally wiped out both of the antagonistic armies and gotten her powers back. She's about to share her First Kiss with Adam... when Ludlow reveals himself to be Not Quite Dead by blowing a hole in Vi's torso from behind, for no reason whatsoever. The poor girl is understandably insulted.