Tropes present in the ISC Phoenix

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• Action Girl - Any of the female characters who actively partake in combat.
• Action Survivor - Nyezeh.
• Affectionate Parody - Towards Animes, Movies and Games with big friggin' heroes and a whole ton of arsekicking.
• Aussies with Artillery - Melissa fits this squarely.
• Author Avatar - Luca. In his original writeup in 2006, he looked a lot like his Author. The author's appearance has changed drastically - but the character's looks haven't. However, the personality is vastly different from the author.
  • Oddly, Luca (the author) has stated that he must live to the ideals of the character, and started going to the gym, learning boxing and being less socially awkward.
• Author Existence Failure - Mitch's player has gone to Oxford, and Nyezeh's player has gotten his dream job. Lots of other players have also left the plot, but their characters remain as NPC's or doing domestic tasks, just in case.
  • But Nyezeh has made a return!
  • And subsequently gone missing again. :(
  • Vincent went missing when his player got so overwhelmed with life that he drowned in reality and had to go missing for a while. He Got Better.
  • Scot, Panther's player has left without explanation. :(
• Ascended Extra - Danny eventually got his own Biography, and his own story. (but not with the Phoenix)
• Ax Crazy - Subverted with Vincent, who normally is a rather calm and collected (if antisocial and untalkative) figure, until someone decides to wound him. Then… People die.
• Badass - Everyone, specifically…
  • …Bookworm - Arin
  • …Captain - Luca
  • …Crew - Well, duh.
  • …Family - The Pavone Family
  • …Furry - Whispering Trees AKA: Panther
  • …Longcoat - Sebastian and Vincent sport longcoats proudly.
  • …Normal - John, Robert, Mel, Hitori, Robert, and anyone else on the crew who doesn't have ID-SOL muscles or some obscure power to back them up.
  • …Retired - Sebastian, Mitch
  • …Unintentional - Jimmy Trakk, the Medic!
• Batter Up - Vincent's new melee weapon, an unusually heavy oak baseball bat.
• Berserk Button - And how.
  • Luca - Anyone talking smack about or hurting his crew and/or family.
  • Sebastian - Cain, and any of his medical experiments. Also, any harm directed towards Luca.
  • Vincent - Seeing Arin hurt or manhandled in any way. Or when Luca or the crew is getting beaten too badly. Hell, basically anyone combining the words “Vincent” and “Kill” in a sentence will send him into a blood-crazed murder frenzy.
  • Arin - Her lady-bits being touched. (Ex: She dropped a grenade down Luca's shirt in Episode 5.5.)
  • Melissa - Accuse her of being butch, and see how many bones she breaks with one fist.
• BFG - Mel's revolver-sniper rifle-railgun, Luca's HHG, Vincent's entire arsenal of weapons.
• Big Bad - There have been many smaller villains, each bigger than the other, but the biggest is yet to come.
  • Cain was the first 'Big Bad', responsible for the Vitriol Arc (Missions 3, 4, 5 & 5.5). He went down quickly once confronted directly though.
  • However, some foreshadowing indicates that there's a new one around the corner…
• Blood Knight
  • Naoko Aihara shares this violent trope with most other Nekovalkyrja. In addition, during her first combat action with the Phoenix, she engaged the enemy physically without any weapons or armor, tore them apart violently with her hands, and literally bathed in their blood. It doesn't help she was 7" tall at the time.
  • Bloody Murder also seems to fit Naoko, since in the aforementioned battle (Ep. 7), instead of using one of several of the environmental resources available to her (a combat knife, grenades, etc.), she forms a sharp edge out of her own right arm using hemosynth and proceeds to nearly behead the 'Big Bad' with it.
• Character Alignment - Where to start…
  • Lawful Good - Anna & Sebastian, Zeta
  • Neutral Good - Seiren, John, Crane
  • Chaotic Good - Luca, Jimmy
  • Lawful Neutral - Panther, Uriel, Arin, Mr. Smith
  • True Neutral - Echelon, Allison, Robert, Daxle, Valo
  • Chaotic Neutral - Enzo, Naoko, Melissa, Hitori
  • Lawful Evil - Michio
  • Neutral Evil - Vincent
  • Chaotic Evil - Ivan
• Crazy Awesome - Happens rather frequently!
• Crowning Moment of Awesome - Too many to mention.
  • Whenever Luca says: “Come Get Some.”
  • “Go.” (Episode 6)
  • Arin revealing an invisible man by throwing a bucket of LCD at him. (Ep. 5)
  • Whispering Tree's introduction to the crew, by going toe to toe with a Nekovalkyrja. (Interlude 4)
  • Nina and her Maid-Builders show up to fix the Base.
• Crowning Moment of Funny
  • Luca's laundry list of the items involved in his 'business meeting' with Aerin Tatst.
  • John's Phantom Trombone. “Nobody will believe you.”
• Comic Book Time - Due to the plot being a Single-Post plot, apparently a mission that takes a few days will take a half a year in SARP time. Nobody really minds that much.
• Cool Ship - The ISC Big Bird
  • Recently one upped by the Crimson Kestrel!
• Determinator - Good luck trying to get anyone in the crew to back down from something.
• Dodge The Bullet - Played straight and subverted with Luca.
• Fearless Fool - One way to look at Luca.
• Fourth Wall Observer - John and Luca are immune to the fourth wall.
• Funetik Aksent - Enzo and the Bortelli Family along with Melissa's thick-as-can-be Australian accent, too.
• Gatling Good - Vincent owns not one, but two chainguns. One of them is currently lent to Sebastian.
• Genius Bruiser - Vincent and Mitch are alarmingly good at breaking bones, and knowing all 206 bones to break.
• Genre Blind - Cain - and it cost him hard.
• Genre Savvy - Everyone on the Phoenix to an extent.
• Glass Cannon - Surprisingly enough, Vincent. In almost every episode he appears in, he's been shot, stabbed or harmed in some manner, usually putting him down for a good amount of time.
  • Vincent's player used this during a case of Author Existence Failure, saying that in the previous episode Vincent had been severely wounded in combat and had spent his time recovering in the Big Bird.
  • Luca is surprisingly fragile in spite of his destructive abilities, due to his unwillingness to use top-end power armour in engagements. Half-subverted by the fact that he recovers quickly afterwards.
• Good Old Fisticuffs - Luca's approach to hand to hand combat tends to be pragmatic - whilst Vincent's approach is more brutal.
• Hand Cannon - There are quite a few floating around on this ship.
• Heroic Sociopath - Vincent has shades of this, Mitch used to fit the bill squarely until his player left.
• Hot Blood - Everyone, to an extent, but mostly Luca.
• Huge Guy Tiny Girl - Vincent and Arin. Less-so after a recent episode, but Vincent still hangs around Arin quite a bit.
  • Taken up to Eleven when you put Vincent and Naoko together.
• Immune To Bullets - Used and subverted by everyone, often in the same plot arc.
• Implacable Man - Vitriol from Episode 4. He has been killed more than any other character (twice, technically) and still hasn't died.
• It's Up To You - It usually comes down to this when the Universe, or a small part of it is in danger.
• Knife Nut - Hitori and Robert - Enzo too.
• Losing Horns - Wait, John is a Trombone player?!
• Made of Iron - Nekovalkyrja in general (Or at least how Luca writes them), Sebastian's Right Arm.
• Magnetic Hero - Lampshaded by Sebastian.
• Mama Bear - Anna is a more passive version, as far as we know.
• Mission Control - Nostrovia and Iza, liaisons for the IPG and SAINT, respectively.
• More Dakka - Every member of the ISC Phoenix has enough guns to outfit a small army, and the finances to buy even more.

• Nakama - Everyone on the Phoenix looks out for each other. Call it Camaraderie, Fellowship, Family-like, Ohana or even The Team.
  • Example: Even though they'd known each other for less than a day, Luca saved Enzo's life and is actively looking out for him. (Interlude 4)
  • Anna agreed to keep Nyezeh on the ship for as long as it takes for her to recover properly, free of charge.
  • Vincent is kind of like an angry, agressive, overprotective brother to Arin.
• Naked People Are Funny - In the fifth interlude, Luca walks around his ship sans clothing for no particular reason.
• Neighbourhood Friendly Gangster - Enzo.
• No Holds Barred Beat Down - Every character has had at least one, although Vincent seems to favor it.
• Noodle Implements - When Luca attempts to recall the what happened last night (See below), he lists some utterly weird items that may or may not have gotten involved, much to everyone's bewilderment and worry.
• Nothing Up My Sleeve - Seiren's favourite trick.
• Obfuscating Stupidity - Is Luca really that dumb, or is he playing everyone for a fool?
• Our Zombies are Different - A type M case. Gun-wielding zombies (no aim though) powered by a virus during Mission 3.
  • And again this happens in Ep. 7, where after a high-action, no-win firefight, the NMX-dominated dead enemies reanimate and swarm the Phoenix Crew.
• Paper Thin Disguise - Luca's incognito identity, Mr. Yamada.
• Power Fist - Sebastian's Right Arm, Zeta's Right Arm, and Vincent's Fists.
• Ragtag Bunch Of Misfits - Who save the universe, no less. The Phoenix is usually the only crew with a captain fearless enough to take on some of the missions they're given.
• Rated M For Manly - The men are manly. The women are also manly. The platypus is, too!
• Rule Of Cool - Modus Operandi.
• Rule Of Fun - Also Modus Operandi.
• Serious Business - Vincent is more serious than almost any of the other characters (barring Sebastian and Anna). For example:
  • He dug a pitfall trap in front of his own 49th floor hotel room.
• Shout Out - Hoo Nelly…
  • Melissa's attitude similar to Team Fortress 2's Sniper, with Ovaries.
  • The introduction to Mission 5.5 was one hell of a Metal Gear Solid shout out.
  • The name of Vincent's new “Deviance” chaingun is an obvious shoutout to the Firefly episode “Our Mrs. Reynolds”.
  • Vincent doesn't want an AI that sings stupid songs about cake.
  • John Morris, pilot extraordinaire, has a debilitating eye condition that requires him to wear perscription sunglasses at all times. This is similar to Jeff “Joker” Moreau from the Mass Effect series of videogames, who has a genetic disorder that causes his bones to break extremely easily - yet he's the best pilot in the Alliance Navy. (Also, John's speech explaining his condition in Interlude 4 is almost exactly the same as Joker's speech in Mass Effect 1.)
  • The Inflatable Crocodile incident is an in-joke with Luca (the author, not the character). Ask him about it.
  • “Come Get Some!” is a one liner from either Duke Nukem, or Army of Darkness, as is “It's time to kick arse and eat cake, and all that's left is pie!” from They Live (or Duke Nukem, depending on who you ask)
  • Vitriol's appearance is, as described informally by Luca (the author) “Like Sandslash, Vin Diesel, Venom and your maths teacher mixed together.”
  • John has been taking cues from Pinkie Pie.
• Slasher Smile - Vincent. The only time he ever smiles is when he's disembowelling someone managed to get a hit in on him.
• The Stoic - Vincent again. Although admittedly he has his reasons for not having much in the way of emotions or people skills, one would think that with all the time he spends around the crew of the Phoenix he would have picked up more social knowledge than he has. Which is very precious little.
  • Sebastian Pavone isn't prone to outbursts of rage or defiance, save for one old occasion.
• Testosterone Poisoning - It happens!
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill - And how!
  • Cain: Hurled over the horizon, blasted with a HEX beam and harpooned with an exploding grenade spear. (Ep. 5.5)
  • Vitriol: Shot, stabbed, punched, and finally exploded on several large gas cans. He revived later. (Ep.4)
  • Mort: Had most of his bones broken, along with his duplicate's, by several members of the Phoenix crew. (Ep. 2)
  • Michael: Slashed into twelve different pieces by a mysterious power-armored ninja. (Ep. 5.5)
  • Malice: Frozen by liquid nitrogen and smashed. (Interlude 4)
  • Un-named Nekovalkyrja Assassin: Blown in half and thrown off a building. (Interlude 4)
  • Saeko: Shot in the face and blown up by a starship. (Episode 6)
• This Is Sparta - On several occasions.
  • “I, AM, MALICE!” (Interlude 4)
  • “ON, THE, CONT-RARY!” (Interlude 4)
• Unstoppable Rage - The entire crew at some point.
• Use Your Head - A favorite melee technique of several crew members.
• What did I do last night? - Luca and Aerin's 'business discussion'.
• What Happened to the Mouse? - What happened to that package?
• Weirdness Magnet - Luca has this tendency. It has been lampshaded to no end.
• Wrench Wench - Arin, Allison, Nyzeh, Seiren, and to a much more limited extent, Melissa.
• The Woobie - Danny. Just read his history.