What is a Trope?[]
If you have no idea what a trope is, may I suggest first clicking here to visit the homepage of the TV tropes wiki. Simply put, a trope is a recurring theme, element or if you want to put it bluntly, cliché that can be found in various fictional media. (Movies, video games, comic books, anime, literature, etc.) In essence, you can say a trope is a good cliché.
FPL Tropes[]
Given the long time the FPL has been online, and the thousands of characters and scores of fics written, it is natural that the FPL now has a wide array of tropes. The FPL provides examples of the following...
- A Boy And His X: Make that A Girl And Her X, with the case of Muchiko and PENGUIN, and Jennifer & The Infinite Die.
- Action Mom: Elwin D'Larthi, previously known during her tenure in the FPL as the Magical Girl, Sailor Archer.
- All There In The Manual: Sacriel. Truly a complex character, which according to Q/Gigs, combines aspects of the Big Bad and Magnificent Bastard, with several Xanatos Gambits under his belt. Sadly, most of these aren't covered in his character sheet, but found only in non-FPL media like chat content, unwritten fics and even RP's.
- Alternate Universe: Alt. FPL, Mindsplatter, Twisted, just to name a few.
- Anti Hero: Mr. Hero; though most of the characters belonging to the Reavers (formerly Maniacal Heroes) easily fall under this trope as well.
- Anyone Can Die: Played brutally straight in Darth Maxx's Apocalypse fic, culminating in several well-known characters being Killed Off For Real.
- Artifact of Doom: There have been many examples, but some of those who've made it big on the kill floor include the Dodecahedron of Death and The Infinite Die.
- The Atoner: The Prince of Never is one of the best examples out there.
- Badass Normal: William "Dodge" Murphy, make no mistake about it.
- Big Bad: As far as Big Bads go, Quietus is probably the FPL's ur example. Other notable Big Bads in the Khazan IC continuity include Mr. Graves and Drekis.
- Big Friendly Dog: Y'know, they don't get any bigger than Sparky the Giant Wonder Puppy!
- Broken Bird: There've probably been quite a number of broken birds, but if I had to pick one that stands out, then it'd be Mikoto.
- Canon Immigrant: Prior to the FPL, a number of creators were involved in online role-playing or doing webcomics, and some of the characters were adapted into the FPL. Among them include characters from an old RP known as Battle Master High. (Toc Darkone, Kyoko Nagami, Seryph Gibbons, Ravenna Cervantes are just some of the Battle Master High characters who were inducted into the FPL).
- On a similar note, most of Poe's FPL creations hail from his webcomics, namely Exploitation Now and Errant Story.
- Career Killers: Babylon Jones, Lady Veil, Xerathis, just to name a few.
- The Chosen One: Basically anyone who's an avatar of the Seven Precepts of the Universe. Dragoon T, El-ko, just to name a few.
- Cluster F Bomb: To put it in the words of its contributor, "Christopher Marlowe is &%$# fond of the &%$# fond of the &%$# f-word."
- Continuity Snarl: Server move aside, this is also one of the primary reasons IC-wise regarding a continuity reboot for the FPL.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Marc Dollar, need I say more? You don't get any more corrupt than one with The Evil Army under his command, access to Artifacts of Doom at his fingertips, and most of all, the backing of a Nebulous Evil Organization.
- Cosmic Horror: ...Rhekarid's creations. Nuff' said.
- Dance Battler: Celeste Ivory, Devyn Soyokaze and Zoot Suit Riot are some of the more well-known embodiments of this trope.
- Defector From Decadence: Myrna Rae; from her character sheet we learned that she hails from a family of powerful espers who were also known for being ruthless and manipulative, but apparently she has no stomach for their domineering ways.
- Determinator: Tommy and the War; also a secondary characteristic of Dodge Murphy.
- Ditto Fighter: Gigs' Forte is the FPL's ur-embodiment of this trope.
- The End Of The World As We Know It: The entire premise behind Darth Maxx's Apocalypse fic. Also covered in Prince of Never's character sheet. And pretty much the whole darned purpose of The Void and its avatars such as Quietus.
- Enfante Terrible: The FPL's resident Creepy Twins, Wick & Ed.
- Evil Overlord: Drekis, and doubly so during The War of Drekis, pushing him into the realms of a Galactic Conqueror.
- Hitman With A Heart: Make that woman. Babylon Jones anyone? I guess being a Nigh Invulnerable Action Girl powered by The Rule Of Cool helps, eh?
- Humongous Mecha: Many Humongous Mecha have graced the kill floor, though some worthy mentions include Atom-A-Ton, an example of the Super Robot type, and Metalneck, an example of the Real Robot type.
- Idiot Hero: POWAAA!!!-man, whose very idiocy also makes him an Implacable Man, and StumpBot, just to name a few.
- Implacable Man: And again, POWAAA!!!-man. And let's not forget The Wailing Giant too, just to name a few of those nigh-unstoppable types in the FPL.
- And for an IC-only example, Gryphmet in Robotech Master's The War of Drekis
- And boy, the Horsemen Of The Apocalypse in Darth Maxx's Apocalypse, too - they are not forgotten.
- Well, it seems that pretty much any character who's a Big Bad in IC fics are implacable, often requiring entire mobs of heroes ganging up on them, serious usage of Applied Phlebotinum and self-sacrificing tactics to bring down.
- The Juggernaut: The Ancient Beast; one tough b@$+@rd, I say. Grendel too, just to name a few...
- Killer Rabbit: Sate-Hen, not just your garden-variety demonic chicken, but the avatar of Satan! Be afraid, be very afraid.
- Knight Templar: The Chronomancer, nuff' said. The character's entire premise screams that Utopia Justifies The Means.
- Magnificent Bastard: Mr. Graves undoubtedly gained magnificence during his stint in the Khazanian Empire fic.
- Make A Better World: The premise behind Prince of Never and Sphere, albeit in different ways.
- My Kung Fu Is Stronger Than Yours: One of the deciding factors behind a character in the FPL getting votes, but amidst the more seasoned players this style of voting is generally frowned upon.
- Nightmare Fuel: Durante "The Contortionist" Truson, as with quite a number of Ren's creations, and oh, most of Rhekarid's, but I suppose we all know by now.
- Omnicidal Maniac: And again, Quietus. Accept no substitutes.
- Parental Abandonment: Both Silver Siren and Mikoto were victims of it.
- Police Are Useless: Subverted when it comes to characters like McDoughnut and Jennifer Chase. But more often than not played straight in most scenarios.
- Rage Against The Heavens: Zalrafel, as well as the premise behind Apocalypse.
- Shout Out: Sentinel Core and Omega Dark give a nod to Transformers. Apparently, in the early days in the FPL, shout-outs were all the rage, with examples such as...
- Saiyan Chick Tomata(Dragonball Z), SonicHuntress(Macross/Robotech) and Star Wars Junkie(Star Wars, duh), just to name a few. While most turned out rather campy, there have been some pretty well-done ones such as The UV Light Warriors.
- On an OOC note, a shout out to the X-files exists within the FPL community, what with wild theories involving FPL 'vets being the Powers That Be, pulling the strings behind everything such as fight results, hatching conspiracies and what have we.
- Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: FPL characters as a whole have definitely covered the entire spectrum; although it is not unusual for individual creators' styles to lean towards one end of the scale or another.
- Super Soldier: Plenty! Some notable Super Soldiers to grace the kill floor include D.F.C. "Daniel" and Blitzkrieg.
- The Toblerone: Thunk the Barbarian. Big fun guy, yes...
- The Verse: Khazan, nuff' said.
- Wangst: Eclipse. What else screams angst more than a suicide-inducing spirit? As for more Wangst-filled FPL characters... should we even go this far?
Credits[]
Contributor(s) to date, in alphabetical order:
- Chakos
- Ivan
- Lawman
- Q/Gigs
- sharpshooter01
Trivia[]
FACT: landon is sexy (but don't tell anyone)