Tropes J - M

  • Jaw Drop: When Bob sees Julie in her evening gown for the first time in 'The Strange Secret of Matthew Fuseli'. Ted is the one who tactfully shuts Bob's jaw for him.
    • In 'What Happens in Vegas...' both Bob *and* Ted do this when Julie reveals that *she* had asked Cateran to keep Bob entertained while she competed at the World Series of Poker. Julie is the one who closes Bob's mouth for him this time.
  • Journey to the Center of the Mind: Actually quite a few examples throughout the years:
    • Vikon reprogramming Julie with Mr. Bassman's musical skills in 'Greatest Generation'
    • Aida speaking with Bob at the beginning of 'Piranharecho'
    • Vikon mind-probing Clint Stanton in 'The City That VIPER Built'
    • Thelambra talking with Captain Chronos in "Jungles of Guamanga"
    • Shadow Destroyer recruiting Kara Lerner in 'The Manifestation'
    • A cyberspace example with Jillian hacking into Sennacherib during the climactic battle of 'The Prisoner of Doctor Destroyer'
    • Dominus learning about his mother, Tara Lemick, by mind-reading Bob in 'A Rose for Tara'
  • Just Like Making Love: Invoked in the epilogue of 'You All Meet in a Lab' by Bob when he describes to Julie the proper technique for playing the classical piano piece Clair de Lune
  • Kaiju Defense Force: The Japanese Bureaus 17, 18, and 19 -- as well as Rapid Response Force Sakura -- as seen in 'Megaterak Raids Again'. All these organizations are lifted straight from the 5th edition Champions sourcebook "Monster Island". Other than that, this trope is played as realistically to the real-life 1980's JSDF as possible.
    • In 'The Strange Secret of Matthew Fuseli', Julie tells Bob that she was actively recruited by the JASDF to be a pilot before she decided to return to America.
  • Kinda Busy Here: Ranger's frantic call to Starforce to warn him about Rochemont's impending attack in 'The Destroyer Wars' is a little late:

    (the phone rings, then picks up)
    Starforce (sounding REALLY stressed): "Let me guess. You're about to tell me Rochemont's headed for DFW in the War Armor to kill me!"
    Ranger: "Wait... HOW did you know THAT?"
    (the sound of a violent impact followed by alarm buzzers comes over the phone)
    Starforce: "Because right now, he's a quarter-mile above Dormyer Manor KICKING MY ASS!!"

  • Kneel Before Zod: Starforce pulls a Type 3 on Menton in 'Force of Will' just to line up the shot that will disable his new powered armor suit.
  • Kung Shui: This IS a story series about superheroes, you know:
    • Bob's lab pretty much has to be rebuilt from scratch after "You All Meet in a Lab"
      • and AGAIN after the prologue to "The Island of Shadow Destroyer"
    • ProStar's lobby multiple times ("Reconnaissance in Force", "Ghosts from the Past")
    • The Nazi research complex at Der Riese in "Greatest Generation"
      • which, as Starforce explains to Biomaster in "Fields of Saguenay," was Julie's fault. With a lot of assistance from Colonel von Niehl and his mecha
    • The side effects of Starforce's pool entry to save Julie in "The City That VIPER Built" was pretty destructive to the back of the Stanton mansion.
    • Detroit, at the hands of Doctor Destroyer's elaborately-staged fake suicide in "The Battle of Detroit"
    • The original Stately Dormyer Manor is all but destroyed in the fight with VIPER in "The Legacy of Doctor Destroyer"
    • The lobby of Universal Superworld during the three-way fight between Warlord, VIPER, and Bob/Cateran in "What Happens in Vegas...". What makes it funnier is reading the setting at the beginning of each scene as the fight progresses, which gives some idea to the reader how much property damage has been done up to that particular moment.
    • Graham Jeffrey's mansion outside Jackson, WY in "Black Ops"
    • Implied to have happened with the propane distributorship outside Joliet that was hiding a Demonhame underneath, also from "Black Ops"
    • The Sher residence in "The Manifestation" is in need of new windows, as well as repairing fire and smoke damage by the end of the story.
    • It is left open whether UNTIL HQ gets condemned after Starforce and Viperia take each other out underneath it in "International Treasure"
    • Between all the explosions and weapons fire, it's safe to assume that the Kongresszentrum Davos is somewhat the worse for wear after Eurostar's attempted attack is defeated in 'A Week at Davos'
    • The Oval Office gets shot up pretty bad during a Single Stroke Battle between Ladyhawk and General McAdams in "Coup d'Etat"
  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall: This sequence between Biomaster and Julie during the Christmas Party in "O Little Town", which references the beginning of "Operation Phoenix":

    Biomaster: "Robert MISSED being told he won the Nobel Prize in Physics because he left his hotel phone off the hook?"
    Ladyhawk: "It's a long story."

  • Leitmotif: The series author has said several times he sometimes finds writing inspiration in music.
    • The first few years of the StarHawk ship gets its own leitmotif right out of the gate with The Dance by Doug Hammer
    • Not to be outdone, the StarBlue ship has "You're So Bad For Me" by Raya Yarbrough
    • Any scene in Bob Hawkins' lab at ProStar gets Science by Two Steps from Hell
    • Olivia 'Thelambra' d'Alembert has the first minute or so of Empire of Angels by Thomas Bergersen ("The Secret of Arcadia" is the most prominent occurrence)
      • the more orchestral sections after it double as the Empyrean's Theme
    • Doctor Destroyer (or his android duplicates) in ass-kicking mode repeatedly gets The Wolf by Hi-Finesse Music ('The Evil of Doctor Destroyer', 'The Paradox of Doctor Destroyer', 'The Battle of Detroit', 'The Prisoner of Doctor Destroyer')
      • it's noteworthy that when Starforce takes the gloves off versus VIPER in "Coup d'Etat" that it's this music that plays
    • Takofanes has Raising the Damned from Position Music ('Heart of Darkness', 'Shadows Out of Darkness')
    • Homeward Bound by Marta Keen, whenever Bob visits his step-parents in Indianapolis. Though its most poignant use is throughout "Heart of Darkness", the first verse can be pretty much dropped into the appropriate scenes in both "Yeoman's Work" and "Home of the Brave".
      • Don't judge me for the link artist. It's the best arrangement of it available on YouTube
    • Mechanon also likes itself some heavy metal in 'Extinction Event' with Rise of the Machines by Future World Music
    • Kat el-Hassan has (obviously) Desert Rose by Sting
    • Jocelyn Sher in secret identity has A Kiss Under The Moonlight by The Rippingtons
    • Any story set in Japan uses the beginning of Flight of the Silverbird by Two Steps From Hell.
      • "Mechanon, Inc." gets to use the entire song as its soundtrack
    • David (and later Jason) Kayami motorcycling across the American West get Mystic Highway by John Fogerty.
  • Leno Device: Quite literally in the beginning of 'Subliminal'. Jay Leno interviews Bob & Julie on The Tonight Show after her World Series of Poker win in 2013.
  • Make-Out Kids: Starforce & Ladyhawk in both "Operation Phoenix" and "Yeoman's Work". In their defense, they WERE attempting to make up for 8 years of lost time... :)
  • Mexican Standoff: In 'The Varanyi Civil War,' between the Original Six plus Biomaster and two squads of Varanyi commandos
    • played straight on the shores of Lake Toba in 'Shadows Out of Darkness' between the New Six, Takofanes, the Crowns of Krim, and Shadow Destroyer
    • exaggerated in 'The Island of Shadow Destroyer' when TASK FORCE is attempting to sabotage the Mandragalore's fuel core, Mechanon and Takofanes each want to steal it, and Shadow Destroyer is attempting to protect it.
  • Mission Briefing: Almost as frequent as 'Final Battle'. Only the Third and Fourth Season stories don't have this -- probably because everyone who survived season 2 was trying to have a normal life.
  • Monkey Morality Pose: We see the Hawkins children do a version of this in 'Subliminal' after Jay Leno's interview with their parents jumps the rails and keeps on going. Nathan holds his hands over his eyes (okay, it was more of a facepalm, but still...), Laura holds her hands over James' ears, and Jillian holds her hands over her mouth (given her previous reactions in-universe to her parents' sexuality, probably to suppress her gag reflex instead of her snarkiness)
  • Moral Event Horizon: Bob almost crosses it in his unsuited, no-holds-barred beatdown of Coach Steele in the climax of 'Cliques'. It's his son Nathan that saves him from crossing it in the end.
  • Myth Arc: according to Word of God, there are three:
    • Ladyhawk and Starforce's relationship. This one legitimately extends all the way from "You All Meet in a Lab" to "A Parting Glass"
    • Starforce's relationship to Doctor Destroyer. Though its climax is "Leap Day," the consequences of that climax don't get resolved until "Force of Will"
    • Ladyhawk's attempt to bring VIPER to justice for the assassination of her parents, an arc which pretty much climaxes and ends with "World War VIPER"
  • Mythology Gag: The town around which the climax and epilogue of 'Heart of Darkness' takes place (Danville, IN) is the town in which the series creator grew up.
    • The climax to 'Reconnaissance in Force' takes place at the Air Force Base at which he was stationed from 1984 to 1988 -- and involves the facility at which he worked for most of that time (the TRESTLE EMP Simulator)
    • Dayton, OH -- a city near which he lived for half his life -- is featured prominently in 'The City That VIPER Built', "V'Han Returns", and "Citizen Hawkins"