Tropes A - B

  • A Day In The Limelight: 'Street Level' focuses on a low-powered Dallas-area superteam interacting with Ladyhawk on a mission, with only a Prologue cameo by Starforce and an Epilogue cameo by Ranger.
    • 'The Varanyi Civil War' can be considered this for Sage, once the Sitharados arrives at Varan.
    • 'North Tower' for the original Minuteman. Full stop.
    • 'Cliques' for the Hawkins children
  • Adult Fear: Starforce and Ladyhawk are forced to confront this at the beginning of 'Fields of Saguenay' when Baron Nihil kinaps their children off-screen.
    • We see some of this in Starforce and Ladyhawk's frantic analysis of their son Nathan's fight against Menton in 'Force of Will', desperately trying to find some sort of advantage against Menton
  • Advanced Ancient Acropolis: The Valley of Arcadia in Antarctica, home of the advanced Empyrean sub-race of Humanity
  • After-Action Patch-Up: Ladyhawk does this to Starforce at the end of 'Escalation'. It's played straight at first -- then for laughs when she gets a bit, uh, carried away.

    Ladyhawk (other hand now holding Starforce's body): "I can go through security camera footage at DFW after I patch up Nerd-boy here. He'd probably be in a hurry to leave the area."
    Ranger (holding a hand up): "We've done enough for one week. I'll call it into PRIMUS and we'll let *them* figure out where he went." (beat) "Bob, do you have a way of detecting your testbed when you're close?"
    Starforce: "Right now, no. In 24 hours, yes."
    Ranger: "Good. Work on that after Julie's done fondling you."
    Ladyhawk (startled): "WHAT?!?"
    Sage (to Ladyhawk): "You were actually done with him a minute ago, Miss Dormyer."

  • Alternate Company Equivalent: The TASK FORCE universe starts out based on the Champions Universe setting for the Tabletop RPG Champions, which has been described as "Silver Age Marvel Comics with the serial numbers filed off."
    • Not that it's a BAD thing...
  • Alternate Timeline: "Leap Day" is built around this trope.
    • A significant portion of "V'Han Returns" takes place in an alternate timeline that diverges from the events of 'The City That VIPER Built'
  • An Asskicking Christmas: The assault on DEMON's ceremony at Humphrey Manor in 'O Little Town'
    • Lampshaded by Starforce with his alternate lyrics to the Christmas song 'The Most Wonderful Time of the Year' during the first part of the fight.
  • Anger Born of Worry: Starforce and Ladyhawk to each other multiple times during their first 10 years together. 'You All Meet in a Lab' immediately post-tornado and 'Heart of Darkness' in Starforce's hospital room contain the most notable examples of this.
  • Anguished Declaration of Love: Starforce and Ladyhawk to each other in the last scene of "The City That VIPER Built". Though it doesn't result in an immediate Relationship Upgrade, it does put an end to their Belligerent Sexual Tension.
  • Answer Cut: In "Extinction Event," Aida is unusually reluctant to discuss with Ted whether Bob had arrived in Tel Aviv without problems -- finally talking around the subject by volunteering to Ted that he is never going to believe where her roommate Judith Shapiro currently is. Cut to Bob's hotel room in Tel Aviv, where he and Judith have just got done being intimate...
  • Applied Phlebotinum: Electrogravitics. Useful for both forcefields and reactionless flight!
    • Don't forget subatomic particles such as the magnetic monopole, the pulson, and the theta-boson...
  • A Truce While We Gawk: Happens in the battle between Warlord and VIPER in 'What Happens in Vegas...' when Bob and Cateran show up with the uh, modified blaster
  • The Atoner: The alternate-timeline Starforce from "V'Han Returns" helps Ranger, Lady Blue, and Captain Chronos solely so he can prevent his younger self's destruction of Dayton, OH
    • Less morbid than the previous example, but pretty much Biomaster's modus operandi after "The Battle of Detroit"
  • Badass Boast: Oh so many...
    • Spiritual Warrior to Takofanes during the climactic battle of 'Heart of Darkness':

      "This is God's world, abomination! You shall not pass!"

    • Starforce and VIPER's nest leader for Dayton, OH to each other in 'The City That VIPER Built':

      Nest Leader: "... Where I differ from you is in having the empirical evidence that the average person is INCAPABLE of determining their own destiny. As long as *that* fact is true, there will always need to be a VIPER."
      Starforce: "Where I differ from you is in having the humility to know that I am incapable of determining someone else's destiny FOR them. As long as *that* fact is true, I will always need to oppose the likes of you."

    • Sage's World of Cardboard Speech in 'The Varanyi Civil War':

      "I AM ZES'AROU AL'GARI VIKON, UNQUESTIONED MASTER OF THE CRESTED ONES AND SHINING LIGHT OF THE VARANYI! FEAR *ME* MORE THAN THE USURPER AND KINSLAYER WHO NOW PROFANES MY THRONE WITH HIS EXISTENCE!!"

    • Starforce to Baron Nihil during the climax of 'Fields of Saguenay':

      "There is no Hell so deep that I will NOT find you..."

    • Bob to the UN General Assembly as they are about to surrender to Istvatha V'Han in "The First Dimensional War" (also doubles as Throwing Down the Gauntlet):

      Starforce (voice ringing): "Leaders of Earth, you wanted me to be the Son of Doctor Destroyer so bad? Congratulations, you now have your wish. Only the Son of Destroyer dares speak for Earth where all of you lack the courage to do so yourselves!"
      (Bob looks directly at the active camera)
      Starforce: "Istvatha V'Han, if you want My world, if you want My freedom, if you want My life, I offer you the words Leonidas of Sparta said to the Persians at Thermopylae."
      (beat, as he collects the prepared speech from the podium that he never gave)
      Starforce (glaring over his shoulder at the camera): "Molon Labe."

    • Vikon one-ups his former teammate in the very next chapter of 'The First Dimensional War" as the Varanyi Battle Line downwarps into the Solar System:

      (everybody on the Imperator Invictus freezes as the large, disembodied head of an Al'Gari caste Varanyi appears in front of each and every one. Its eyes glow with supernal brilliance as static electricity dances chaotically around its head. And then, that terrible voice roars in all their heads -- a voice like that of an angry god)
      Sage: ((I AM ZES'AROU AL'GARI VIKON, UNQUESTIONED MASTER OF THE CRESTED ONES AND SHINING LIGHT OF THE VARANYI! THIS STAR SYSTEM IS UNDER *MY* PROTECTION, ISTVATHA V'HAN!!))

    • THIS sequence between Captain Chronos and Istvatha V'Han during the climax of "V'Han Returns":

      Captain Chronos: "The next time you attempt to change this dimension's past, Istvatha V'Han, will be your last. THIS is my promise to you."
      V'Han: "Have a care who you threaten, Time Elemental. I can afford to be patient."
      Captain Chronos (smiling unpleasantly): "Not when I know how your story ENDS."
      (beat, then with a pinkish flash, V'Han vanishes)

    • Captain Chronos to the original Doctor Destroyer in 'Leap Day':

      "Your son and the Mother of Time Elementals are under MY protection. Before this day is done, Albert Zerstoiten, you will thank me for that."

    • Vice President DJ Johnson to MGEN Malcolm in "Coup d'Etat", as Starforce is destroying the VIPER armored brigade guarding the White House (doubles as quite possibly the most metal line in the entire series):

      "If the President is truly dead, let her road to Valhalla be paved with the skulls of her enemies."

    • Ladyhawk to VIPER's Council of 30 during the climax of 'World War VIPER':

      "I thank you all for your help in cementing my legacy as President of the United States."

    • On Ladyhawk and Starforce's gravestone at the very end of 'A Parting Glass':

      (Translated from Latin) "If you seek our monument, look around you."

  • Battle Couple: Ladyhawk and Starforce, even before their Belligerent Sexual Tension gets resolved
  • Belligerent Sexual Tension: Between Ladyhawk and Starforce from 'You All Meet In A Lab' until 'The City That VIPER Built'. She was angry at him because she fell in love with him the very first time they met, he was angry at her for her accusation that he was a mole for VIPER. And it only got worse when the government forced them to live together...
    • We see some hint of this between Nathan Hawkins and Jackie Drake in "Coup d'Etat"
  • "Be Quiet" Nudge: One of Julie's two default responses to Bob's snarkiness. After 'The City That VIPER Built', she tends to be a lot less angry when she does it.
  • Beta Couple: An interesting case during the "Destroyer Wars" arc, where official couple Bob and Julie play this to Craig 'Blink' Ngyuen and Jocelyn 'Starforce II' Sher
  • The Bechdel Test: Lampshaded while flunked miserably and unapologetically by both Ladyhawk and Lady Blue in "The Jewel of Awad".
  • Big Damn Heroes: Quite a few, actually...
    • Defied in 'The Paradox of Doctor Destroyer'. Ladyhawk is the last woman standing against Doctor Destroyer, out of ideas, out of ammo, and out of time. Cue Nebula, showing up wearing all her equipment that Destroyer stole from her before the beginning of the story. She pronounces sentence on him -- and discovers too late that he sabotaged her Duress Gauntlets.
    • Played straight in the beginning of '72 Hours', when VIPER relieves an outnumbered TASK FORCE at the battle of Pioneer Plaza
    • Played straight in 'Crowns of Krim'. Nestor Castillo has just taken the Blood Crown of Krim for his own, killed Edward Trevathan, and is about to kill Ferris Drake. Cue Shina Arikawa, a conquistador sword, and her Desert Eagle
    • Implied AND deconstructed in 'The City That VIPER Built'. We don't see what Starforce did in the 5-10 seconds between Julie drowning at the bottom of Clint Stanton's pool and her rescusitation at the pool's edge. All we know was that Starforce was in a hurry, didn't care who or what he broke in order to save her, and was willing to face down fellow teammates afterwards who called him out on the amount of force he had used.
      • We finally see what he did when the course of history is restored in "V'Han Returns"
    • Played straight in 'O Little Town'. Ladyhawk is the last woman standing against DEMON's summoning. The situation is so dire that Spiritual Warrior's BFS has allowed Ladyhawk to use itself. Cue Biomaster power-walking into the battle site.
    • Partially subverted in 'The Varanyi Civil War'. Tlokon is about to kill Bob so he can rape Julie. Cue Vikon in Angry God Mode leading his troops into the the throne room... until Bob triggers his anti-psionic grenade and Tlokon can no longer keep the falling throne room ceiling up.
    • Played straight in 'The Legacy of Doctor Destroyer', Draconis is telekinetically strangling both Starforce and Ladyhawk at the end of VIPER's attack on Stately Dormyer Manor. Cue Shina and her Desert Eagle.
    • Subverted in 'Fields of Saguenay' by the children the heroes were there to save manifesting their powers for the first time.
    • Played straight with the Varanyi Battle Line's Gunship Rescue of Earth from Istvatha V'Han's fleet in 'The First Dimensional War'
    • Played straight in 'Like a Jewel from the Heavens' with Starforce's rescue of Ladyhawk during her plan B extraction from the Serebyanyy Arcology.
    • Played straight in 'Leap Day'. The heroes can't break DEMON's summoning circle on top of the Pyramid of the Sun and the fabric of reality itself is about to fail and plunge Earth into the Qliphotic Realms. Cue Doctor Destroyer, Ladyhawk, and Starforce shoved out of Captain Chronos' fast-forward time bubble at the last moment in the middle of the summoning circle.
    • Deconstructed semi-humorously in 'International Treasure'. Viperia tears through UNTIL agents and superheroes protecting the vault that contains the former Doctor Destroyer's captured technology. She opens said vault to discover Starforce and Ladyhawk waiting for her. They defeat her, but it's left open whether or not the resulting collateral damage will result in UNTIL's HQ being condemned.
    • Played straight in 'Force of Will'. Menton has caught Relativity and is about to kill him. Cue Starforce, and one of the shortest and most brutal curb stomp battles in the history of the TASK FORCE universe. Do NOT make the Papa Wolf angry...
      • Just to put this into proper context: Menton is the most powerful psionic in human history, and at that time wearing a forcefield-based battlesuit the equal of what Starforce is wearing. Starforce takes him down in four seconds.
    • Zig-zagged in 'Street Level'. The rioters have Sgt. Shea cornered. The Eastside Homeowner's Association drives them off, then hauls Sgt. Shea out of his patrol car to face them, THEN protects him from the mob when they realize exactly how bloodthirsty they are -- only to see Shea tased by his own precinct captain when he hears Shea go off on a racist rant.
    • Invoked in 'Citizen Hawkins'. Julie has just tricked Governor Sutherland into an Engineered Public Confession during their Presidential Debate at Wright State University. The governor, with nothing left to lose, goes to his plan B and prepares to incinerate Julie on national TV. Cue Julie's plan B -- Starforce
  • The Big Damn Kiss: The end of Bob and Julie's first date in 'Operation Phoenix'. Also doubles as both 'Official Kiss' and 'Relationship Upgrade'
  • Bittersweet Ending: 'Extinction Event'. 1989 FC has been deflected from its imminent collision with Earth, Mechanon has been defeated, TASK FORCE escaped working with Doctor Destroyer without getting backstabbed, but Judith Shapiro breaks up with Bob because she can't handle the fact that he is Starforce.
    • '72 Hours'. Doctor Destroyer was prevented from killing 90% of humanity, but new teammate Powerfist died in the final battle and Ladyhawk hits the reset button on her relationship with Starforce after a story-length ship tease. And that was before she revealed the full extent of the unrequited bisexual love triangle between herself, Powerfist, and Starforce to Bob...
  • Breather Episode: There are a few...
    • 'Piranharecho' (after 'Heart of Darkness')
    • 'Expedition to Earth' (after 'The City That VIPER Built')
    • 'O Little Town' (after 'Operation Phoenix')
    • 'What Happens in Vegas...' (after 'The First Dimensional War')
    • 'Kingdom of Champions' (after both "Shadows Out of Darkness" and "Chantal's War")
  • Break Out the Museum Piece: After TASK FORCE is reborn in "Black Ops", both Bob and Julie have to take their "Battle of Detroit"-era 1992 armor out of the trophy case in the library twice:
    • In "Castle Doctrine" to protect the Manor when it would have been impossible to get into Bob's private labs underneath to suit up with their modern armor.
    • Cosplaying their younger superheroic selves at GenCon 2011 in "Resistance Is Futile"
  • Brick Joke: Flaming Mastodons of Doom. Brick launched by Bob during his date with Julie in "Operation Phoenix," and lands as Biomaster says his good-byes to TASK FORCE at the end of the Christmas Party in "O Little Town."
  • Bridal Carry: 'The Legacy of Doctor Destroyer' starts with Bob doing this with Julie when they return to Stately Dormyer Manor from their honeymoon
  • Building of Adventure: Granite Park in general and ProStar specifically, enough so that there was a lockdown protocol and alarm for when a superbattle was about to take place in or nearby.
  • Bullying A Dragon: In 'Cliques', Coach Steele believes Bob to be the same geek he bullied back at Broad Ripple High School in the 1970's and tries to physically intimidate him to have his son released from police custody. BIG mistake...
    • And Bob didn't even have his battlesuit on at the time.
  • Bunny-Ears Lawyer: The Mandaarian scientist Epikefalis Epistomas pulls this on the PRIMUS squad attempting to arrest Nebula at the end of 'Expedition to Earth'.
  • Bunny Ears Picture Prank: The official TASK FORCE group photo from 'Escalation' to 'Extinction Event' had Starforce doing this to Ladyhawk.