![DBTropes DBTropes](/static/logo.png)
...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!
Starship Troopers
- 895 statements
- 175 feature instances
- 167 referencing feature instances
Starship Troopers | type |
TVTItem | |
Starship Troopers | label |
Starship Troopers | |
Starship Troopers | page |
StarshipTroopers | |
Starship Troopers | comment |
Starship Troopers is a Military Science Fiction novel written by Robert A. Heinlein as an argument against a unilateral U.S. ban on nuclear testing, and published in 1959. It waxes Anvilicious on the merits of soldiers being willing to give their lives for their country and the proper merits of a soldier, an officer, and an army and nation as a whole. Heinlein, a former naval officer who had received a health-related discharge before he could gain actual combat experience, interviewed infantry soldiers and officers to get the "flavor" of ground combat for his book. The story traces the evolution of Juan "Johnnie" Rico from feckless civilian into an Officer and a Gentleman during the Bug War as a Framing Device and example. Much of the military action in the novel parallels the Pacific campaign of World War II ending at Guadalcanal.Starship Troopers is notable for early use of the concept of Powered Armor and being an early example of the Space Marine trope. It was also the first science fiction book to appear on the U.S. military's recommended reading lists. It is also significant, and controversial, for its description of the Terran Federation's political system. It is a limited democracy in which only "veterans" of Federal Service are eligible to vote, run for office, hold certain jobs (like law enforcement), or even teach some subjects at school.note The novel makes it clear that everyone is given the opportunity to serve a term of Federal Service to earn full citizenship, no matter how physically incapable, and that though they don't get to choose where they serve Federal Service is usually not service in a military combat branch; but because the story follows a protagonist who is assigned to a military combat branch it is more described than it is shown. Needless to say this alone tends to provoke accusations of the novel ranging from "jingoistic" up to "fascist propaganda."A film made in 1997 adopted the Broad Strokes of the novel; however, it satirizes those aspects of the book's ideology that Paul Verhoeven (who by his own admission never finished the book) considered jingoistic or fascist, which is to say nearly all of it. The parody was a bit too subtle for some viewers, who considered the film, and by extension the book, to be outright fascist propaganda. The film also replaced the Power Armor with conventional infantry armament: you probably care more about that. In 2016 a more faithful adaptation was announced, but for now it's still stuck in Development Hell. | |
Starship Troopers | fetched |
2024-04-16T21:01:02Z | |
Starship Troopers | parsed |
2024-04-16T21:01:02Z | |
Starship Troopers | processingComment |
Dropped link to AnAesop: Not a Feature - IGNORE | |
Starship Troopers | processingComment |
Dropped link to EverybodyCallsHimBarkeep: Not a Feature - UNKNOWN | |
Starship Troopers | processingComment |
Dropped link to OneSidedBattle: Not a Feature - UNKNOWN | |
Starship Troopers | processingComment |
Dropped link to TropeNamer: Not a Feature - UNKNOWN | |
Starship Troopers | processingComment |
Dropped link to TurkeyCityLexicon: Not a Feature - ITEM | |
Starship Troopers | processingComment |
Dropped link to WorldWarThree: Not a Feature - UNKNOWN | |
Starship Troopers | processingComment |
Dropped link to technicianvsperformer: Not a Feature - UNKNOWN | |
Starship Troopers | processingUnknown |
EverybodyCallsHimBarkeep | |
Starship Troopers | processingUnknown |
OneSidedBattle | |
Starship Troopers | processingUnknown |
TropeNamer | |
Starship Troopers | processingUnknown |
WorldWarThree | |
Starship Troopers | processingUnknown |
technicianvsperformer | |
Starship Troopers | isPartOf |
DBTropes | |
Starship Troopers / int_1161fb48 | type |
Bizarre Alien Biology | |
Starship Troopers / int_1161fb48 | comment |
Bizarre Alien Biology: The Bugs. Only the brain caste (and possibly the queens) are intelligent, with the workers and soldiers being directly controlled by the brain caste. They have no sense of individuality. | |
Starship Troopers / int_1161fb48 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_1161fb48 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_1161fb48 | |
Starship Troopers / int_117abc09 | type |
A Taste of the Lash | |
Starship Troopers / int_117abc09 | comment |
Ted Hendrick is sentenced to flogging and a dishonourable discharge for assaulting Sergeant Zim during a training exercise. He could have gotten away with only administrative punishment if he had kept his mouth shut. Captain Frankel had realized what happened immediately upon seeing Zim's black eye and was trying to avoid a court martial, but when Hendrick admitted he knocked Sgt. Zim down in front of witnesses the Captain no longer had any choice but to hold a court martial. Capt. Frankel actually goes out of his way to save Hendrick's life by very quickly arranging a field court martial, because a field court martial doesn't have the authority to execute a recruit, and he believes that in a regular general court martial Hendrick would have received a death sentence. After the field court martial, Johnny overhears Capt. Frankel denying Sgt. Zim a request for a transfer back to a combat unit because he blames himself for what happened, and Capt. Frankel gives him a royal chewing out for dropping his guard and letting Hendrick land a blow on him. Zim's excuse is that he kind of liked Hendrick and had him mentally labeled as one of the "safe ones" (the ideas that Sgt. Zim can do something worth being chewed out and actually likes some of the recruits pretty much blows Johnny's mind). Both agree that the recruits have to believe that it's impossible to land a blow on a trainer so that they won't even try, and that an example must be made of Hendrick. | |
Starship Troopers / int_117abc09 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_117abc09 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_117abc09 | |
Starship Troopers / int_117b3429 | type |
A Taste of the Lash | |
Starship Troopers / int_117b3429 | comment |
A Taste of the Lash: A common judicial punishment both in the military and in civilian life. It's mentioned as the sentence for everything from drunk driving to dereliction of duty. One notable scene has Rico watching a whipping being carried out; it's ten lashes, and blood is drawn on the third lash. The book claims that its purpose is to not inflict damage, and it's tightly controlled with medical aid given as soon as the lashes stop so not even scars form, but this is still a man being whipped past the point of bleeding. Children are also whipped if they commit a crime, along with their fathers. but we don't get a description of what that looks like. | |
Starship Troopers / int_117b3429 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_117b3429 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_117b3429 | |
Starship Troopers / int_1230e19e | type |
Overranked Soldier | |
Starship Troopers / int_1230e19e | comment |
Overranked Soldier: Johnnie's platoon for his trial as a third lieutenant is missing its normal CO (hospitalized due to implied battle stress), so the company commander installs his fleet sergeant as Johnnie's platoon sergeant, a job for someone several grades below his actual rank, to actually run the platoon and keep an eye on Johnnie. | |
Starship Troopers / int_1230e19e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_1230e19e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_1230e19e | |
Starship Troopers / int_1237828f | type |
Anyone Can Die | |
Starship Troopers / int_1237828f | comment |
Anyone Can Die: It's masked a little by Johnnie's optimism, but pretty much anybody he mentions by name has about a fifty/fifty chance of buying it by the end. Word of God says that Johnnie bought his farm on Klendathu. | |
Starship Troopers / int_1237828f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_1237828f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_1237828f | |
Starship Troopers / int_1274565b | type |
Up Through the Ranks | |
Starship Troopers / int_1274565b | comment |
Up Through the Ranks: Required by the Federation military's structure. Everyone starts as a grunt or crewman and if they do well, they're allowed to apply to officer candidate school, as Johnny Rico eventually does. The sky marshal, the overall commander of the military, is required to start at the bottom rank in both the Army and the Navy and work his way up to a major command in both services to even be considered. | |
Starship Troopers / int_1274565b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_1274565b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_1274565b | |
Starship Troopers / int_141f6a73 | type |
Artistic License – Martial Arts | |
Starship Troopers / int_141f6a73 | comment |
Artistic License – Martial Arts: Heinlein, lacking the Internet, seemed to assume a "black belt" meant absolute mastery, where in judo and karate it's merely the first rank in which one is allowed to teach others. | |
Starship Troopers / int_141f6a73 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_141f6a73 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_141f6a73 | |
Starship Troopers / int_1439161f | type |
Heroic BSoD | |
Starship Troopers / int_1439161f | comment |
Heroic BSoD: Johnnie ends up seriously depressed and almost resigns while in boot camp. The triggering event isn't the nonstop hazing or the difficulty of the tasks set to them, but rather realizing that those setting the tasks are mere mortals after all, and that everything he thinks he knows about the military is all wrong. | |
Starship Troopers / int_1439161f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_1439161f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_1439161f | |
Starship Troopers / int_15448489 | type |
Ancient Tradition | |
Starship Troopers / int_15448489 | comment |
Ancient Tradition: The Mobile Infantry incorporate all manner of national military traditions. | |
Starship Troopers / int_15448489 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_15448489 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_15448489 | |
Starship Troopers / int_159ce749 | type |
Ensign Newbie | |
Starship Troopers / int_159ce749 | comment |
Ensign Newbie: Averted; soldiers enter officer training only after having gained combat experience, so there are no Book Smart but inexperienced officers. | |
Starship Troopers / int_159ce749 | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_159ce749 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_159ce749 | |
Starship Troopers / int_1779f10e | type |
"Well Done, Son" Guy | |
Starship Troopers / int_1779f10e | comment |
"Well Done, Son" Guy: Johnnie is deeply moved when he learns that his father was proud enough that he decided to join the Mobile Infantry himself. Johnnie's former high school teacher wrote him a letter saying how happy and proud he was that his former student had joined the Mobile Infantry, which helped him through a significant psychological barrier. The same instructor later indicated how proud he was that Johnnie was becoming an officer by asking that Johnnie receive his own officer's "pips" as part of his final test. Johnnie's disappointment that they're unavailable (real-estate deal) is profound. | |
Starship Troopers / int_1779f10e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_1779f10e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_1779f10e | |
Starship Troopers / int_18150c85 | type |
Democracy Is Flawed | |
Starship Troopers / int_18150c85 | comment |
Democracy Is Flawed: According to the movie's Backstory, the United Citizens' Federation was established after combat veterans overthrew Earth governments for being sent to fight in pointless wars the politicians themselves purportedly had no stake in due to not having served themselves. Consequently the UCF denies voting rights to anybody who has not done "federal service"—either a military enlistment or certain specified civilian-side government jobs. Although the development of the Terran Federation isn't discussed in much detail in the book, what we do know is that it had its genesis in combat veterans coming home from the Third World War (China facing off against a US/UK/Russian alliance) and restoring order on their own initiative upon discovering that the previous governments of their home countries had largely collapsed. | |
Starship Troopers / int_18150c85 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_18150c85 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_18150c85 | |
Starship Troopers / int_18e33968 | type |
Earth Is the Center of the Universe | |
Starship Troopers / int_18e33968 | comment |
Earth Is the Center of the Universe: Justified in that there are stated to be very few habitable planets with resources, as well as very few species capable of interstellar travel, so it stands to reason that the bugs would be interested in earth both for the resources, and to wipe out a competing species. The Terran Federation maintains "Sanctuary", a very Earthlike planet, as a backup in case Earth itself is conquered or rendered uninhabitable, and its location is one of humanity's most closely-guarded secrets. | |
Starship Troopers / int_18e33968 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_18e33968 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_18e33968 | |
Starship Troopers / int_19769f50 | type |
Defeat Means Friendship | |
Starship Troopers / int_19769f50 | comment |
Defeat Means Friendship: Johnnie and Ace are close after their fistfight (which Johnnie lost, but Ace said he lost to protect Johnnie's position as a superior). Similarly, Johnnie's first squad leader is said to have recommended him for promotion shortly after beating his ass for mouthing off. | |
Starship Troopers / int_19769f50 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_19769f50 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_19769f50 | |
Starship Troopers / int_19944e8f | type |
Terraform | |
Starship Troopers / int_19944e8f | comment |
Terraform: Working as a laborer on the "Terranizing of Venus" is mentioned by Johnnie as a possible assignment if he can't make it as a soldier. | |
Starship Troopers / int_19944e8f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_19944e8f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_19944e8f | |
Starship Troopers / int_19d06ef7 | type |
A Father to His Men | |
Starship Troopers / int_19d06ef7 | comment |
A Father to His Men: Every officer and most non-coms. | |
Starship Troopers / int_19d06ef7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_19d06ef7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_19d06ef7 | |
Starship Troopers / int_1c398324 | type |
Death from Above | |
Starship Troopers / int_1c398324 | comment |
Death from Above: Via It's Raining Men. Mobile Infantry troopers are dropped from orbit to land in a combat zone. They also have weapons that can "glass" a planet's surface from orbit but are reluctant to destroy the valuable real estate they're fighting over; it's mentioned that later in the war planet-buster bombs get developed. They are also reluctant to kill sapient beings unnecessarily so they only use the force needed to accomplish their mission. | |
Starship Troopers / int_1c398324 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_1c398324 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_1c398324 | |
Starship Troopers / int_1cc527d7 | type |
Asskicking Leads to Leadership | |
Starship Troopers / int_1cc527d7 | comment |
Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Soldiers have to prove themselves in combat before they can go to command school and become an officer. Moreover, to become Sky Marshal it's required that a candidate has commanded both a Mobile Infantry regiment AND a Navy vessel in combat. Invoked and subverted by Ace, who treats Rico as his superior in name only (Rico outranks Ace as his newly-promoted section leader, but Ace is actually senior in age and service time). They go find a private place to brawl about it and while Ace eventually knocks Rico out, Rico fights well enough that Ace wakes him up and has him get the last hit in so Ace can claim Rico won. | |
Starship Troopers / int_1cc527d7 | featureApplicability |
-0.3 | |
Starship Troopers / int_1cc527d7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_1cc527d7 | |
Starship Troopers / int_1e7159cf | type |
Propaganda Machine | |
Starship Troopers / int_1e7159cf | comment |
Propaganda Machine: Downplayed to around the level of many modern governments. Johnnie points that the M.I. technically weren't at "war" at the beginning of his service, but rather in a "state of emergency", with any military operations being "incidents," "patrols," or "police actions." He also remarks that his disastrous first battle has been called a "strategic victory", which he disagrees with. | |
Starship Troopers / int_1e7159cf | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_1e7159cf | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_1e7159cf | |
Starship Troopers / int_1f050d03 | type |
Squad Nickname | |
Starship Troopers / int_1f050d03 | comment |
Squad Nickname: The military units usually have nicknames composed of the name of their commanding officer and an alliterative noun: Rasczak's Roughnecks, Warren's Wolverines, Blackie's Blackguards, King's Kodiak Bears, and Willie's Wildcats. | |
Starship Troopers / int_1f050d03 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_1f050d03 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_1f050d03 | |
Starship Troopers / int_1f137e42 | type |
Artificial Limbs | |
Starship Troopers / int_1f137e42 | comment |
Artificial Limbs: When Johnnie goes to sign up for military service, he's greeted by a fleet sergeant who's missing both legs and an arm. When he later runs into the same man, he doesn't immediately recognize him, as he's walking around on two legs and shakes Johnnie's hand with his missing arm. The fleet sergeant states that he purposefully doesn't wear his prosthetics when greeting potential new recruits, in order to remind them what's at stake and scare off any who aren't fully committed. | |
Starship Troopers / int_1f137e42 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_1f137e42 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_1f137e42 | |
Starship Troopers / int_20e0d3e8 | type |
Tanks for Nothing | |
Starship Troopers / int_20e0d3e8 | comment |
Tanks for Nothing: Tanks are explicitly stated to be useless against Mobile Infantry. | |
Starship Troopers / int_20e0d3e8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_20e0d3e8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_20e0d3e8 | |
Starship Troopers / int_22224d05 | type |
Straw Civilian | |
Starship Troopers / int_22224d05 | comment |
Straw Civilian: When Rico and his father meet up late in the booknote Ironically, one has just disembarked from a ship, and the other is rushing to catch it., they discuss how "the war" never really seemed real to people back on Earth... until Buenos Aires was attacked directly. Then they started screaming for the Bugs to be utterly wiped out. | |
Starship Troopers / int_22224d05 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_22224d05 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_22224d05 | |
Starship Troopers / int_222df7f7 | type |
Lowered Recruiting Standards | |
Starship Troopers / int_222df7f7 | comment |
Lowered Recruiting Standards: Thoroughly averted with the M.I. It's implied they never have a shortage of recruits; when the war ramps up and they need more soldiers, they actually make things harder by no longer giving recruits Sundays off during training. An interesting case for the Federal Service in general; since it's required for citizenship, there are no physical standards a recruit must meets as long they are psychologically willing and able to serve. The Service will find, or make up, a job suitable for any level of physical disability to ensure that everyone who wants to has a chance to serve. | |
Starship Troopers / int_222df7f7 | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_222df7f7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_222df7f7 | |
Starship Troopers / int_2534ee67 | type |
In Medias Res | |
Starship Troopers / int_2534ee67 | comment |
In Medias Res: The book starts with Johnnie preparing for and executing a combat drop. The second chapter goes back to before he joined the military. Chronologically, the first chapter actually occurs about halfway through the book. | |
Starship Troopers / int_2534ee67 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_2534ee67 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_2534ee67 | |
Starship Troopers / int_285b66d7 | type |
I'll Pretend I Didn't Hear That | |
Starship Troopers / int_285b66d7 | comment |
I'll Pretend I Didn't Hear That: During basic training, a recruit strikes a drill instructor because the drill instructor hit him when he was unable to stay still on an ant nest during an exercise requiring everybody to stay still. Though the instructor — and later the company commander — do their best to ignore this, the recruit makes it impossible for them to do so (saying point-blank that he did it in front of witnesses). He's instantly court martialed, found guilty, flogged, and dishonorably discharged — which is actually a 'light' sentence possible only through some deft legal maneuvering on the part of the commander, because striking a superior officer (outside of training, with a superior heading the training and inviting physical competition) is a capital offense in wartime. | |
Starship Troopers / int_285b66d7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_285b66d7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_285b66d7 | |
Starship Troopers / int_2af7961 | type |
Faster-Than-Light Travel | |
Starship Troopers / int_2af7961 | comment |
Faster-Than-Light Travel: Handwaved with the "Cherenkov drive." Cherenkov radiation is a bluish glow given off when particles exceed the speed of light in the medium they are traveling in, like high energy electrons from a nuclear reactor exceed the speed of light in water. | |
Starship Troopers / int_2af7961 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_2af7961 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_2af7961 | |
Starship Troopers / int_2dc0d2bf | type |
Hidden Depths | |
Starship Troopers / int_2dc0d2bf | comment |
Hidden Depths: Jean DuBois, Johnnie's History and Moral Philosophy teacher. Although his students know that he is a citizen (he has to be one to teach the class), his manners indicate to them that he is little more than an unpleasant martinet. Rico learns later that he is in fact a highly decorated lieutenant colonel. It is implied that he doesn't act like a military officer because he actually believes what he is teaching, and wants his students to believe it for themselves, rather than because an authority figure said so. Similarly, Rico spends a portion of his boot camp training on light duty as a company orderly, and gets an up close and personal view of how military command really operates, as his superiors harshly punish a recruit and then chastise themselves for their negligence in letting the matter get to that point. | |
Starship Troopers / int_2dc0d2bf | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_2dc0d2bf | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_2dc0d2bf | |
Starship Troopers / int_2e5ada89 | type |
Grenade Launcher | |
Starship Troopers / int_2e5ada89 | comment |
Grenade Launcher: The "Y-Rack", a device that fires two grenades every time a Marauder suit lands from using its jump-jet. | |
Starship Troopers / int_2e5ada89 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_2e5ada89 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_2e5ada89 | |
Starship Troopers / int_2eac5753 | type |
Narrative Profanity Filter | |
Starship Troopers / int_2eac5753 | comment |
Narrative Profanity Filter: The narration will often say that a person cursed or used vulgar language without ever specifying the actual words being said. | |
Starship Troopers / int_2eac5753 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_2eac5753 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_2eac5753 | |
Starship Troopers / int_3130e2c6 | type |
Uplifted Animal | |
Starship Troopers / int_3130e2c6 | comment |
Uplifted Animal: The "neodogs", which are genetically engineered symbiotes derived from canine stock and described as being about six times smarter than the average dog. They're capable of talking, after a fashion, and smart enough to be employed for independent reconnaissance in the M.I. | |
Starship Troopers / int_3130e2c6 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_3130e2c6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_3130e2c6 | |
Starship Troopers / int_31c4280 | type |
Conscription | |
Starship Troopers / int_31c4280 | comment |
Conscription: Averted. Military service in the Terran Federation is completely voluntary, even during times of war. And even after enlisting the recruit can resign from the military any time they want, even immediately before a battle (unless they're facing military discipline). The justification for this is that people who are forced into military service against their will make poor soldiers. note This was one of Heinlein's few Take That! moments at the American military, which in 1959 was still built around the idea of a Zerg Rush of draftees. After signing up, new recruits have a 48 hour "cooling off" period before reporting for duty; if they don't report the only consequence is that they cannot sign up ever againnote And have therefore lost their chance to earn the right to vote.. Similarly, anyone can resign during training, with the same consequence. This is to ensure that nobody's there who doesn't want to be there. | |
Starship Troopers / int_31c4280 | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_31c4280 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_31c4280 | |
Starship Troopers / int_32c082ae | type |
Bury Your Disabled | |
Starship Troopers / int_32c082ae | comment |
Bury Your Disabled: a downplayed example. After witnessing a public hanging Johnny thinks it over and concludes that it's best for the criminally insane who do things like murder to be executed, because if they are incurable then executing them is the only way to stop them from committing further murders, and if they could be cured they could never live with the guilt of having committed heinous crimes while sick, and would have no choice but suicide anyway. | |
Starship Troopers / int_32c082ae | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_32c082ae | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_32c082ae | |
Starship Troopers / int_38f1a7ed | type |
Defector from Decadence | |
Starship Troopers / int_38f1a7ed | comment |
Defector from Decadence: Johnnie's family is quite wealthy; they're mentioned to have an Olympic sized pool, and his father bought him a "Rolls copter" for his 14th birthday. However, he joins the Mobile Infantry to prove himself instead of just climbing the ladder in his father's company. His father later does the same thing. | |
Starship Troopers / int_38f1a7ed | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_38f1a7ed | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_38f1a7ed | |
Starship Troopers / int_3c0a4666 | type |
Noodle Incident | |
Starship Troopers / int_3c0a4666 | comment |
Noodle Incident: At the end of Rico's training, he mentions that he left a lot out, specifically, that he said "...nothing about the time we dropped everything and fought a forest fire for three days, no mention of the practice alert that was a real one, only we didn't know it until it was over, nor about the day the cook tent blew away..." | |
Starship Troopers / int_3c0a4666 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_3c0a4666 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_3c0a4666 | |
Starship Troopers / int_3d4d3dc9 | type |
Humans Are Bastards | |
Starship Troopers / int_3d4d3dc9 | comment |
Humans Are Bastards: So much so that we need to work hard on our moral training to control our natural bastardness - or channel it into something better. | |
Starship Troopers / int_3d4d3dc9 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_3d4d3dc9 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_3d4d3dc9 | |
Starship Troopers / int_3d59c9a0 | type |
Powered Armor | |
Starship Troopers / int_3d59c9a0 | comment |
Powered Armor: Trope Codifier for Western culture, and at least inspiration for most of Anime/manga. | |
Starship Troopers / int_3d59c9a0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_3d59c9a0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_3d59c9a0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_41d5f145 | type |
Fluffy the Terrible | |
Starship Troopers / int_41d5f145 | comment |
Fluffy the Terrible: One of Rico's squadmates is a man nicknamed "Kitten", having acquired it in basic training when combat drill Corporal Jones disgustedly said "a kitten would have hit me harder than that!" during a unarmed combat drill. "Kitten" is an all-round Nice Guy, but he is also a fully trained Mobile Infantryman, and fully capable of killing someone in twenty ways without breaking a sweat. | |
Starship Troopers / int_41d5f145 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_41d5f145 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_41d5f145 | |
Starship Troopers / int_41dd77d | type |
Zerg Rush | |
Starship Troopers / int_41dd77d | comment |
Zerg Rush: Subverted — the rush was mostly composed of non-combatant bugs and was meant as a decoy. Averted spiritually when despite being THE Bug War, the Bugs actually use tactics not unlike humans and Bug Warriors are broadly equivalent in style to Cap Troopers. They still massively outnumber human troops and rely on quantity, though; the narrator once mentions a kill ratio of 1000:1 is still a net win by the Bugs. Although it should be noted that Cap Troopers operate in tiny numbers by today's standards; one soldier per square kilometer is considered a dangerously tight formation. They try another rush with real warriors towards the end of the book and it goes terribly. A sudden close-combat ambush with superior numbers only gets you so far when the enemy is in Power Armor. | |
Starship Troopers / int_41dd77d | featureApplicability |
-0.3 | |
Starship Troopers / int_41dd77d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_41dd77d | |
Starship Troopers / int_43c5a4b7 | type |
Court-martialed | |
Starship Troopers / int_43c5a4b7 | comment |
Court-martialed: The Federation military forces have "thirty-one ways to crash land", that is, thirty-one military capital felonies, including assaulting an officer during emergency or wartime. Ted Hendrick is sentenced to flogging and a dishonourable discharge for assaulting Sergeant Zim during a training exercise. He could have gotten away with only administrative punishment if he had kept his mouth shut. Captain Frankel had realized what happened immediately upon seeing Zim's black eye and was trying to avoid a court martial, but when Hendrick admitted he knocked Sgt. Zim down in front of witnesses the Captain no longer had any choice but to hold a court martial. Capt. Frankel actually goes out of his way to save Hendrick's life by very quickly arranging a field court martial, because a field court martial doesn't have the authority to execute a recruit, and he believes that in a regular general court martial Hendrick would have received a death sentence. After the field court martial, Johnny overhears Capt. Frankel denying Sgt. Zim a request for a transfer back to a combat unit because he blames himself for what happened, and Capt. Frankel gives him a royal chewing out for dropping his guard and letting Hendrick land a blow on him. Zim's excuse is that he kind of liked Hendrick and had him mentally labeled as one of the "safe ones" (the ideas that Sgt. Zim can do something worth being chewed out and actually likes some of the recruits pretty much blows Johnny's mind). Both agree that the recruits have to believe that it's impossible to land a blow on a trainer so that they won't even try, and that an example must be made of Hendrick. The hero, Juan Rico, is sentenced to five lashes for raising his visor and using his naked eyes to check if no one is in the area to get caught in the blast of a simulated tactical nuke instead of using his radar and map display. Contrary to Hendrick's case, though, he is deemed 'salvageable' and flogged as an administrative punishment, which is removed from his record upon graduation from traiing. It helped that Rico, having seen what happened to Hendrick, kept his mouth shut and didn't ask for a court martial. In fact, when offered a court martial, he refused as he realized only then just how much he had fucked up, and the battalion commander was visibly happy he accepted administrative punishment. Another trainee who deserted is later hanged in front of the regiment for kidnapping and then murdering a little girl. Kidnapping and desertion are also capital crimes, the book specifically notes, even without the murder, though most deserters are just flogged and dishonorably discharged instead. Executions only occur for desertion in combat or other genuinely heinous crimes. | |
Starship Troopers / int_43c5a4b7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_43c5a4b7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_43c5a4b7 | |
Starship Troopers / int_46d3f869 | type |
Family Business | |
Starship Troopers / int_46d3f869 | comment |
Family Business: Johnnie's father has the expectation that Johnnie will graduate from high school, attend Harvard business school, then work at, and eventually take over, the family company. | |
Starship Troopers / int_46d3f869 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_46d3f869 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_46d3f869 | |
Starship Troopers / int_479d4e5a | type |
Would Hurt a Child | |
Starship Troopers / int_479d4e5a | comment |
Would Hurt a Child: It is mentioned that children who commit crimes are flogged along with their parents; there are no juvenile courts or juvenile prisons since it's believed by The Federation that refusing to use corporal punishment on children means they don't learn their lesson and they go on to commit more crimes until they're adults and end up being executed. | |
Starship Troopers / int_479d4e5a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_479d4e5a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_479d4e5a | |
Starship Troopers / int_48d9e12d | type |
Funetik Aksent | |
Starship Troopers / int_48d9e12d | comment |
Funetik Aksent: When a battle goes horribly wrong, the commanders broadcast sauve qui peut ("let him save himself who can") — that is, the only objective is to get yourself and any living buddies back to an escape ship and get off the planet. Later on, a character (smart enough, but without much formal education) refers to it as the "sove-ki-poo". Also, on the first day of basic training, Sergeant Zim asks if anyone thinks they can beat him in a fight. Out of the ranks steps Breckinridge, three inches taller and wider in the shoulders. The following conversation takes place: | |
Starship Troopers / int_48d9e12d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_48d9e12d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_48d9e12d | |
Starship Troopers / int_498a6a21 | type |
Badass Teacher | |
Starship Troopers / int_498a6a21 | comment |
Badass Teacher: Many examples: Every single military service instructor is a combat veteran of their given trade, from the lowliest boot sergeant to the commandant of OCS (who is a retired general that came back to service to foster new generations of young officers during the war). Most of them are fully capable of kicking ass as well as taking recruits to school on a wide variety of subjects. Lt. Col. Dubois. He lost his arm and both legs in combat, got medical retirement and went to teach History and Moral Philosophy for Johnnie's high school. Johnnie knew he was a veteran (you have to be to teach H&MP), but didn't realize he was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Mobile Infantry until he is almost ready to graduate from Basic, whereupon Dubois informs him that he himself was an M.I. trooper. And a lieutenant colonel, which is no mean feat. Even Sergeant Zim idolizes the man. | |
Starship Troopers / int_498a6a21 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_498a6a21 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_498a6a21 | |
Starship Troopers / int_4c1e47cb | type |
War Comes Home | |
Starship Troopers / int_4c1e47cb | comment |
War Comes Home: Discussed where military types marvel about how civilians are largely unconcerned with the Bug War against the Pseudo-Arachnids until a successful military incursion destroys Buenos Aires, Argentina. Simultaneously downplayed: The Narrator's mother is slain in the attack, but either because Rico is meant to be The Stoic or because the book was reworked for younger audiences, we don't see this having much emotional impact on him. | |
Starship Troopers / int_4c1e47cb | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_4c1e47cb | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_4c1e47cb | |
Starship Troopers / int_4c2e7c11 | type |
Staff of Authority | |
Starship Troopers / int_4c2e7c11 | comment |
Staff of Authority: Drill sergeants carry swagger sticks that they use to hit the recruits. This is seen as more dignified than laying hands on them. It also serves the purpose of ensuring that any frustrated recruit who appears likely to lash out against a sergeant is unable to get close enough to do so. One recruit ends up striking his instructor, and is given Corporal Punishment for it. The instructor is then harshly berated for letting the recruit be in a position to get in trouble because he hesitated to strike the recruit first. | |
Starship Troopers / int_4c2e7c11 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_4c2e7c11 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_4c2e7c11 | |
Starship Troopers / int_4e3d253b | type |
Downer Ending | |
Starship Troopers / int_4e3d253b | comment |
In some editions, there's an afterword that briefly mentions him making Captain, and dying. | |
Starship Troopers / int_4e3d253b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_4e3d253b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_4e3d253b | |
Starship Troopers / int_4eaa9b84 | type |
Author Tract | |
Starship Troopers / int_4eaa9b84 | comment |
Author Tract and Author Filibuster: We get several classroom scenes which are literally just the teacher talking at length about whatever Heinlein wants pounded into our heads. | |
Starship Troopers / int_4eaa9b84 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_4eaa9b84 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_4eaa9b84 | |
Starship Troopers / int_51beab21 | type |
Good Old Fisticuffs | |
Starship Troopers / int_51beab21 | comment |
Good Old Fisticuffs: Even though each trooper carries a couple hundred pounds of ordnance, most of the actual fighting in the novel is hand-to-hand. | |
Starship Troopers / int_51beab21 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_51beab21 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_51beab21 | |
Starship Troopers / int_53136954 | type |
Book Dumb | |
Starship Troopers / int_53136954 | comment |
Book Dumb: Johnnie thought his education was "well-rounded," even though he's deficient in math and it's revealed he took classes like "Appreciation of Television." One of his squad mates does mention that his education makes him an acceptable candidate for OCS, putting him fairly well ahead of the pack, but he still has a lot of catching up in the natural sciences. Johnnie points out even an MI private has to learn so many skills he would easily be a master of many other trades if he trained as hard in them, and officers are forced to read everything from advanced natural sciences, pure mathematics, and political theory to "why Napoleon lost the big one." One of his OCS classmates is a 1st Lieutenant (field commissioned) who received a Field Promotion, and willingly took a demotion to 3rd Lieutenant so that he could attend OCS and get the book learning to complement his experience. | |
Starship Troopers / int_53136954 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_53136954 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_53136954 | |
Starship Troopers / int_5526b660 | type |
Humans Are White | |
Starship Troopers / int_5526b660 | comment |
Humans Are White: Completely averted; few characters receive much of a physical description, but last names and speech patterns allow you to read between the lines. Notably, Johnnie speaks Tagalog as his native language and reveres Ramon Magsaysay, pretty much spelling out a Filipino heritage. Shujumi and Jelal are Japanese (although 'Shujumi' is definitely not a Japanese name) and Finno-Turkish, respectively, in a book written in 1959. Think about American attitudes towards the Japanese just a few years prior. Adaptations tend to ignore this. | |
Starship Troopers / int_5526b660 | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_5526b660 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_5526b660 | |
Starship Troopers / int_56cc0339 | type |
United Space of America | |
Starship Troopers / int_56cc0339 | comment |
United Space of America: The Terran Federation's system of government and civic and military institutions and traditions, apart from its limited-franchise democracy, appear obviously American-derived. Also, "Standard English" is its state language. | |
Starship Troopers / int_56cc0339 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_56cc0339 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_56cc0339 | |
Starship Troopers / int_57b80b45 | type |
Fantastic Racism | |
Starship Troopers / int_57b80b45 | comment |
Fantastic Racism: Most of the human characters in the book know they might have to exterminate the Bugs to win, and are basically okay with that ("Us or them" is the exact phrase). Arguably a Justified Trope: all those characters are soldiers, and the Bugs are pretty clearly bent on exterminating us. However, nobody claims the Arachnids are inferior or evil. It is just everyone's bad luck that "two tough, smart races want the same real estate." It's even implied that, rather than seeking annihilation of the Bugs, the Federation is seeking the higher castes in order to find out what kind of leverage they'll need in order to negotiate a peace. | |
Starship Troopers / int_57b80b45 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_57b80b45 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_57b80b45 | |
Starship Troopers / int_5d3e7c6 | type |
Kangaroo Court | |
Starship Troopers / int_5d3e7c6 | comment |
Kangaroo Court: Subverted. Yes, Hendrick faced administrative punishment for striking a superior without a chance to defend himself. But he was dumb enough to appeal, and the court-martial had him slung out of the service. A full general court-martial with all legal protections would have had him executed. Smart soldiers know that when they're assigned summary punishments, the appropriate response is to shut up and take it, rather than barracks lawyering. | |
Starship Troopers / int_5d3e7c6 | featureApplicability |
-0.3 | |
Starship Troopers / int_5d3e7c6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_5d3e7c6 | |
Starship Troopers / int_5deb34da | type |
Ace Pilot | |
Starship Troopers / int_5deb34da | comment |
Ace Pilot: Captain Deladrier, the CO of the corvette Rodger Young. In the prologue of the book, Johnnie notes that she coordinated their drop with the rotation of the planet to ensure that their landing zone wasn't too spread out. Later, the Roughnecks' shuttle is late to lift off because they're waiting to extract wounded; this causes them to miss the carefully preplanned and calculated rendezvous.note It is repeatedly stated that a shuttle docking with a ship is an extremely complicated maneuver requiring lots of calculations and planning; it's as bad as an actual shuttle launch. Captain Deladrier instead takes manual control of her corvette, and plots a flight course to dock her ship and the shuttle. On the fly. No calculations. By sight, instinct, and a steady hand. | |
Starship Troopers / int_5deb34da | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_5deb34da | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_5deb34da | |
Starship Troopers / int_5fcedca | type |
Big Eater | |
Starship Troopers / int_5fcedca | comment |
Big Eater: Johnnie, and by extension the rest of the M.I. troopers. The physical conditioning they undergo to remain in shape for drops means they need to eat many more calories than sedentary civilians. For instance, breakfast in the barracks while on leave on Sanctuary: | |
Starship Troopers / int_5fcedca | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_5fcedca | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_5fcedca | |
Starship Troopers / int_607df6c | type |
Recruiters Always Lie | |
Starship Troopers / int_607df6c | comment |
Recruiters Always Lie: Inverted; the recruiter is a triple amputee specifically chosen for the job to scare off anyone who might be joining for the wrong reasons. | |
Starship Troopers / int_607df6c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_607df6c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_607df6c | |
Starship Troopers / int_61c683d2 | type |
We Have Reserves | |
Starship Troopers / int_61c683d2 | comment |
We Have Reserves: Averted by human military strategy, specifically because the bugs fit this trope to a T. "Every time we killed a thousand Bugs at the cost of one M.I., it was a net victory for the Bugs. ... We learned not to waste ammo even on warriors except in self-protection; instead we went after their lairs." The Bugs, however, have no qualms with expending their own soldiers as if they were no more valuable than ammunition. Rico tells how the Bugs would send soldier arachnids out radioactive exit holes to attack even if the exposure level was so high that mere exit would expose their soldiers to lethal levels of radiation. | |
Starship Troopers / int_61c683d2 | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_61c683d2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_61c683d2 | |
Starship Troopers / int_6366f900 | type |
Old Soldier | |
Starship Troopers / int_6366f900 | comment |
Old Soldier: Zim and numerous other veterans. | |
Starship Troopers / int_6366f900 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_6366f900 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_6366f900 | |
Starship Troopers / int_6375f746 | type |
Drill Sergeant Nasty | |
Starship Troopers / int_6375f746 | comment |
Drill Sergeant Nasty: Zim, although all of Rico's instructors count. They do it on purpose, to weed out those not cut for the job and on the idea that pain will help the trainees learn (it works). When basic training has reached the point where everyone who won't hack it is gone, the drill sergeants switch to an emphasis on getting the remainder over the finish line. Johnnie mentions that the M.I. tries to weed out the bullies and sadists, not because they believe in going soft on recruits, but because bullies are in it for fun and will start to slack off when it stops being so. He does concede that some of the instructors might be professional at their job and enjoy it at the same time. Johnnie has something of an existential crisis when he overhears a conversation between Zim and his superior officer, where Zim admits that he's at fault for a recruit's offense that resulted in a dishonorable discharge. Zim admits that he liked that particular cadet, and wasn't as wary of him as he should have been. Johnnie just can't grasp that not only do the Drill Sergeants make mistakes, but that they might actually like the recruits they're training. Deconstructing the trope nearly deconstructs Johnnie Rico. | |
Starship Troopers / int_6375f746 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_6375f746 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_6375f746 | |
Starship Troopers / int_63f22889 | type |
Insectoid Aliens | |
Starship Troopers / int_63f22889 | comment |
Insectoid Aliens: The aptly-named Bugs. Exoskeleton, too many legs, tendency to invoke various phobias, Hive Mind, We Have Reserves, and yes, the trope-naming Bug War. | |
Starship Troopers / int_63f22889 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_63f22889 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_63f22889 | |
Starship Troopers / int_6439de78 | type |
Heroic Sacrifice | |
Starship Troopers / int_6439de78 | comment |
Heroic Sacrifice: A major theme of the book; Rico's ship, the Rodger Young, is named after a private who did exactly such a thing in the Solomon Islands campaign during WWII. | |
Starship Troopers / int_6439de78 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_6439de78 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_6439de78 | |
Starship Troopers / int_659ef759 | type |
Implacable Man | |
Starship Troopers / int_659ef759 | comment |
Implacable Man: The warrior Bugs are like this. Rico notes that you can shoot off three or four of their legs and they'll keep coming until they're dead or their opponent is. | |
Starship Troopers / int_659ef759 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_659ef759 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_659ef759 | |
Starship Troopers / int_673c9dd8 | type |
Insignia Rip-Off Ritual | |
Starship Troopers / int_673c9dd8 | comment |
Insignia Rip-Off Ritual: Played dead seriously during the execution of a child murderer who deserted from Rico's training regiment during boot camp. While the desertion is an offense de jure worth fifty lashes and a dishonorable discharge, it's one that would never be followed up, since service is voluntary and a deserter will never make a soldier (or a citizen). But, in every sense of the phrase, the M.I. takes care of its own. The actual ripoff ritual is described. The guilty man is trotted out to the gallows in full dress uniform, then everything that indicates it is in fact a uniform is carefully removed. Pins, ribbons, insignia and even buttons (which have the M.I. insignia on them) are cut away until he's standing in what looks like a bad brown suit. Then he's hanged. | |
Starship Troopers / int_673c9dd8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_673c9dd8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_673c9dd8 | |
Starship Troopers / int_681c1b78 | type |
All Asians Know Martial Arts | |
Starship Troopers / int_681c1b78 | comment |
All Asians Know Martial Arts: Japanese recruit Shujumi isn't a black belt yet, but is able to fight Sergeant Zim to a draw on his first day of training. In the same scene it's stated that Shujumi's father is a famous martial artist and Colonel Badass who at some point taught Zim. | |
Starship Troopers / int_681c1b78 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_681c1b78 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_681c1b78 | |
Starship Troopers / int_6b2b3b59 | type |
The Reveal | |
Starship Troopers / int_6b2b3b59 | comment |
The Reveal: The identify of Rico's unnamed platoon sergeant: Sergeant Zim. A minor one, but it does happen at the end of the book. Johnnie's race or nationality are never mentioned, and his father's Harvard accent might lead one to think they're American, possibly of Latino extraction. Then at the end he mentions that his native tongue is Tagalog, implying that he's Filipino. | |
Starship Troopers / int_6b2b3b59 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_6b2b3b59 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_6b2b3b59 | |
Starship Troopers / int_6bda9a30 | type |
Meaningful Name | |
Starship Troopers / int_6bda9a30 | comment |
Meaningful Name: Juan ''Johnnie" Rico, Johnnie Rich. He's a pampered rich kid before joining the Mobile Infantry. | |
Starship Troopers / int_6bda9a30 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_6bda9a30 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_6bda9a30 | |
Starship Troopers / int_6fbe3154 | type |
Shot in the Ass | |
Starship Troopers / int_6fbe3154 | comment |
Shot in the Ass: In boot camp the recruits practice taking cover while the instructors shoot blanks at them with an occasional real round mixed in, and one recruit gets shot in the ass. They joke about it, but the lesson is learned because they all know it could have been one of their heads. | |
Starship Troopers / int_6fbe3154 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_6fbe3154 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_6fbe3154 | |
Starship Troopers / int_713e479 | type |
Sensor Suspense | |
Starship Troopers / int_713e479 | comment |
Sensor Suspense: When the M.I. drops in somewhere, there drop pods are designed to split apart with the pieces falling at the same rate as the troopers; this causes sensors to go haywire, as they are detecting incoming projectiles many times the actual number of soldiers. | |
Starship Troopers / int_713e479 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_713e479 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_713e479 | |
Starship Troopers / int_722171e7 | type |
Straw Character | |
Starship Troopers / int_722171e7 | comment |
Straw Character: The Hive Minded Arachnids as Dirty Communists. Heinlein even lampshades this himself by saying that communism is okay for the bugs since they're evolved for it, but humans are different. More specifically, the Arachnids are the Chinese Communists — Heinlein felt they were less concerned with individual lives than even the Soviet Union. | |
Starship Troopers / int_722171e7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_722171e7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_722171e7 | |
Starship Troopers / int_72e0023f | type |
Invoked Trope | |
Starship Troopers / int_72e0023f | comment |
Zim, although all of Rico's instructors count. They do it on purpose, to weed out those not cut for the job and on the idea that pain will help the trainees learn (it works). When basic training has reached the point where everyone who won't hack it is gone, the drill sergeants switch to an emphasis on getting the remainder over the finish line. | |
Starship Troopers / int_72e0023f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_72e0023f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_72e0023f | |
Starship Troopers / int_756dbd0b | type |
Hard on Soft Science | |
Starship Troopers / int_756dbd0b | comment |
Hard on Soft Science: Johnnie states at one point that "everything useful is based on math," and his teachers tend to have a fairly low opinion of the social sciences (see Politically Motivated Teacher). | |
Starship Troopers / int_756dbd0b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_756dbd0b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_756dbd0b | |
Starship Troopers / int_78a96b71 | type |
Safely Secluded Science Center | |
Starship Troopers / int_78a96b71 | comment |
Safely Secluded Science Center: The Terran Federation maintains laboratories on Uranus and Pluto. Subverted when the Bugs later take out the facility on Pluto, getting Rico and Carmen's longtime friend Carl Killed Offscreen, after he had signed up and been assigned there as a researcher. | |
Starship Troopers / int_78a96b71 | featureApplicability |
-0.3 | |
Starship Troopers / int_78a96b71 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_78a96b71 | |
Starship Troopers / int_7969f21e | type |
No One Gets Left Behind | |
Starship Troopers / int_7969f21e | comment |
No One Gets Left Behind: "Men are not potatoes." This is the M.I.'s policy and practice. It also extends beyond the battlefield, such as the case where a soldier who deserted two days into training ends up kidnapping and killing a young girl and is brought back to be hanged with full military ceremony: | |
Starship Troopers / int_7969f21e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_7969f21e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_7969f21e | |
Starship Troopers / int_7a3dd888 | type |
Real Men Wear Pink | |
Starship Troopers / int_7a3dd888 | comment |
Real Men Wear Pink: Johnnie is especially proud of a pair of earrings that he wore on dates and inherited from his mother's grandfather. Earrings for men isn't limited to civilians; a lot of troopers wear various styles of gold skull earrings in one ear. Johnny acquires one for himself but stops wearing it when he realizes that the Roughnecks don't feel the need to show off in that fashion. | |
Starship Troopers / int_7a3dd888 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_7a3dd888 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_7a3dd888 | |
Starship Troopers / int_7c7589af | type |
Earth-Shattering Kaboom | |
Starship Troopers / int_7c7589af | comment |
Later in the war, the Federation develops Nova Bombs said to be able to crack open a planet, allowing the Federation to just wipe out bug planets they don't plan to take for themselves. Klendathu is however excluded by the list, as they know there could be prisoners of war there and the Federation isn't going to kill their own soldiers like that. | |
Starship Troopers / int_7c7589af | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_7c7589af | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_7c7589af | |
Starship Troopers / int_7d260070 | type |
Corporal Punishment | |
Starship Troopers / int_7d260070 | comment |
Corporal Punishment: Discussed at length. In the Mobile Infantry, any and all corporal punishment — from a Dope Slap to summary execution is legal... as long as the punisher can demonstrate that it was necessary and reasonable. Nor is it restricted to the military — it's a civilian criminal sentence as well, and even public schools are mentioned to (rarely) use it on students. | |
Starship Troopers / int_7d260070 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_7d260070 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_7d260070 | |
Starship Troopers / int_7d34f23a | type |
Reckless Gun Usage | |
Starship Troopers / int_7d34f23a | comment |
Reckless Gun Usage: Averted. During training, Rico opened his visor to do a headcount instead of using his radar to check if the coast was clear when using a dummy launcher (opening your visor is extremely discouraged because a, the atmosphere might be poison due to either chemical weapons, biological weapons, or simple unbreathable atmospheres and b, it exposes you to enemy fire), and is severely punished by having his powered suit deactivated to force him to stay still for hours (Rico compared it to torture) while Zim explains exactly how stupid he had been, then he's brought before the commander who, after Zim vouches for him, decides to not kick him out of the service, asks him if he prefers to be judged by a martial court, and when Rico doesn't ask for the court martial has him flogged, to drive home the point that you don't violate gun safety protocol even when you know it's safe to. Note that Rico admits he got off easy: had he asked for the martial court he would have been flogged and drummed out. During the terror raid on the Skinnies, a building explodes right as Johnnie jumps off of the roof. He wonders whether the Skinnies (correctly) decided it was worth destroying one of their own buildings to kill him, or if it was one of his comrades getting a little careless with their munitions. Part of MI training involves using old-fashioned (for the setting) rifles with one in 500 rounds being live so that recruits will learn to keep their heads down in combat. Johnnie notes that many of the instructors were crack shots and several actually would deliberately try to graze recruits that were moving too slow. When Johnnie's company weren't progressing through training as fast as Zim wanted, they were threatened with their load outs being modified so that one in 100 would be live, and if that didn't work it would be changed to one in 50. It is noted that the recruits kind of scoffed at this until one of them was Shot in the Ass, "producing an amazing scar and a lot of half-witty comments", but also a strong interest in taking cover: | |
Starship Troopers / int_7d34f23a | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_7d34f23a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_7d34f23a | |
Starship Troopers / int_7d5324cf | type |
The Federation | |
Starship Troopers / int_7d5324cf | comment |
The Federation: Terran Federation. | |
Starship Troopers / int_7d5324cf | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_7d5324cf | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_7d5324cf | |
Starship Troopers / int_7e472269 | type |
Obsolete Occupation | |
Starship Troopers / int_7e472269 | comment |
Obsolete Occupation: An interesting variation: full citizenship rights are only granted to those who serve the Federation, but everyone has the right to serve if they so choose. Contrary to popular belief, "federal service" isn't restricted to military service, as various civilian jobs also count, and the government is required to find duties every applicant can physically perform and allow them a reasonable opportunity to earn their citizenship, even if it's something as pointless as having a blind person "count the fuzz on a caterpillar by touch." | |
Starship Troopers / int_7e472269 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_7e472269 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_7e472269 | |
Starship Troopers / int_808316b6 | type |
Politically Motivated Teacher | |
Starship Troopers / int_808316b6 | comment |
Politically Motivated Teacher: A justified example. The History and Moral Philosophy class exists to help students see the rationale behind their system of government and instill the values embraced thereby (e.g., value of service to society as a whole, balancing rights with responsibility for one's actions and decisions, etc.) so the teachers naturally push these political and philosophical values on their students. Every student is required to take the class, but passing or failing is irrelevant, and Rico's teacher did not seem to expect much of his teaching to actually sink in to his young pupils. | |
Starship Troopers / int_808316b6 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_808316b6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_808316b6 | |
Starship Troopers / int_8252652c | type |
All Planets Are Earth-Like | |
Starship Troopers / int_8252652c | comment |
All Planets Are Earthlike: Averted. Many planets are inhospitable to humans, who must wear protective armor while on them. Some have different gravity as well. The war is ultimately over control of those few that are even remotely habitable for either race. | |
Starship Troopers / int_8252652c | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_8252652c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_8252652c | |
Starship Troopers / int_8409a385 | type |
Exactly What It Says on the Tin | |
Starship Troopers / int_8409a385 | comment |
Exactly What It Says on the Tin: The Thirty Second Bomb, certainly truth in advertising, designed as a psychological warfare device to frazzle nerves. Also the action Rico is on when he uses the above weapon, explicitly called a ''Terror Raid' targeting civilian buildings and infrastructure. | |
Starship Troopers / int_8409a385 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_8409a385 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_8409a385 | |
Starship Troopers / int_852b3adf | type |
PowerArmor | |
Starship Troopers / int_852b3adf | comment |
They try another rush with real warriors towards the end of the book and it goes terribly. A sudden close-combat ambush with superior numbers only gets you so far when the enemy is in Power Armor. | |
Starship Troopers / int_852b3adf | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_852b3adf | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_852b3adf | |
Starship Troopers / int_8552d6d4 | type |
Universal Chaplain | |
Starship Troopers / int_8552d6d4 | comment |
Universal Chaplain: Sergeant and Padre Migliaccio offers a short prayer service before a jump, and troopers of a number of different religions take part in it. | |
Starship Troopers / int_8552d6d4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_8552d6d4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_8552d6d4 | |
Starship Troopers / int_8573ac0a | type |
The Social Darwinist | |
Starship Troopers / int_8573ac0a | comment |
The Social Darwinist: The Federation, and Rico himself. Commenting on the planet Sanctuary: And commenting on the human wars of the past: | |
Starship Troopers / int_8573ac0a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_8573ac0a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_8573ac0a | |
Starship Troopers / int_863fa679 | type |
What Happened to the Mouse? | |
Starship Troopers / int_863fa679 | comment |
What Happened to the Mouse?: A third race referred to as the Skinnies, humanoids with some kind of alliance with the Bugs, are the target of the terror raid in the book. Somewhat later in the book Johnnie mentions that the Terrans have managed to break that alliance and turn the Skinnies into Terran allies of sorts (in fact, that's what the raid was about), but their eventual fate is never revealed. | |
Starship Troopers / int_863fa679 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_863fa679 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_863fa679 | |
Starship Troopers / int_874176be | type |
Psychic Powers | |
Starship Troopers / int_874176be | comment |
Psychic Powers: Not focused upon, but present; one "sensitive" is brought in to draw a map of a tunnel network near the end. It's the real deal, but Rico himself is skeptical. Rico also refers in passing to the "talents" assigned to Logistics & Communications (including "telepaths," "sensers," and "lucky men"). Even after the sensitive's skills are proven, Johnnie still doubts the guy is psychic. His theory is the guy might just have really good hearing.note He's tracing the bug tunnels from above ground, and the tools bug workers use for digging and maintenance make a very distinctive sound. Several comments made by the sensitive and his "handlers" would seem to back this up, but it's still ambiguous. | |
Starship Troopers / int_874176be | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_874176be | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_874176be | |
Starship Troopers / int_8878f3be | type |
Badass Army | |
Starship Troopers / int_8878f3be | comment |
Badass Army: The Mobile Infantry. A good example comes from what happened to Rico on leave from training, when he and two fellow trainees get attacked from behind by two civilians and two sailors of the merchant fleet: Rico executed an Offhand Backhand on the one who attacked him, then realized they were being attacked and turned to help the others but sees that they did the same to their aggressors, with the short and shy 'Kitten' Smith stomping two of the aggressors (Rico's narration then says it's a good thing they are unarmed on leave and trained to fight to disable, as they had acted only through reflexes). If unarmed trainees halfway through training can do this, then the fully trained and equipped M.I. rules this trope.note The narrative heavily implies that the assailants were all drunk when they jumped Johnnie and his friends, who were all sober. Johnnie states that a single M.I. private in powered armor could defeat a whole squadron of tanks, if anyone were stupid enough to send tanks against them. | |
Starship Troopers / int_8878f3be | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_8878f3be | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_8878f3be | |
Starship Troopers / int_890afd34 | type |
Space Cadet | |
Starship Troopers / int_890afd34 | comment |
Space Cadet: Johnnie eventually advances in rank enough to become a viable officer candidate. | |
Starship Troopers / int_890afd34 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_890afd34 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_890afd34 | |
Starship Troopers / int_8b568cb7 | type |
Posthumous Character | |
Starship Troopers / int_8b568cb7 | comment |
Posthumous Character: Invoked in-universe by Sergeant Jelal after Lt. Rasczak dies during a combat mission. If a Roughneck screwed up or failed to behave properly, he would shake his head and say 'the Lieutenant wouldn't like it'. For the surviving soldiers, who all idolized Rasczak, it's an extremely effective motivator. | |
Starship Troopers / int_8b568cb7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_8b568cb7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_8b568cb7 | |
Starship Troopers / int_8b606a51 | type |
There Is No Kill Like Overkill | |
Starship Troopers / int_8b606a51 | comment |
There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Denounced through the mouth of Sergeant Zim. | |
Starship Troopers / int_8b606a51 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_8b606a51 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_8b606a51 | |
Starship Troopers / int_8c431fe4 | type |
Band of Brothers | |
Starship Troopers / int_8c431fe4 | comment |
Band of Brothers: The Mobile Infantry are well aware that every drop could be - probably will be - proof that War Is Hell. But staying behind while their companions risk death is unthinkable. | |
Starship Troopers / int_8c431fe4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_8c431fe4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_8c431fe4 | |
Starship Troopers / int_8f8b59c1 | type |
Inhumanable Alien Rights | |
Starship Troopers / int_8f8b59c1 | comment |
Inhumanable Alien Rights: Averted. A number of less combat-oriented species are respected allies of humanity. The Federation is only at war with the Bugs because they are Dirty Communist Explosive Breeders who fight wars with Zerg Rushes; even if they lose several million Bugs taking a human world, it's a victory because they can replace those numbers and then some in a fraction of the time it takes to birth, raise and train a human as long as they have a planet to creche them on. | |
Starship Troopers / int_8f8b59c1 | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_8f8b59c1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_8f8b59c1 | |
Starship Troopers / int_91a7d252 | type |
Fake in the Hole | |
Starship Troopers / int_91a7d252 | comment |
Fake in the Hole: Played with. In the first chapter, during a terror raid against a race referred to as the Skinnies, the protagonist finds himself in a building full of them. He throws something at random and it turns out to be a Thirty Second Bomb. When thrown it starts saying "I'm a thirty-second bomb! I'm a thirty-second bomb! Twenty-nine! . . . twenty-eight! . . . twenty-seven! —" The book doesn't say if there is an explosion at the end or not. Given that the terror raid was designed to frighten civilians and not kill them, this might be the case but still leaves the question over whether or not the Skinnies were killed. | |
Starship Troopers / int_91a7d252 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_91a7d252 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_91a7d252 | |
Starship Troopers / int_91c651a1 | type |
Guilt-Free Extermination War | |
Starship Troopers / int_91c651a1 | comment |
Guilt-Free Extermination War: The war between the Terran Federation and the Bugs (Arachnids). Although Johnnie mentions that the Federation is trying to find a way to get the Bugs to at least negotiate for prisoner exchanges. | |
Starship Troopers / int_91c651a1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_91c651a1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_91c651a1 | |
Starship Troopers / int_9323741 | type |
Planet Looters | |
Starship Troopers / int_9323741 | comment |
Planet Looters, Horde of Alien Locusts; Expansive (and exclusive) colonization is explicitly the goal of both the humans and Bugs. | |
Starship Troopers / int_9323741 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_9323741 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_9323741 | |
Starship Troopers / int_96cc4848 | type |
"Dear John" Letter | |
Starship Troopers / int_96cc4848 | comment |
"Dear John" Letter: Played with. When at OCS Johnnie claims he and Carmen were dating, but she sent him a "Dear John." This is technically true, since he and Carmen went on a few dates, nothing serious, and she always begins her (occasional) letters with "Dear Johnnie." Essentially, Johnnie is playing up the trope to gain some street cred. | |
Starship Troopers / int_96cc4848 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_96cc4848 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_96cc4848 | |
Starship Troopers / int_97b5e1f9 | type |
Bug War | |
Starship Troopers / int_97b5e1f9 | comment |
Bug War: The Arachnids, also the Trope Namer. The Arachnids are depicted very differently in the book from the movie; while in the film, the Bugs are portrayed as essentially animals who have somehow evolved, among other things, the ability to bombard enemy planets at interstellar distances, the book Arachnids are a technological civilization on an even par with humanity, and their soldier caste is every bit as smart and skilled as the MI - as Johnnie says, smarter than their opponents, if they get the drop on the enemy first. | |
Starship Troopers / int_97b5e1f9 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_97b5e1f9 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_97b5e1f9 | |
Starship Troopers / int_9843be73 | type |
As You Know | |
Starship Troopers / int_9843be73 | comment |
As You Know: Inverted, as it's used toward the reader as an excuse to skip exposition. Specifically, Rico's narration skips over a lot about the powered armor by telling the reader something along the lines of, "I'm not going to bother telling you the details since you've already seen so much of them on the news." The classroom sections fall into this to some extent, although the exposition comes across fairly unobtrusively in Socratic form; the Turkey City Lexicon would refer to this type of seamless expospeak as "Heinleining" in Bob's honor. | |
Starship Troopers / int_9843be73 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_9843be73 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_9843be73 | |
Starship Troopers / int_99f2522e | type |
Hit Me, Dammit! | |
Starship Troopers / int_99f2522e | comment |
Hit Me, Dammit!: Ace says this to Johnnie Rico after he beats Johnnie in a fight. Afterwards they shake hands and Ace accepts his authority. | |
Starship Troopers / int_99f2522e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_99f2522e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_99f2522e | |
Starship Troopers / int_9b1e50bd | type |
During the War | |
Starship Troopers / int_9b1e50bd | comment |
During the War: About halfway through, Rico mentions in passing that, officially, what's going on the background to his experiences is a "police action" that the Federation is about to outright label a war. (He also points out that since you can die either way, and most of the "31 crash landings" still apply, the difference in label isn't very important.) | |
Starship Troopers / int_9b1e50bd | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_9b1e50bd | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_9b1e50bd | |
Starship Troopers / int_9c1f758a | type |
Kill It with Fire | |
Starship Troopers / int_9c1f758a | comment |
Kill It with Fire: Handheld flamethrowers. Text in the first chapter implies that they might be more exotic than that, as Johnnie is able to narrow the flame to cut through a wall. | |
Starship Troopers / int_9c1f758a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_9c1f758a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_9c1f758a | |
Starship Troopers / int_9c47b23b | type |
Dirty Communists | |
Starship Troopers / int_9c47b23b | comment |
Dirty Communists: The Bugs, explicitly. Also, the Chinese Hegemony. | |
Starship Troopers / int_9c47b23b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_9c47b23b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_9c47b23b | |
Starship Troopers / int_9e869a0c | type |
Un-Paused | |
Starship Troopers / int_9e869a0c | comment |
Un-Paused: When Johnnie Rico is put to sleep via post-hypnotic suggestion and then woken up again, he doesn't realize he's been asleep for more than an hour. He continues talking to the commanding officer who put him to sleep as if it hadn't happened. The topic of discussion? Rico refusing to go to sleep. | |
Starship Troopers / int_9e869a0c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_9e869a0c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_9e869a0c | |
Starship Troopers / int_9f6fb586 | type |
Leitmotif | |
Starship Troopers / int_9f6fb586 | comment |
Leitmotif: An unusual literary example: each ship in the Fleet has a theme song, played over the radio by the recovery shuttles, so the troopers know when it's time to regroup and leave. The Rodger Young has "The Ballad of Rodger Young." The Valley Forge, Johnnie's first ship, uses "Yankee Doodle", and the Voortrek, the ship that picks him up during the scramble to get off Klendathu, uses "Sugar Bush". | |
Starship Troopers / int_9f6fb586 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_9f6fb586 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_9f6fb586 | |
Starship Troopers / int_a08b0736 | type |
Nuclear Option | |
Starship Troopers / int_a08b0736 | comment |
Nuclear Option: Among their other armaments, the Mobile Infantry can be supplied with mini-nuke 2 kiloton rockets. They're drilled extensively to "get their money's worth" out of them, and taken seriously enough that Johnnie is flogged in boot camp for using eye-ball reckoning (rather than computer targeting) with a simulated one and getting one of his troopers caught in the simulated blast radius. During the opening terror raid, Rico is issued two with orders to expend all the ammunition he has, but he comes very close to disobey his orders because he just can't find two targets worthy of being nuked, only the one starship in the local spaceport, and is quite happy when he identifies a large water reclaiming facility, whose destruction would force the Skinnies to abandon the now unlivable city. | |
Starship Troopers / int_a08b0736 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_a08b0736 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_a08b0736 | |
Starship Troopers / int_a0f6ab07 | type |
Nicknaming the Enemy | |
Starship Troopers / int_a0f6ab07 | comment |
Nicknaming the Enemy: Humanity's main opponent was officially known as the Arachnids (or Pseudo Arachnids), but the MI called them the Bugs. The humanoid aliens Johnnie's platoon is attacking in the first chapter are referred to as Skinnies. | |
Starship Troopers / int_a0f6ab07 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_a0f6ab07 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_a0f6ab07 | |
Starship Troopers / int_a32dcd7f | type |
Desk Jockey | |
Starship Troopers / int_a32dcd7f | comment |
Desk Jockey/Soldiers at the Rear: Both doubly subverted; everyone in the MI fights. Any job that doesn't involve combat is undertaken by civilian contractors or other branches of the Civil Service — unless they "require fighting spirit". Because all MI officers fight, and they drop first (and therefore sustain a higher casualty rate than enlisted men), active-duty officers often find themselves juggling multiple desk jobs along with their combat duty. Johnnie's officer training school tour as a Third Lieutenant with Blackie's Blackguards has him wearing enough hats that Captain Blackstone has to teach him a valuable lesson about time management. Not just officers. Sergeant Migliaccio leads a section with the Roughnecks during drops. He is also the platoon armorer maintaining and repairing the power armor. Finally, he is also the platoon Padre looking after the men's spiritual needs. Jobs that can't be handled by either civilians or active MI (like instructors at Officer Candidate School) are filled by officers who have been crippled, but refuse to be discharged. One notable example is the Dirty Fighting instructor, who was wheelchair bound and wore a neck brace, and could still offer savage but valuable criticism. Another notable (and highlighted strongly in the book) special task is recruiter. This is reserved for the most mangled, crippled, and disfigured of survivors. The one in the recruiting center Rico signs up in is missing three limbs, an eye, and has a face barely recognizable as human (though later Rico meets him after hours and initially doesn't recognize the man because he's wearing all of his prosthetics - the sergeant only displays his 'horror show' while on duty). These people are given the task of signing up recruits because this is a military that wants you to know what might happen to you before you sign up. The recruiter's job is literally to scare away anyone who isn't signing up for the right reasons. The recruiter states that, if you're smart enough to understand the oath and choose to take it, Federal Service has to find something for you to do. Even if you're a wheelchair-bound quadriplegic, they'll find some way for you to earn your citizenship. But they want to make sure you know, in advance, that the work is (by design) dangerous and unhealthy, since that's the kind of work required to earn the responsibility of citizenship. | |
Starship Troopers / int_a32dcd7f | featureApplicability |
-0.3 | |
Starship Troopers / int_a32dcd7f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_a32dcd7f | |
Starship Troopers / int_a96b8b63 | type |
Space Marine | |
Starship Troopers / int_a96b8b63 | comment |
Space Marine: One of the early defining examples of the trope, although the Mobile Infantry are specifically referred to as being part of the Army being ferried from planet to planet on Navy transports. | |
Starship Troopers / int_a96b8b63 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_a96b8b63 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_a96b8b63 | |
Starship Troopers / int_aa07ca54 | type |
Obfuscating Disability | |
Starship Troopers / int_aa07ca54 | comment |
Obfuscating Disability: The recruiter deliberately left his prosthetics off when working to scare away gutless applicants. There are also indications that the most gruesomely maimed soldiers are selected for recruiting duty to maximize this effect. In the book (but not the movie) these guys don't pretend things are better than they are. | |
Starship Troopers / int_aa07ca54 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_aa07ca54 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_aa07ca54 | |
Starship Troopers / int_ac0f4761 | type |
Future Imperfect | |
Starship Troopers / int_ac0f4761 | comment |
Future Imperfect: A bit character near the end mentions that every country has its own version of history. In his, Simon Bolivar built the Pyramids, went to the moon, and defeated the Spanish Armada. Of course, he's probably being sarcastic about that... The exact chain of events which led to the Terran Federation are unknown, even to in-universe historians, presumably because so many records were destroyed or lost at the time. The best they can do is tell where it probably started and why. It's mentioned, however, that most national governments collapsed in the wake of the "Disorders" triggered by World War III at the end of the 20th century (fought, as mentioned above, between an alliance of the US, UK, and Russia versus China). First in Glasgow, Scotland, and then spreading across the world, returning veterans stepped into the void to restore functioning government and the rule of law, only trusting other veterans to do likewise. This led to the current system, where democracy exists, but only those who have served federally (whether in military or civil - and as noted elsewhere, most "Federal Service" posts are what used to be called the civil service) are allowed to participate. How the collapse of governmental authority came about isn't specified, but there's a good chance, this having been World War III after all, that limited nuclear exchanges were involved, as well as economic disruptions caused by breakdowns in world trade. | |
Starship Troopers / int_ac0f4761 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_ac0f4761 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_ac0f4761 | |
Starship Troopers / int_ad1db87c | type |
Oh, Crap! | |
Starship Troopers / int_ad1db87c | comment |
Oh, Crap!: The intended effect of the aforementioned talking bomb, noted as being almost, if not more, important than the explosion. | |
Starship Troopers / int_ad1db87c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_ad1db87c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_ad1db87c | |
Starship Troopers / int_ad63e89f | type |
Disaster Democracy | |
Starship Troopers / int_ad63e89f | comment |
Disaster Democracy: How the Terran Federation came into existence; apparently, national governments largely collapsed during the "Disorders" at the end of the 20th century, following World War III. | |
Starship Troopers / int_ad63e89f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_ad63e89f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_ad63e89f | |
Starship Troopers / int_b01abe4f | type |
Catchphrase | |
Starship Troopers / int_b01abe4f | comment |
Catchphrase: "What a bunch of apes!" "On the bounce!" "Come on, you apes! You want to live forever?"note A Shout-Out to USMC Sergeant Major Daniel Daly, who actually said "Come on, you sons of bitches!" at the Battle of Belleau Wood. "Bought the farm/real estate deal." | |
Starship Troopers / int_b01abe4f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_b01abe4f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_b01abe4f | |
Starship Troopers / int_b0bce7aa | type |
Selective Obliviousness | |
Starship Troopers / int_b0bce7aa | comment |
Selective Obliviousness: Johnnie is able repeatedly to read the signs when the M.I. is grooming another cap trooper for advancement. He never seems to realize they're grooming him as well. When injured in boot camp, he spends his time as a company orderly, letting him see the military from the higher-up's point of view. Later, he is flogged for his negligence in a training exercise, something the M.I. is very rarely willing to do, as it would be easier to just kick him out; and when in the Roughnecks, in order to keep the squads together, Rico is moved to a leadership position over the heads of men senior to him. Ace all but has to whack him in the head and tell him "The Army wants you to be an officer, dumbass!" while the two are on shore leave, and Jelly has his reenlistment paperwork filled out and waiting for his signature. | |
Starship Troopers / int_b0bce7aa | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_b0bce7aa | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_b0bce7aa | |
Starship Troopers / int_b1bf5c9b | type |
Removing the Head or Destroying the Brain | |
Starship Troopers / int_b1bf5c9b | comment |
Removing the Head or Destroying the Brain: The Bugs can fight with all their limbs blown off. One has to destroy the "nerve case"; and even then they keep running and shooting until they blunder into a wall or off a cliff or something. | |
Starship Troopers / int_b1bf5c9b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_b1bf5c9b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_b1bf5c9b | |
Starship Troopers / int_b1ed0e0c | type |
Rank Up | |
Starship Troopers / int_b1ed0e0c | comment |
Rank Up: Johnnie is promoted several times, to Lance Corporal, Sergeant; he then becomes a commissioned officer and ranks up to 2nd Lieutenant upon finishing OCS. In an inversion, one of his OCS classmates is a battlefield-commissioned 1st Lieutenant, who would be demoted to 2nd Lieutenant after graduating OCS (though Rico notes that his career prospects are better, so it all works out in the end). Another inversion: the Commandant of Officer Candidate School is actually a famous and highly-decorated retired General who returned to duty to run OCS. As OCS is a Colonel's billet, he took a voluntary demotion. (Rico notes that when he retires again, he'll revert back to his actual rank). | |
Starship Troopers / int_b1ed0e0c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_b1ed0e0c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_b1ed0e0c | |
Starship Troopers / int_b5049d76 | type |
Added Alliterative Appeal | |
Starship Troopers / int_b5049d76 | comment |
Added Alliterative Appeal: Applies to many units, usually based off their leader's name. Throughout the novel, we come across Rasczak's Roughnecks, Warren's Wolverines, Blackie's Blackguards, King's Kodiak Bears, and Willie's Wildcats. After Rasczak is killed, the soldiers propose to rename the unit Jelly's Jaguars, after their new leader. Jelly promptly shoots it down At the end of the novel, the unit is now named Rico's Roughnecks. | |
Starship Troopers / int_b5049d76 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_b5049d76 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_b5049d76 | |
Starship Troopers / int_b52abf90 | type |
AuthorityGrantsAsskicking | |
Starship Troopers / int_b52abf90 | comment |
Authority Grants Asskicking: Everyone drops, with generals and other officers first on the ground, and command suits have the speed of scout suits while still packing weapons for self-defense.note Unlike the movie, where the Sky Marshall was relieved after the Klendathu disaster, in the book he died while holding off bugs so the rescue shuttles could get clear. | |
Starship Troopers / int_b52abf90 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_b52abf90 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_b52abf90 | |
Starship Troopers / int_b53077b3 | type |
Take That! | |
Starship Troopers / int_b53077b3 | comment |
Take That!: The military placement officer views Johnnie's low grade in his Appreciation of Television class to be a positive. | |
Starship Troopers / int_b53077b3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_b53077b3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_b53077b3 | |
Starship Troopers / int_b5ba2c2b | type |
It's Raining Men | |
Starship Troopers / int_b5ba2c2b | comment |
It's Raining Men: One of the Trope Codifiers for science fiction. The Mobile Infantry troopers are dropped from orbit in individual Drop Pods. | |
Starship Troopers / int_b5ba2c2b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_b5ba2c2b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_b5ba2c2b | |
Starship Troopers / int_ba112560 | type |
Throwing the Fight | |
Starship Troopers / int_ba112560 | comment |
Throwing the Fight: In the first chapter, Rico is assistant section leader, and gets some static when giving orders to Ace, a squad leader who outranks him. Later, he decides to settle things the M.I. way (fistfight). He loses handily, but Ace revives him with cold water and tells him to crack him a good one, so he can tell his squad that Rico whipped his ass over his insubordination. The punch Rico connects with is described (by the narrator) as not being forceful enough to harm a mosquito, but it serves Ace's purpose. | |
Starship Troopers / int_ba112560 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_ba112560 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_ba112560 | |
Starship Troopers / int_bbc77bb5 | type |
Hard Truth Aesop | |
Starship Troopers / int_bbc77bb5 | comment |
Hard Truth Aesop: Sometimes, Violence Really Is the Answer. Yes, peaceful solutions are preferable, but insisting on trying to find a non-violent solution when it is evident that there isn't one is every bit as immoral as leaping straight to violence when there could have been another way, if not worse. | |
Starship Troopers / int_bbc77bb5 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_bbc77bb5 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_bbc77bb5 | |
Starship Troopers / int_bdbc35e7 | type |
Blade Enthusiast | |
Starship Troopers / int_bdbc35e7 | comment |
Blade Enthusiast: Sergeant Zim. Not only did he train the recruits in knife fighting and throwing, he liked to make and balance his own rather than use the perfectly good service-issue knives. | |
Starship Troopers / int_bdbc35e7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_bdbc35e7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_bdbc35e7 | |
Starship Troopers / int_bf609406 | type |
New Meat | |
Starship Troopers / int_bf609406 | comment |
New Meat: Freshly graduated troopers are treated with a certain amount of disdain until they complete their first combat drop. | |
Starship Troopers / int_bf609406 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_bf609406 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_bf609406 | |
Starship Troopers / int_bf72d5e8 | type |
The Spartan Way | |
Starship Troopers / int_bf72d5e8 | comment |
The Spartan Way: Thrre are three deaths during training, and one is shot in the ass. This is not viewed as unusual or worth commenting on. | |
Starship Troopers / int_bf72d5e8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_bf72d5e8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_bf72d5e8 | |
Starship Troopers / int_c0f87dda | type |
Humans Are Warriors | |
Starship Troopers / int_c0f87dda | comment |
Humans Are Warriors: Discussed. Basically since only humans and the Bugs are real warriors, everyone else is irrelevant according to the protagonist. | |
Starship Troopers / int_c0f87dda | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_c0f87dda | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_c0f87dda | |
Starship Troopers / int_c145f69b | type |
Subverted Trope | |
Starship Troopers / int_c145f69b | comment |
Subverted. An officer tells some officer candidates a story from the Napoleonic era: a junior navy officer during a ship battle picks up his heavily wounded commander and carries him to a safe place. Meanwhile all the other officers on the ship are killed, so the young guy automatically winds up a commanding officer on the ship—and, because he left his post, he stands trial and is cashiered (and is lucky not to be hanged). It seems a gross injustice for the candidates—but the officer explains that the punishment was completely justified: for an officer to have left his post without an order is really very Serious Business, because if a sudden catastrophe happens, it is much more likely to disrupt a unit without a commanding officer.note The case concerns the battle between USS Chesapeake and HMS Shannon during the War of 1812. The incident happened more or less exactly as described by Heinlein; the officer in question, Lt. William Sitgreaves Cox, was booted from the US Navy in disgrace. His rank was restored and record cleared by President Harry Truman in 1952. | |
Starship Troopers / int_c145f69b | featureApplicability |
-0.3 | |
Starship Troopers / int_c145f69b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_c145f69b | |
Starship Troopers / int_c4302351 | type |
Drop Pod | |
Starship Troopers / int_c4302351 | comment |
Drop Pod: Likely the Trope Maker. The M.I. version are called "capsules", with the soldiers being called "cap troopers". Being fired out of a tube like a torpedo, these capsules have no way of course correcting, so they are at the mercy of the pilot to ensure the drop zone is correct. They are designed to protect the soldiers during free fall and have multiple layers that burn away during the descent; this has the added benefits of filling the air with falling debris to confuse enemy targeting systems. | |
Starship Troopers / int_c4302351 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_c4302351 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_c4302351 | |
Starship Troopers / int_c59cfa2e | type |
Felony Misdemeanor | |
Starship Troopers / int_c59cfa2e | comment |
Felony Misdemeanor: Subverted. An officer tells some officer candidates a story from the Napoleonic era: a junior navy officer during a ship battle picks up his heavily wounded commander and carries him to a safe place. Meanwhile all the other officers on the ship are killed, so the young guy automatically winds up a commanding officer on the ship—and, because he left his post, he stands trial and is cashiered (and is lucky not to be hanged). It seems a gross injustice for the candidates—but the officer explains that the punishment was completely justified: for an officer to have left his post without an order is really very Serious Business, because if a sudden catastrophe happens, it is much more likely to disrupt a unit without a commanding officer.note The case concerns the battle between USS Chesapeake and HMS Shannon during the War of 1812. The incident happened more or less exactly as described by Heinlein; the officer in question, Lt. William Sitgreaves Cox, was booted from the US Navy in disgrace. His rank was restored and record cleared by President Harry Truman in 1952. Inverted in the case of the thirty-one "Crash Landings"; technically these are capital crimes, but the death penalty is only enforced in extreme circumstances. Two soldiers commit these crimes over the course of the book — one is given a few lashes and a dishonorable discharge; the other is hanged, but for crimes he committed after deserting rather than the desertion itself. | |
Starship Troopers / int_c59cfa2e | featureApplicability |
-0.3 | |
Starship Troopers / int_c59cfa2e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_c59cfa2e | |
Starship Troopers / int_c6eabb03 | type |
Gosh Dang It to Heck! | |
Starship Troopers / int_c6eabb03 | comment |
Goshdang It To Heck: See Chaste Hero - Heinlein skirts the trope occasionally by way of Narrative Profanity Filter. Johnnie specifically refers to "shucks" as a curse at one point. It is emphasized that Sergeant Zim insults the recruits, eloquently and at length, WITHOUT using profanity or obscenity, which he "saved for special occasions". | |
Starship Troopers / int_c6eabb03 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_c6eabb03 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_c6eabb03 | |
Starship Troopers / int_c75df49a | type |
Shout-Out | |
Starship Troopers / int_c75df49a | comment |
"Come on, you apes! You want to live forever?"note A Shout-Out to USMC Sergeant Major Daniel Daly, who actually said "Come on, you sons of bitches!" at the Battle of Belleau Wood. | |
Starship Troopers / int_c75df49a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_c75df49a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_c75df49a | |
Starship Troopers / int_ccab244d | type |
Kinetic Weapons Are Just Better | |
Starship Troopers / int_ccab244d | comment |
Kinetic Weapons Are Just Better: Averted. They are used in training, but rarely (if ever) in actual combat. | |
Starship Troopers / int_ccab244d | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_ccab244d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_ccab244d | |
Starship Troopers / int_ce6487aa | type |
Misery Builds Character | |
Starship Troopers / int_ce6487aa | comment |
Misery Builds Character: The idea behind "Service Guarantees Citizenship". Even the non-military jobs described in the book are described as unpleasant and grueling (at least, the ones Johnny would qualify for), and the point is to make its citizens understand putting the group ahead of oneself as well as appreciate their franchise more. | |
Starship Troopers / int_ce6487aa | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_ce6487aa | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_ce6487aa | |
Starship Troopers / int_d214a453 | type |
Planet Terra | |
Starship Troopers / int_d214a453 | comment |
Planet Terra: The human government is called the Terran Federation. | |
Starship Troopers / int_d214a453 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_d214a453 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_d214a453 | |
Starship Troopers / int_d3f57db5 | type |
Planetville | |
Starship Troopers / int_d3f57db5 | comment |
Planetville: Justified, as Sanctuary is pretty much just one city, which serves as both a spot for R&R, and a secondary base in case the Bugs conquer/destroy Earth. | |
Starship Troopers / int_d3f57db5 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_d3f57db5 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_d3f57db5 | |
Starship Troopers / int_d49291cd | type |
Over-the-Top Secret | |
Starship Troopers / int_d49291cd | comment |
Over-the-Top Secret: Sanctuary's location is only known to navy captains and navigation officers, who are under orders and hypnotic compulsion to kill themselves rather than be captured and have the information get out. Justified in that it may be the only habitable planet in the galaxy that the bugs aren't aware of, and would served as the backup headquarters for humanity if Terra were destroyed or occupied. | |
Starship Troopers / int_d49291cd | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_d49291cd | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_d49291cd | |
Starship Troopers / int_d4937788 | type |
Days of Future Past | |
Starship Troopers / int_d4937788 | comment |
Days of Future Past: Downplayed, but present in the generally accepted corporal punishment, classical curriculum and fin-du-siècle style Social Darwinist ideology of the Federation. There are also some subtle hints that Europe has revived some of its older traditions: for example, the German Reich is united (and includes its pre-World War II territories), and the German characters at boot camp seem to honor the old aristocratic Prussian Korps. | |
Starship Troopers / int_d4937788 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_d4937788 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_d4937788 | |
Starship Troopers / int_d525f857 | type |
Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale | |
Starship Troopers / int_d525f857 | comment |
Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale: Subverted. The number of Mobile Infantry seems pitifully small to fight an interplanetary war, smaller than many real-world armies today. But the Roughnecks are considered enough to take on entire planets alone, and at one point Rico is highly stressed by a fight where the troopers are so close together that it's very difficult to fight without risking a friendly fire incident: namely a trooper every mile or so. Mobile Infantry are just that badass... and having Powered Armor and man-portable tactical nukes probably helps, too. | |
Starship Troopers / int_d525f857 | featureApplicability |
-0.3 | |
Starship Troopers / int_d525f857 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_d525f857 | |
Starship Troopers / int_d54b9eb3 | type |
Inter-Service Rivalry | |
Starship Troopers / int_d54b9eb3 | comment |
Interservice Rivalry: There's a certain amount of this between the Mobile Infantry and the Navy, as Rico observes on one of his ships. The level of rivalry generally varies from hostile to friendly (after her Ace Pilot moment above, Captain Deladrier is feted and made an honorary Roughneck). As a general rule, it doesn't get too unfriendly, since there are a lot of cute girls in the Navy, which Rico suspects was a deliberate choice by Navy higherups. Also, in order to have a shot at Sky Marshal, a prospective candidate must have major command experience both the MI and the Navynote Rico mentions an OCS comrade was probably aiming to command a regiment in the MI before transferring to the Navy to work his way up to captain a ship — which is saying something in the case of the MI, because OCS only accepts people who have gone through Basic Training and survived boots-on-the-ground combat. (Given the political tone of the Federation, it seems safe to assume that the Navy has similarly stringent standards, but Heinlein never explicates on the matter.) Johnnie notes that a less-friendly one exists between the Mobile Infantry and the merchant marine. Part of it stems from the merchant sailors' guilds having tried for years to get their trade classed as "Federal Service," and thus grant citizenship, but Johnnie notes that a lot of it is just stuff that goes back centuries. | |
Starship Troopers / int_d54b9eb3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_d54b9eb3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_d54b9eb3 | |
Starship Troopers / int_d581ba71 | type |
Comes Great Responsibility | |
Starship Troopers / int_d581ba71 | comment |
Comes Great Responsibility: The concept covered by the trope is used as the justification for the Terran Federation's unusual political system: since being able to vote is the greatest power a person can wield, you have to prove you can handle it by voluntarily protecting the state and are willing to place others' needs ahead of your own by putting your own personal ass on the line. The maxim "with great power comes great responsibility" is also used in the military criminal justice system. When an officer commits a crime, he receives a punishment eight times greater than an enlisted man would receive because as an officer he should have a better understanding of his crime. A crime that would result in an enlisted man being flogged might result in a death sentence if an officer does it. | |
Starship Troopers / int_d581ba71 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_d581ba71 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_d581ba71 | |
Starship Troopers / int_d5ca97d | type |
Dream-Crushing Handicap | |
Starship Troopers / int_d5ca97d | comment |
Dream-Crushing Handicap: Averted with military service; they won't turn away anybody who is willing and psychologically able to service, to the point that they will make up a job that you can do regardless of your physical limitations or disabilities. Johnnie runs across a Navy crewman on one mission who had been in boot camp with him. The man couldn't keep up with the physical demands of being an MI and collapsed during a training exercise. He refused a medical discharge which would disqualify him from full citizenship. Instead, they found him a less physically demanding position as third cook on a troop transport. | |
Starship Troopers / int_d5ca97d | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_d5ca97d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_d5ca97d | |
Starship Troopers / int_d66cd0e6 | type |
Training from Hell | |
Starship Troopers / int_d66cd0e6 | comment |
Training from Hell: Mobile Infantry Boot Camp is described by Rico as being extremely grueling and even dangerous at times. Out of Rico's original group of 2,009 recruits, only 187 manage to complete their training (with a handful of recruits actually being killed from training accidents). Later in the book when Rico attends Officer Candidate School he describes it as being even harder than basic training because in addition to all the physical training and combat drills he is also required to become proficient in several academic subjects like math, science, history, military law, and strategy. The only break they are given is that they are assigned a civilian servant to look after their bunkrooms and uniforms. This isn't intended as a break for the recruits, but rather a means to give them more time in the day to absorb what they're being taught. | |
Starship Troopers / int_d66cd0e6 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_d66cd0e6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_d66cd0e6 | |
Starship Troopers / int_d848560f | type |
Unusual Euphemism | |
Starship Troopers / int_d848560f | comment |
Johnnie's former high school teacher wrote him a letter saying how happy and proud he was that his former student had joined the Mobile Infantry, which helped him through a significant psychological barrier. The same instructor later indicated how proud he was that Johnnie was becoming an officer by asking that Johnnie receive his own officer's "pips" as part of his final test. Johnnie's disappointment that they're unavailable (real-estate deal) is profound. | |
Starship Troopers / int_d848560f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_d848560f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_d848560f | |
Starship Troopers / int_d861e4f8 | type |
War Crime Subverts Heroism | |
Starship Troopers / int_d861e4f8 | comment |
War Crime Subverts Heroism: the opening scene of the book is the Mobile Infantry conducting what is called a "Terror Raid" against the Skinnies where they drop into an area with minimal military presence and cause as much damage to civilian buildings and infrastructure as possible. Rico notes that he is expected to use all of his ordinance before he returns to the ship, and notes that often doesn't know what he's blowing up, saying that they could be temples or churches for all he knows. Rico comes across the water works for the area, notes that if he destroys it a whole city will have to be evacuated which will fulfill the terror part of the raid extremely well while taxing Skinny resources and government, and refrains only because he doesn't have enough bombs to blow it up. He continues to move through the civilian streets destroying buildings and cuts his way into a building where he "sees more Skinnies than he ever wanted to see". Rico's narration makes it clear that Rico doesn't know if this is a military target, which means he can blow it up, or a civilian target, which means he's not supposed to unless it's that or die. After taking a few shots from slug weapons that bounce off his armor, Rico panics and selects a bomb at random to attack the Skinnies with; it turns out he picked a bomb that loudly declares it is a bomb and counts down to detonation. There is no mention whether the bomb blows up or is a dud, or if the Skinnies were civilians or not, nor how many Skinnies shot at him or with what weapons, leaving it vague who it was exactly that Rico blew up if the bomb even went off. Even in 1959, when this book was written, almost everything Rico does in this sequence is a war crime, but it is presented neutrally as a natural part of war. | |
Starship Troopers / int_d861e4f8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_d861e4f8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_d861e4f8 | |
Starship Troopers / int_d99d9918 | type |
The Captain | |
Starship Troopers / int_d99d9918 | comment |
The Captain: Played With, due to "Captain" being Army and Navy ranks of differing grades (a Navy captain outranks an Army captain by a significant degree). Navy tradition is that only one man on the ship can be The Captain, so any Army Captains who happen to be aboard receive a temporary honorary promotion to "Major." (One step up from Army Captain, still a full two steps below a Navy Captain. Also, a navy Captain-by-rank traveling as a passenger becomes "Commodore".) | |
Starship Troopers / int_d99d9918 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_d99d9918 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_d99d9918 | |
Starship Troopers / int_d9d2c40b | type |
Amazon Brigade | |
Starship Troopers / int_d9d2c40b | comment |
Amazon Brigade: Most of the Navy's pilots are women. The book explicitly states that women (in-universe) have faster reflexes, and are better able to withstand "g" forces, which is downright crucial to the job. Pilots now and (in Heinlein's opinion) 20 Minutes into the Future need a strong kinesthetic sense to aviate. This is a characteristic they share with dancers and gymnasts, hence the implication that Carmencita's competitive diving skill is a manifestation of latent pilot awesomeness. | |
Starship Troopers / int_d9d2c40b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_d9d2c40b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_d9d2c40b | |
Starship Troopers / int_daef39ee | type |
Elaborate Underground Base | |
Starship Troopers / int_daef39ee | comment |
Elaborate Underground Base: While some of their structures are above ground, the Bugs live almost exclusively underground. | |
Starship Troopers / int_daef39ee | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_daef39ee | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_daef39ee | |
Starship Troopers / int_db911ee | type |
Field Promotion | |
Starship Troopers / int_db911ee | comment |
Field Promotion: A few examples: Fresh-out-of-OCS Third Lieutenant Juan Rico recommends a couple of field promotions be performed on the way back to base, to fill out his platoon. Captain Blackie explains that you never promote people before returning to base, as the replacement depot is more likely to steal your best noncoms. Earlier, Rico (a term lance corporal at that point) is given the job of assistant section leader, giving orders to squad leaders who are corporals. The officer in charge feels that it makes more sense to leave as many squads as possible with their squad leaders, since the MI mostly operates by squad, and things have been rough lately; the assistant section leader doesn't do a whole lot and is such a relatively safe place to put Johnnie. Rico is later promoted in due order, and bumped to sergeant shortly before leaving the platoon.note Lieutenant Jelal also felt it'd be a nice sendoff for Rico to go to OCS as a Sergeant; Rico mentions that Ace will get the "real" promotion once he's gone. A subversion happens when Rico is at OCS. We find out one of his fellow officer candidates received a battlefield commission as a First Lieutenant some time prior.note Graduates of OCS start out with the rank of Second Lieutenant, so Rico's classmate would actually be demoted after graduating. The reason he's attending OCS is to become an officer "properly" - as a battlefield commissioned officer (with no higher education), his chances of rising higher than First Lieutenant are very small. With Academy education and field command experience, his prospects are suddenly very good indeed. Sergeant Zim is mentioned to have received a battlefield commission for capturing the Bug Queen. | |
Starship Troopers / int_db911ee | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_db911ee | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_db911ee | |
Starship Troopers / int_dc0ca62a | type |
Public Execution | |
Starship Troopers / int_dc0ca62a | comment |
Public Execution: The deserter is hanged in front of the other troopers to show them that Mobile Infantry always takes care of the troopers-even if they have to execute them. | |
Starship Troopers / int_dc0ca62a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_dc0ca62a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_dc0ca62a | |
Starship Troopers / int_ddcc22c3 | type |
Archaic Weapon for an Advanced Age | |
Starship Troopers / int_ddcc22c3 | comment |
Archaic Weapon for an Advanced Age: Discussed. One of Rico's fellow recruits complains about having to learn to throw knives in an era of Powered Armor and starships. Sergeant Zim responds with a detailed lecture on the topic: Knives and hand-to-hand combat are quieter and don't run out of ammunition, and some missions require precision kills rather than carpet-bombing. And besides, there may come a day when you need to kill a man and all you have is a knife... | |
Starship Troopers / int_ddcc22c3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_ddcc22c3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_ddcc22c3 | |
Starship Troopers / int_e0207930 | type |
Humans Are Special | |
Starship Troopers / int_e0207930 | comment |
Humans Are Special, Humanity Is Superior: The latter is explicitly discussed in the book, and dismissed; superiority is not the issue. Rather, as all the characters are humans, they would prefer that humanity be the side that survives an "us-or-them" war. | |
Starship Troopers / int_e0207930 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_e0207930 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_e0207930 | |
Starship Troopers / int_e061d153 | type |
Sergeant Rock | |
Starship Troopers / int_e061d153 | comment |
Sergeant Rock: Every non-commissioned officer, especially Jelly and Zim. | |
Starship Troopers / int_e061d153 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_e061d153 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_e061d153 | |
Starship Troopers / int_e08f95fd | type |
Everything's Louder with Bagpipes | |
Starship Troopers / int_e08f95fd | comment |
Everything's Louder with Bagpipes: In basic training, there are four sets of bagpipes and uniforms donated by the Lochiel of Cameron whose son had died there in training. Rico describes them as odd at first, as though the piper had a cat under his arm, the tail in his mouth, biting it. But they grow on you and the music helps during marches. | |
Starship Troopers / int_e08f95fd | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_e08f95fd | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_e08f95fd | |
Starship Troopers / int_e2138f91 | type |
Military Mashup Machine | |
Starship Troopers / int_e2138f91 | comment |
Military Mashup Machine: the Marauder Powered Armor Suit, which can fly (a little), submerge, outmuscle a gorilla, protect the wearer from bullets and radiation, and rip through tanks. | |
Starship Troopers / int_e2138f91 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_e2138f91 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_e2138f91 | |
Starship Troopers / int_e34541d | type |
One World Order | |
Starship Troopers / int_e34541d | comment |
One World Order: Crossed with We ARE Struggling Together; it's implied that the Federation's members may end up turning on each other once the Bugs are out of the picture. | |
Starship Troopers / int_e34541d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_e34541d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_e34541d | |
Starship Troopers / int_e563bf09 | type |
Insistent Terminology | |
Starship Troopers / int_e563bf09 | comment |
Insistent Terminology: Inverted. Only one person on a Navy ship can be The Captain, so any MI captains embarked on the ship are referred to as "Major" instead, and Navy captains taking passage as "Commodore". (This is relatively common in Military Science Fiction, and it's also Truth in Television, a method used by real-life navies to avoid any risk of confusion in the chain of command at a critical moment.) For its part, the Mobile Infantry are equally determined not to call one of their officers by an incorrect rank: | |
Starship Troopers / int_e563bf09 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_e563bf09 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_e563bf09 | |
Starship Troopers / int_e640b487 | type |
Infodump | |
Starship Troopers / int_e640b487 | comment |
Infodump: Plenty, as Johnnie both explains how the military works and recalling his teacher's classroom speeches that he thought nothing of at the time. | |
Starship Troopers / int_e640b487 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_e640b487 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_e640b487 | |
Starship Troopers / int_e88e8a8f | type |
Writer on Board | |
Starship Troopers / int_e88e8a8f | comment |
Writer on Board: As pointed out above, that was the reason it was written. Heinlein stopped working on Stranger In A Strange Land just so that he could start this book. | |
Starship Troopers / int_e88e8a8f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_e88e8a8f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_e88e8a8f | |
Starship Troopers / int_e8c0fe9f | type |
Walk of Shame | |
Starship Troopers / int_e8c0fe9f | comment |
Walk of Shame: If someone drops out of training, the walk to the exit across the training ground is called the walk of shame. Rico nearly does it near the end of his training, but finds the strength to go on when he gets a letter from his mom saying how much she loves him and how proud she is. | |
Starship Troopers / int_e8c0fe9f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_e8c0fe9f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_e8c0fe9f | |
Starship Troopers / int_e96fe76d | type |
Hobbes Was Right | |
Starship Troopers / int_e96fe76d | comment |
Hobbes Was Right: The general consensus in the novel is that the great democracies of the 20th Century all inevitably crumbled because they failed to balance privilege with responsibility. See also Humans Are Bastards, below. | |
Starship Troopers / int_e96fe76d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_e96fe76d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_e96fe76d | |
Starship Troopers / int_ea2e9f2d | type |
No Ending | |
Starship Troopers / int_ea2e9f2d | comment |
No Ending: Rico graduates from OCS and takes command of the Roughnecks. Where he goes from there, to say nothing of the outcome of the war, are left to the imagination of the reader. Although the epilogue does have them dropping down on Klendathu, the bug home world. In some editions, there's an afterword that briefly mentions him making Captain, and dying. | |
Starship Troopers / int_ea2e9f2d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_ea2e9f2d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_ea2e9f2d | |
Starship Troopers / int_eadf2e86 | type |
Bad Luck Charm | |
Starship Troopers / int_eadf2e86 | comment |
Bad Luck Charm: Before going on his first training cruise, Rico is asked if he'll wear a set of officer's pips where all but one of the cadets who have worn them have flunked out due to various bad-luck causes. Rico reluctantly agrees which pleases the Commandant: he was the first one to wear them, and wants to see the jinx on them broken. | |
Starship Troopers / int_eadf2e86 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_eadf2e86 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_eadf2e86 | |
Starship Troopers / int_ed2bbf8a | type |
You Are in Command Now | |
Starship Troopers / int_ed2bbf8a | comment |
You Are in Command Now: Discussed multiple times; happens to Johnnie during Operation Royalty. | |
Starship Troopers / int_ed2bbf8a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_ed2bbf8a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_ed2bbf8a | |
Starship Troopers / int_eee89c8f | type |
Species Loyalty | |
Starship Troopers / int_eee89c8f | comment |
Species Loyalty: Humans are out to make the universe safe for humans, never mind the bugs. | |
Starship Troopers / int_eee89c8f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_eee89c8f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_eee89c8f | |
Starship Troopers / int_f1d6144a | type |
War Is Hell | |
Starship Troopers / int_f1d6144a | comment |
War Is Hell: Used directly, and discussed: if it's hell, why endure it? | |
Starship Troopers / int_f1d6144a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_f1d6144a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_f1d6144a | |
Starship Troopers / int_f1e68523 | type |
The Not-Love Interest | |
Starship Troopers / int_f1e68523 | comment |
The Not-Love Interest: Carmen. Although she and Rico have gone on a few dates, and he's very obviously infatuated with her, nothing ever really comes of it. | |
Starship Troopers / int_f1e68523 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_f1e68523 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_f1e68523 | |
Starship Troopers / int_f516f938 | type |
Never Found the Body | |
Starship Troopers / int_f516f938 | comment |
Never Found the Body: What happens to most men who enter Bug tunnels but not Rico's platoon at the end. | |
Starship Troopers / int_f516f938 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_f516f938 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_f516f938 | |
Starship Troopers / int_f5e59782 | type |
A Real Man Is a Killer | |
Starship Troopers / int_f5e59782 | comment |
A Real Man Is a Killer: Heinlein states through his Author Avatar that killing is human, and specifically male, nature, so the best thing a man can do is channel his natural bloodlust into defending his family/nation/race. | |
Starship Troopers / int_f5e59782 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_f5e59782 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_f5e59782 | |
Starship Troopers / int_f7588306 | type |
Reverse Psychology | |
Starship Troopers / int_f7588306 | comment |
Reverse Psychology: Johnnie's father claims this is what Johnnie's History and Moral Philosophy teacher is doing, when Johnnie claims that the man, if anything, discourages students from joining, acting like they're not good enough. | |
Starship Troopers / int_f7588306 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_f7588306 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_f7588306 | |
Starship Troopers / int_fb9e0265 | type |
Team Dad | |
Starship Troopers / int_fb9e0265 | comment |
Team Dad: Rico describes both Jelly and Lt. Rasczak as this, the book ending with another person in the position: Johnnie Rico himself. | |
Starship Troopers / int_fb9e0265 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_fb9e0265 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_fb9e0265 | |
Starship Troopers / int_fcaec6bf | type |
Orbital Bombardment | |
Starship Troopers / int_fcaec6bf | comment |
Orbital Bombardment: Subverted in that the fleet could just reduce the surfaces of bug planets like Klendathu to a sea of radioactive glass, and this would kill most of the soldier bugs on them to be sure, but it wouldn't reach the queens and brain bugs deep underground who would just rebuild and breed new armies, thus making the entire effort pointless. The war would still be on, and all the Federation would have done is waste resources. Later in the war, the Federation develops Nova Bombs said to be able to crack open a planet, allowing the Federation to just wipe out bug planets they don't plan to take for themselves. Klendathu is however excluded by the list, as they know there could be prisoners of war there and the Federation isn't going to kill their own soldiers like that. | |
Starship Troopers / int_fcaec6bf | featureApplicability |
-0.3 | |
Starship Troopers / int_fcaec6bf | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_fcaec6bf | |
Starship Troopers / int_fd94c4ac | type |
Theme Naming | |
Starship Troopers / int_fd94c4ac | comment |
Theme Naming: Terran troop transport ships are named after either famous battlegrounds (large ships like the Valley Forge) or heroic individual soldiers (smaller vessels like the Rodger Young). This mirrors the Theme Naming practices of most real-world navies. | |
Starship Troopers / int_fd94c4ac | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_fd94c4ac | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_fd94c4ac | |
Starship Troopers / int_name | type |
ItemName | |
Starship Troopers / int_name | comment |
||
Starship Troopers / int_name | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_name | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_name | |
Starship Troopers / int_name | itemName |
Starship Troopers |
The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.
Copyright of DBTropes.org wrapper 2009-2013 DFKI Knowledge Management. Imprint. - Thanks to Bakken&Baeck for hosting. Contact.
Copyright of data TVTropes.org contributors under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
Copyright of data TVTropes.org contributors under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.