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The Municipalists
- 148 statements
- 28 feature instances
- 7 referencing feature instances
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The Municipalists | |
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| The Municipalists | comment |
Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_1'); })A comic-thriller from author Seth Fried, The Municipalists recounts the adventures of a neurotic, rule-following bureaucrat and his irreverent, freewheeling AI partner as they attempt to save the gleaming city of Metropolis from an unprecedented terrorist plot that threatens the American way of life.Henry Thompson has dedicated his life to improving America's infrastructure as a proud employee of the United States Municipal Survey's Suitland Office. So when the agency comes under attack from a mysterious terrorist organization that seems to have suspicious knowledge of the USMS's inner workings, he dutifully accepts an unexpected mission to visit the insular Metropolis branch of the USMS to look for answers. But Henry's plans to investigate the Metropolis branch quietly, quickly, and carefully are totally derailed by his new partner: a day-drinking know-it-all AI named OWEN, who just so happens to be the digitally projected embodiment of the USMS's state of the art supercomputer.Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_2'); })Personality clashes with his partner aside, Metropolis proves to be more treacherous than either Henry or OWEN could have predicted. Danger lurks around every corner, and secret plots that involve everyone (from top personnel in the USMS to Mayor Laury's beloved daughter) are afoot. Soon, Henry and OWEN find themselves fighting to save not only their own lives and those of the city's millions of inhabitants, but also the soul of Metropolis.Book Trailer available here.Some spoilers below are unmarked. | |
| The Municipalists | fetched |
2021-08-27T15:08:04Z | |
| The Municipalists | parsed |
2021-08-27T15:08:04Z | |
| The Municipalists | isPartOf |
DBTropes | |
| The Municipalists / int_31083edb | type |
Logic Bomb | |
| The Municipalists / int_31083edb | comment |
Logic Bomb: Downplayed — OWEN created software that generates complex mathematical problems designed to tax his systems, diverting processing power away from "social inhibitions" and other non-essential personality features. He modeled the program on his creator's drinking habits, and pairs it with an animation of his avatar sipping whiskey. | |
| The Municipalists / int_31083edb | featureApplicability |
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| The Municipalists | hasFeature |
The Municipalists / int_31083edb | |
| The Municipalists / int_33affa42 | type |
Government Agency of Fiction | |
| The Municipalists / int_33affa42 | comment |
Government Agency of Fiction: The United States Municipal Survey, a fictional government agency that researches, investigates, advises on, and optimizes everything that has anything to do with the health of America's urban environs — from traffic and public transportation to school test scores to crime rates to disaster preparedness to carbon emissions to sanitation to resource management, the USMS has interest in every aspect of a modern city's health and wellbeing. | |
| The Municipalists / int_33affa42 | featureApplicability |
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| The Municipalists | hasFeature |
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| The Municipalists / int_394282f | type |
They Fight Crime! | |
| The Municipalists / int_394282f | comment |
They Fight Crime!: A stuffy human bureaucrat and his day-drinking AI partner have to work together to stop a radicalized branch of their government agency from terrorizing the largest city in North America. | |
| The Municipalists / int_394282f | featureApplicability |
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| The Municipalists | hasFeature |
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| The Municipalists / int_403b6f3 | type |
Fainting | |
| The Municipalists / int_403b6f3 | comment |
Fainting: Played for Laughs — OWEN quickly discovers that all the violence and gore in the classic Gangster & Western movies he's watched haven't prepared him to observe when Henry has to treat the injuries he sustained in Biggs' failed assassination attempt. The AI simply can't stand the sight of Henry's puncture wounds and it briefly overloads his circuits. | |
| The Municipalists / int_403b6f3 | featureApplicability |
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| The Municipalists / int_403b6f3 | featureConfidence |
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| The Municipalists | hasFeature |
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| The Municipalists / int_59673edd | type |
Computer Virus | |
| The Municipalists / int_59673edd | comment |
Computer Virus: The attack on the Suitland office is facilitated by a virus uploaded to OWEN's network. The virus is also what allows OWEN to develop more self-awareness. | |
| The Municipalists / int_59673edd | featureApplicability |
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| The Municipalists | hasFeature |
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| The Municipalists / int_5c5d0032 | type |
Eyepatch of Power | |
| The Municipalists / int_5c5d0032 | comment |
Eyepatch of Power: Terrence Kirklin, director of the Metropolis branch of the Municipal Survey, has a eyepatch covering the right eye he lost while in the Coast Guard. It adds to his general demeanor of bad-assery (or supervillainy, later in the book) paired with his goatee and the fact that he's 6'-5". | |
| The Municipalists / int_5c5d0032 | featureApplicability |
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| The Municipalists / int_5c5d0032 | featureConfidence |
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| The Municipalists | hasFeature |
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| The Municipalists / int_60e2ec3e | type |
Artificial Intelligence | |
| The Municipalists / int_60e2ec3e | comment |
Artificial Intelligence: OWEN is the supercomputer system that runs the day-to-day operations at the Municipal Survey's Suitland office. | |
| The Municipalists / int_60e2ec3e | featureApplicability |
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| The Municipalists | hasFeature |
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| The Municipalists / int_6f27f4ba | type |
Surveillance Drone | |
| The Municipalists / int_6f27f4ba | comment |
Surveillance Drone: The Municipal Survey maintains a fleet of drones to monitor cities in real time. During the attack on the USMS at the beginning of the book, all of the drones in Metropolis fall out of the sky, damaging buildings and injuring dozens of people. The drones are later used by the militarized members of Kirklin's Metropolis branch of the USMS as Attack Drones. | |
| The Municipalists / int_6f27f4ba | featureApplicability |
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| The Municipalists / int_6f27f4ba | featureConfidence |
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| The Municipalists | hasFeature |
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| The Municipalists / int_83e1eac | type |
Androids and Detectives | |
| The Municipalists / int_83e1eac | comment |
Androids and Detectives: Zig-Zagged — it's a holographic AI working with a government agent assigned to quietly investigate another branch of their Government Agency of Fiction, but the tone is similar. | |
| The Municipalists / int_83e1eac | featureApplicability |
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| The Municipalists / int_83e1eac | featureConfidence |
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| The Municipalists | hasFeature |
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| The Municipalists / int_853df68b | type |
Rail Enthusiast | |
| The Municipalists / int_853df68b | comment |
Rail Enthusiast: Henry doesn't have many interests outside of work, but he does like trains. Before his parents were killed in a train accident, his father gifted him a model "Steam Beetle" train, which was Henry's prized possession until a bully threw it out the window of his school bus. As an adult, Henry keeps a model train on his desk, and is excited to see another rare model Steam Beetle on display in Metropolis. | |
| The Municipalists / int_853df68b | featureApplicability |
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| The Municipalists / int_853df68b | featureConfidence |
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| The Municipalists | hasFeature |
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| The Municipalists / int_898d0f32 | type |
Teeth Flying | |
| The Municipalists / int_898d0f32 | comment |
Teeth Flying: With OWEN's prompting, Henry punches Biggs during the interrogation on the roof of the Census Bureau parking garage, and Biggs' teeth go skittering across the pavement — all of them. Turns out his teeth were replaced with dentures, as have many members of the radicalized Metropolis branch of the USMS, to prevent Identification by Dental Records. | |
| The Municipalists / int_898d0f32 | featureApplicability |
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| The Municipalists / int_898d0f32 | featureConfidence |
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| The Municipalists | hasFeature |
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| The Municipalists / int_8f719646 | type |
Identification by Dental Records | |
| The Municipalists / int_8f719646 | comment |
Identification by Dental Records: Mentioned specifically by OWEN when Biggs' teeth turn out to be dentures. The radicalized members of the Metropolis branch of the USMS have all had their teeth removed to prevent being identified in this manner. | |
| The Municipalists / int_8f719646 | featureApplicability |
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| The Municipalists | hasFeature |
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| The Municipalists / int_9673d7f0 | type |
Orphan's Plot Trinket | |
| The Municipalists / int_9673d7f0 | comment |
Orphan's Plot Trinket: Downplayed. Henry's first model train was a rare "Steam Beetle" given to him by his father right before his parents were killed in a train accident. Neither Henry nor his father were aware of how valuable the model was — it was Henry's prized possession because it was the last gift his father ever gave him. He kept it as he bounced from foster home to foster home until a school bully threw it out the window of the bus. So while the actual model Steam Beetle was lost before the narrative even begins, the plot trinket is what engendered Henry's interest in model trains. Part of the reason he takes an interest in Metropolis is the incredibly rare model Steam Beetle train on display at the transport museum - the same type of model train his father gifted him. | |
| The Municipalists / int_9673d7f0 | featureApplicability |
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| The Municipalists / int_9673d7f0 | featureConfidence |
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| The Municipalists | hasFeature |
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| The Municipalists / int_985e118a | type |
Odd Couple | |
| The Municipalists / int_985e118a | comment |
Odd Couple: A "neurotic, rule-following bureaucrat" and an "irreverent, freewheeling artificial intelligence," as the blurb on the back of the book so succinctly puts it. | |
| The Municipalists / int_985e118a | featureApplicability |
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| The Municipalists / int_985e118a | featureConfidence |
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| The Municipalists | hasFeature |
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| The Municipalists / int_98a7ffba | type |
Androids Are People, Too | |
| The Municipalists / int_98a7ffba | comment |
Androids Are People, Too: AI in this case, but OWEN considers himself to be as human as Henry, if not more so. And he was well liked by the staff at the Municipal Survey's Suitland campus before the virus caused him to malfunction. | |
| The Municipalists / int_98a7ffba | featureApplicability |
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| The Municipalists / int_98a7ffba | featureConfidence |
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| The Municipalists | hasFeature |
The Municipalists / int_98a7ffba | |
| The Municipalists / int_aa8db5e2 | type |
Mega City | |
| The Municipalists / int_aa8db5e2 | comment |
Mega City: Metropolis, a city of "over 35 million people squeezed onto 1,200 square miles of land." | |
| The Municipalists / int_aa8db5e2 | featureApplicability |
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| The Municipalists / int_aa8db5e2 | featureConfidence |
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| The Municipalists | hasFeature |
The Municipalists / int_aa8db5e2 | |
| The Municipalists / int_ac18c727 | type |
Projected Man | |
| The Municipalists / int_ac18c727 | comment |
Projected Man: OWEN's physical appearance is generated by a projector disguised in Henry's tie clip. | |
| The Municipalists / int_ac18c727 | featureApplicability |
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| The Municipalists / int_ac18c727 | featureConfidence |
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| The Municipalists | hasFeature |
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| The Municipalists / int_bca8786f | type |
Afraid of Blood | |
| The Municipalists / int_bca8786f | comment |
Afraid of Blood: Although OWEN is an artificial intelligence that runs on a massive supercomputer (and a fan of classic Gangster & Western films), he can't stand the sight of real wounds up close. He panics when he tries to advise Henry on how to treat his injuries, and eventually overloads and "passes out". (Later he gets a patch that makes him less squeamish, which ends up saving Henry's life.) | |
| The Municipalists / int_bca8786f | featureApplicability |
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| The Municipalists / int_bca8786f | featureConfidence |
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| The Municipalists | hasFeature |
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| The Municipalists / int_c2393191 | type |
Show Within a Show | |
| The Municipalists / int_c2393191 | comment |
Show Within a Show: Sarah Laury's student play, "The Man in the Tower," is a plot point. The play was Sarah's love letter to Kirklin, with the characters of the beautiful runaway and the solitary wizard representing the two of them. Unfortunately, it was also filled with sophomoric metaphors for their real relationship — so Henry and OWEN are able to figure out that Kirklin has been hiding Sarah in an unlisted train line after reading how the wizard and the beautiful runaway placed themselves in the stars as a figure-8 constellation. Several in-universe works of art are mentioned, including famous postcards and photographs from Metropolis' history. | |
| The Municipalists / int_c2393191 | featureApplicability |
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| The Municipalists / int_c2393191 | featureConfidence |
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| The Municipalists / int_c25c7890 | type |
Fun with Acronyms | |
| The Municipalists / int_c25c7890 | comment |
Fun with Acronyms: OWEN, for "Object-Oriented Database and Working Ekistics Network" — Discussed in Henry's narration: | |
| The Municipalists / int_c25c7890 | featureApplicability |
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| The Municipalists | hasFeature |
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| The Municipalists / int_c69ae9b2 | type |
Self-Destruct Mechanism | |
| The Municipalists / int_c69ae9b2 | comment |
Self-Destruct Mechanism: Employees of the Municipal Survey were given agency-issued cell phones with a secret, explosive self-destruct function built in. The self-destruct function is hijacked in the attack on the Suitland Office, injuring several employees when their phones all explode simultaneously — Henry gets shards of phone-screen glass stuck in his face and hand. | |
| The Municipalists / int_c69ae9b2 | featureApplicability |
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| The Municipalists / int_c69ae9b2 | featureConfidence |
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| The Municipalists | hasFeature |
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| The Municipalists / int_d45c0b86 | type |
Refuge in Audacity | |
| The Municipalists / int_d45c0b86 | comment |
Refuge in Audacity: Much of OWEN's style of problem solving can be summed up as "go big or go home," thanks in part to his flair for the dramatic (inherited from his creator, Klaus, and the many gangster/ western films they watched). When he and Henry need to get through a crowded subway station, he projects a disguise of a surgeon in bloody scrubs holding a Styrofoam cooler and shouting that he's got a human brain for transplant. To his credit, OWEN's outlandish plans often work because he's got the confidence to pull them off. | |
| The Municipalists / int_d45c0b86 | featureApplicability |
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| The Municipalists / int_d45c0b86 | featureConfidence |
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| The Municipalists | hasFeature |
The Municipalists / int_d45c0b86 | |
| The Municipalists / int_d49f90ea | type |
Western Terrorists | |
| The Municipalists / int_d49f90ea | comment |
Western Terrorists: The attacks carried out on the Suitland & Metropolis branches of the Municipal Survey, and the bombing of the Metropolis Museum district were carried out by the radicalized Metropolis branch of the USMS. Their goal is to "destroy the continuation of western civilization" and disrupt capitalism. | |
| The Municipalists / int_d49f90ea | featureApplicability |
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| The Municipalists / int_d748fff8 | type |
Holographic Disguise | |
| The Municipalists / int_d748fff8 | comment |
Holographic Disguise: Since OWEN's physical appearance is a projection, he can disguise himself in the blink of an eye — he can change the color & cut of his suit and his hair, he can disguise himself as a sniper or a doctor, or change his size and appearance to resemble a bulldog or a bear. He also uses the projector to put embarrassing disguises on Henry, much to Henry's chagrin. | |
| The Municipalists / int_d748fff8 | featureApplicability |
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| The Municipalists | hasFeature |
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| The Municipalists / int_f849c819 | type |
A.I. Getting High | |
| The Municipalists / int_f849c819 | comment |
A.I. Getting High: Overlaps with Logic Bomb — OWEN wrote himself a program that generates complex math problems that divert his processing power away from boring stuff like "social inhibitions". When he activates it, he pairs it with an animation of his holographically generated avatar sipping whiskey (and later, directly out of a bottle of ominously black liquid labeled "190^10 Proof"). | |
| The Municipalists / int_f849c819 | featureApplicability |
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| The Municipalists / int_fb9afaab | type |
Attack Drone | |
| The Municipalists / int_fb9afaab | comment |
Attack Drone: The monitoring drones maintained by the Municipal Survey are weaponized by Kirklin's forces during the car chase that Henry and OWEN get sucked into. Even without missiles or firearms, the drones are basketball sized lumps of metal that can be dropped from a great height. | |
| The Municipalists / int_fb9afaab | featureApplicability |
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| The Municipalists / int_fb9afaab | featureConfidence |
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| The Municipalists | hasFeature |
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| The Municipalists / int_fff863c3 | type |
Virtual Sidekick | |
| The Municipalists / int_fff863c3 | comment |
Virtual Sidekick: Henry Thompson is accompanied on his investigation by OWEN, the handsome holographically projected avatar of the highly experimental supercomputer built by Henry's government employers. OWEN is most helpful when he's assisting Henry with research, reconnaissance, and navigation. Whenever he "helps out" by projecting embarrassing disguises onto Henry or threatening interrogation suspects with a very convincing holographic katana, he tends to make a mess of things. Much of OWEN's personality and understanding of human mannerisms comes from the classic Gangster, Western, and Samurai films his creator loved, which means OWEN has a flair for drama and escalating situations that puts him at odds with his neurotic, rule-abiding human partner. | |
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The Municipalists |
The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.
| The Municipalists | hasFeature |
A.I. Getting High / int_c277d237 | |
| The Municipalists | hasFeature |
Afraid of Blood / int_c277d237 | |
| The Municipalists | hasFeature |
Androids and Detectives / int_c277d237 | |
| The Municipalists | hasFeature |
Robot and A.I. Works / int_c277d237 | |
| The Municipalists | hasFeature |
Teeth Flying / int_c277d237 | |
| The Municipalists | hasFeature |
They Fight Crime! / int_c277d237 | |
| The Municipalists | hasFeature |
Virtual Sidekick / int_c277d237 |
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Copyright of data TVTropes.org contributors under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.