Search/Recent Changes
DBTropes
...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!

Worldwar

 Worldwar
type
TVTItem
 Worldwar
label
Worldwar
 Worldwar
page
Worldwar
 Worldwar
comment
Worldwar is an Alternate History continuity by Harry Turtledove about an Alien Invasion during World War II.The Race are a proud species of reptilian aliens with tens of thousands of years of culture, bringing an invasion fleet to the primitive world of Tosev 3 (locally called Earth) to bring it into the Empire and the light of civilization. They expect a fairly easy conquest given the locals' lack of sophistication. Their probe mission, just eight hundred local years ago—certainly nowhere near enough time to advance technologically at all—found sword-swinging savages riding on animals. Then, to their discomfort, they discover that the planet is emitting radio transmissions. Arriving late in the local year 1941, they find the primitive industrial civilization of the Tosevites confusing, implausible, and an affront to the Race's rigid doctrines. Worse, if the Tosevites have advanced that much, it throws the certainty of the conquest in doubt. However, Fleetlord Atvar decides he could go down in history as one of three leaders to conquer an alien world, or the first to turn tail and flee without even having tasted combat. They go ahead with the conquest exactly as planned.This is a mistake.They land squarely in the middle of World War II, to the absolute confusion of everyone involved. Through the eyes of many characters, of all nationalities, human and alien, we read about the humans desperately trying to survive, and the aliens desperately trying to win. The Race is forced to become more like humans, making hasty decisions and breaking protocol. It also turns out that ginger (the spice) is a powerful and highly addictive narcotic for the Race, which further strains their normal way of life. This takes up the four books of the Balance series (the original Worldwar series) and ends with a stalemate and truce between the Race and the human governments that managed to resist their invasion (the USA, the Greater German Reich, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and Imperial Japan.)Next comes Colonization, a trilogy that picks up twenty years after the end of Worldwar. The Race's colonization fleet arrives on Earth expecting a subdued planet, only to find that barely half the planet's surface is under the (often contested) rule of the Race. This creates intense friction between the troops of the invasion fleet, who have been significantly changed by their interaction with humans, and the much more conservative and strait-laced colonists. Even more tension comes from the just-short-of-shots-fired relationships between the surviving human powers: They are united in opposition towards the Race, threatening nuclear war in defense of an almost-enemy if the Race makes any aggressive moves, but all of the major human states are hostile towards each other as well, and aren't averse to sabotage and false flag actions aimed at rival humans. Making matters worse for the Race, it is discovered that on top of its narcotic effects to the Race, ginger causes females to go into estrus out of season, something undiscovered by the all-male conquest fleet. This has devastating effects on the Race's mating cycles, and introduces them to some totally alien concepts like sex for pleasure, prostitution, and monogamy.Finally, a standalone book, Homeward Bound, was added to the series. A whole bunch of humans get on a human-made starship and head towards the Race's homeworld, in an effort to negotiate a lasting peace between humans and the Race. The Race, for its part, is still contemplating the possibility of utterly destroying Earth to end the threat to the Empire, even though it would mean killing hundreds of millions of their own colonists. But in the end, they discover that it's already far too late to contain the humans, and they need to begin adapting to compete.Books include: The original Worldwar series: In the Balance Tilting the Balance Upsetting the Balance Striking the Balance The follow-up Colonization series: Second Contact Down to the Earth Aftershocks Homeward Bound serves as the Grand Finale of the entire series.
 Worldwar
fetched
2024-04-11T20:00:49Z
 Worldwar
parsed
2024-04-11T20:00:49Z
 Worldwar
processingComment
Dropped link to AlienArtsAreAppreciated: Not a Feature - ITEM
 Worldwar
processingComment
Dropped link to Columbo: Not a Feature - ITEM
 Worldwar
processingComment
Dropped link to CoolTank: Not a Feature - UNKNOWN
 Worldwar
processingComment
Dropped link to DiscussedTrope: Not a Feature - ITEM
 Worldwar
processingComment
Dropped link to JohnCarterOfMars: Not a Feature - ITEM
 Worldwar
processingComment
Dropped link to SavingPrivateRyan: Not a Feature - ITEM
 Worldwar
processingComment
Dropped link to SherlockHolmes: Not a Feature - ITEM
 Worldwar
processingComment
Dropped link to StarTrekTheOriginalSeries: Not a Feature - ITEM
 Worldwar
processingComment
Dropped link to TheBeatles: Not a Feature - IGNORE
 Worldwar
processingComment
Dropped link to TheWarOfTheWorlds: Not a Feature - ITEM
 Worldwar
processingUnknown
CoolTank
 Worldwar
isPartOf
DBTropes
 Worldwar / int_101500e
type
Beneath Notice
 Worldwar / int_101500e
comment
Beneath Notice: The Colonization series reveals that in addition to the great powers who were able to keep their independence by force of arms, Ireland, New Zealand, the Caribbean island nations and the Free French territories in the Pacific have also remained independent because the Race didn't consider such small landmasses to be important.
 Worldwar / int_101500e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_101500e
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_101500e
 Worldwar / int_1161fb48
type
Bizarre Alien Biology
 Worldwar / int_1161fb48
comment
Bizarre Alien Biology: The Race mates in seasons, gets stoned off of ginger and uses far less water than humanity (with resulting "toiletry differences" - see Nobody Poops). They also have a cloaca used for waste removal and reproduction. Averted with food: other than liking things saltier and needing less water, the Race can eat human foods and vice versa. Inverted from the Race's perspective: the biology of the "Big Uglies" is weird to them; that they (we) can mate all year round, are always influenced by this, and the crucial role this plays in shaping human society is deeply bizarre and pretty disgusting to them.
 Worldwar / int_1161fb48
featureApplicability
-1.0
 Worldwar / int_1161fb48
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_1161fb48
 Worldwar / int_1237828f
type
Anyone Can Die
 Worldwar / int_1237828f
comment
Anyone Can Die: Viewpoint characters die throughout the series. Characters that had an ongoing presence generally transfer their perspective to a new character that had been associated with them before their death.
 Worldwar / int_1237828f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_1237828f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_1237828f
 Worldwar / int_125eb76c
type
This Is My Boomstick
 Worldwar / int_125eb76c
comment
This Is My Boomstick: Deconstructed. The Race had assumed that advanced technology like nuclear weapons would seem like magic to Earth's primitive inhabitants. They're shocked when it turns out that humans have a pretty decent theoretical knowledge of the underlying scientific principles, they just don't know how to manufacture their own yet. Thus the nuclear destruction of Berlin and Washington, D.C. do not shock the human nations into submission as intended - instead it just makes them scramble to complete their own nuclear development programs.
 Worldwar / int_125eb76c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_125eb76c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_125eb76c
 Worldwar / int_129749df
type
All Men Are Perverts
 Worldwar / int_129749df
comment
All Men Are Perverts: The Race is absolutely disgusted by the way human men are able to become sexually aroused at any time. They refuse to accept it as truth when it is first described to them, and run numerous experiments to see if it really is possible for a man to have sex at any time. They think that this constant state of horniness is one of the explanations for humanity's rapid technological progress. Several of the female human characters have endured such casual, omnipresent sexual harassment throughout their lives that they regard it as a normal experience. Whenever a man doesn't try to force themselves on them, they wonder if there's something wrong with him.
 Worldwar / int_129749df
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_129749df
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_129749df
 Worldwar / int_12dc4d97
type
Greedy Jew
 Worldwar / int_12dc4d97
comment
David Goldfarb makes a deliberate effort to always be generous when it comes to buying drinks and food for his friends, because if he doesn't then he could be perceived as a Greedy Jew. For the same reason, he doesn't act overly excited when he gets a bonus at work so that his boss and coworkers don't think he's obsessed with the money.
 Worldwar / int_12dc4d97
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_12dc4d97
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_12dc4d97
 Worldwar / int_1384ff11
type
Humans by Any Other Name
 Worldwar / int_1384ff11
comment
Humans by Any Other Name: The Lizards refer to humans as "Tosevites" — derived from Tosev, their name for Sol. When speaking formally, anyway. In casual speech, they're just as likely to refer to humans as "Big Uglies".
 Worldwar / int_1384ff11
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_1384ff11
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_1384ff11
 Worldwar / int_145490c6
type
Still Wearing the Old Colors
 Worldwar / int_145490c6
comment
Still Wearing the Old Colors: Straha continues to wear his Shiplord bodypaint even after his defection to the USA. It is part of his efforts to remain connected to the Race in spirit, even if he no longer lives among them.
 Worldwar / int_145490c6
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_145490c6
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_145490c6
 Worldwar / int_14ed6ab7
type
Does This Remind You of Anything?
 Worldwar / int_14ed6ab7
comment
Does This Remind You of Anything?: The first book was written in 1994 and the Race's war technology seems to be based on that used by the US military and its Coalition partners in the Gulf War.
 Worldwar / int_14ed6ab7
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_14ed6ab7
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_14ed6ab7
 Worldwar / int_153299b4
type
Boisterous Bruiser
 Worldwar / int_153299b4
comment
Boisterous Bruiser: Otto Skorzeny of course, it is one of his chief characteristics that he enthusiastically enjoys everything he does.
 Worldwar / int_153299b4
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_153299b4
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_153299b4
 Worldwar / int_17058a90
type
No Biochemical Barriers
 Worldwar / int_17058a90
comment
No Biochemical Barriers: The Race's biology and biochemistry are similar enough that they can live on Earth and eat Earth biomatter with pretty much no problems. However, what would be slightly chilly to humans is beastly cold to them, as their home world is so hot that snow is only occasionally found at the extreme poles of the planet.
 Worldwar / int_17058a90
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_17058a90
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_17058a90
 Worldwar / int_1777688d
type
Genre Savvy
 Worldwar / int_1777688d
comment
Genre Savvy: Sam Yeager, an avid reader of Astounding Science-Fiction, becomes one of humanity's greatest experts on the Race (as well as being held in high regard by the Race itself) because he is able to think beyond the normal human perspective. This is what gets him off the front lines and assigned to working with Lizard prisoners in the first place.
 Worldwar / int_1777688d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_1777688d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_1777688d
 Worldwar / int_1825867d
type
Tastes Like Chicken
 Worldwar / int_1825867d
comment
Tastes Like Chicken: According to South African cab driver Joseph Moroka, zisuili taste like chicken. Jonathan Yeager is aware that most people describe every unfamiliar meat as tasting like chicken, but he thinks that azwaca cutlets really do.
 Worldwar / int_1825867d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_1825867d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_1825867d
 Worldwar / int_193adfd1
type
The Right of a Superior Species
 Worldwar / int_193adfd1
comment
The Right of a Superior Species: The Race considers themselves eminently justified in conquering Earth and making humanity a subject race because of what they view as their incomparably superior culture and technology, even though said technology turns out to be not quite that advanced over humankind's.
 Worldwar / int_193adfd1
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_193adfd1
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_193adfd1
 Worldwar / int_1b596e24
type
The Beard
 Worldwar / int_1b596e24
comment
The Beard: A few dates into their 'relationship', Monique Dutourd wonders if Dieter Kuhn is just going out with her "to give the appearance of normality" since he had not tried to force himself on her yet. She eventually learns that he does in fact desire her, and desperately wishes that she had been right the first time.
 Worldwar / int_1b596e24
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_1b596e24
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_1b596e24
 Worldwar / int_1c263b9f
type
The Purge
 Worldwar / int_1c263b9f
comment
The Purge: After Beria's failed coup in Second Contact, the NKVD is purged and its power greatly diminished in the Soviet Union. Despite their attempt to remove him from power, Molotov somewhat regrets the necessity of purging them since they can no longer serve as a balance against the Red Army, and it greatly diminishes the Soviet Union's espionage capabilities.
 Worldwar / int_1c263b9f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_1c263b9f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_1c263b9f
 Worldwar / int_1cc2ea8d
type
Villain Ball
 Worldwar / int_1cc2ea8d
comment
Villain Ball: The United States. In "Second Contact" they launch nuclear missiles at half a dozen of the Race's newly arrived colonization ships, but beyond "killing a bunch of Lizards" there's really no rhyme or reason to it. They know it's only a few ships out of a massive fleet, meaning the damage inflicted will be statistically minor, and they have to realize that it will enrage the Race and lead to a retributive strike, but they make absolutely no attempt to frame any other country either to cover their own hides or to try and give one of their enemies a black eye. In the end it just comes off as petty and arbitrary.
 Worldwar / int_1cc2ea8d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_1cc2ea8d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_1cc2ea8d
 Worldwar / int_1ef7232d
type
Wild Child
 Worldwar / int_1ef7232d
comment
Wild Child: The Race is precocial, able to walk and even hunt almost as soon as they hatch from their eggs, but they only develop language and complex reasoning skills after several years. They describe their childrearing habits as more like domestication than what humans do, since they spend most of that time keeping the hatchlings from injuring each other or escaping into the wild until they are old enough to be educated. Though rare, there are documented occurrences of hatchlings being discovered in the wild years after hatching, where they have grown into functional wild animals.
 Worldwar / int_1ef7232d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_1ef7232d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_1ef7232d
 Worldwar / int_21768d3f
type
Seduction-Proof Marriage
 Worldwar / int_21768d3f
comment
Seduction-Proof Marriage: In Aftershocks Johannes Drucker has been in space by himself for over a month, and is then caught by aliens. He is presented with a female human who has been raised by them (these are aliens who don't wear clothes), and when she asks if he would mate with her if given the chance, one of the reasons he gives for not wanting to is that he is married. Since the aliens also don't practice marriage, this doesn't really explain much to her.
 Worldwar / int_21768d3f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_21768d3f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_21768d3f
 Worldwar / int_22569655
type
We ARE Struggling Together
 Worldwar / int_22569655
comment
We ARE Struggling Together: Despite the fact that they are united against a common enemy, the Axis and the Allies do not exactly like each other, and still engage in diplomatic and sometimes literal skullduggery. While negotiating with a band of Japanese soldiers, Nieh Ho-Ting laments that the situation in China is even more complicated than just being a four-sided conflict (Communists vs. Kuomintang vs. Japan vs. the Race). Any two of the four might cooperate against a third at any time, only for those two to then decide to ally with another faction against each other. When he becomes leader of the Soviet Union, Molotov needs to the keep the Army and the NKVD from becoming too closely aligned so they never think of turning against him. He keeps pitting Zhukov and Beria against each other to keep both factions hamstrung.
 Worldwar / int_22569655
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_22569655
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_22569655
 Worldwar / int_237404cc
type
Ironic Echo
 Worldwar / int_237404cc
comment
Ironic Echo: The first book opens with Atvar and the flagship's shiplord, Kirel, looking at an image of the enemy they expect to face, a knight on horseback from the Middle Ages and laughing at the prospect of an easy conquest. The last book in the Balance series, the first of the Colonisation series and Homeward Bound opens with them doing this again, somewhat more ruefully. Albeit also as exposition for those who started reading the later books.
 Worldwar / int_237404cc
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_237404cc
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_237404cc
 Worldwar / int_24115bb4
type
Pass Fail
 Worldwar / int_24115bb4
comment
Pass Fail: When Mordechai Anieliwicz is traveling in the countryside, he encounters a farmhouse and attempts to pass as a Catholic Polish partisan. He manages to eat the ham they're serving without hesitation, but unwittingly exposes himself when he crosses himself wrong and does not think to put butter on his potatoes. Fortunately for him, the farmer is a well-meaning man who quietly sets him straight afterward so he won't repeat the same mistakes.
 Worldwar / int_24115bb4
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_24115bb4
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_24115bb4
 Worldwar / int_246989a4
type
Circling Vultures
 Worldwar / int_246989a4
comment
Circling Vultures: When Rance Auerbach and Penny Summers are walking to the American lines after leaving the POW/refugee camp, Rance observes that a lot of the people making the same trek are going to die on the way. Instead of answering, Peggy points to the buzzards already circling above their heads.
 Worldwar / int_246989a4
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_246989a4
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_246989a4
 Worldwar / int_25208c30
type
Go Through Me
 Worldwar / int_25208c30
comment
Go Through Me: In Homeward Bound, when the new ship Commodore Perry arrives at Home, they are given explicit instructions not to allow Sam Yeager to come back to Earth. The people who came with him sign a petition saying "If he stays, so do we," which results in the Perry's crew (very) grudgingly allowing Yeager to return with them.
 Worldwar / int_25208c30
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_25208c30
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_25208c30
 Worldwar / int_26263771
type
Ditto Aliens
 Worldwar / int_26263771
comment
Ditto Aliens: Over the course of the series, which takes place over nearly a century, neither humans or the alien Lizards ever quite get the hang of even telling each other's genders apart.
 Worldwar / int_26263771
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_26263771
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_26263771
 Worldwar / int_264fcc42
type
Sudden Sequel Heel Syndrome
 Worldwar / int_264fcc42
comment
Sudden Sequel Heel Syndrome: Basil Roundbush in the Worldwar series is charming, friendly, a good sport when it comes to women and, most tellingly, an officer willing to stick up for David Goldfarb and get him an officer's commission despite Britain's emerging anti-semitism. In his very first scene in the Colonization series he blackmails Goldfarb into working for him by threatening to kill his family. Britain in general has become more and more reliant on the Greater German Reich after it lost its empire, and the nation that once fought Hitler tooth-and-nail is now entertaining formally adopting the Fascist anti-semitic policies.
 Worldwar / int_264fcc42
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_264fcc42
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_264fcc42
 Worldwar / int_27b83210
type
Hufflepuff House
 Worldwar / int_27b83210
comment
Hufflepuff House: The Japanese Empire during the latter half of the series. Japan is mentioned from time to time - notably when it detonates its first atomic bomb in 1964 - and remains a major human power into the 21st century, but no Japanese characters feature directly after the Worldwar novels.
 Worldwar / int_27b83210
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_27b83210
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_27b83210
 Worldwar / int_285b66d7
type
I'll Pretend I Didn't Hear That
 Worldwar / int_285b66d7
comment
I'll Pretend I Didn't Hear That: Many officers in the Conquest Fleet learn to look the other way when their subordinates start tasting ginger, provided they don't use it during combat or when they are on duty. Since many of them use ginger the same way, it keeps the conquest moving.
 Worldwar / int_285b66d7
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_285b66d7
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_285b66d7
 Worldwar / int_2a035a26
type
Allohistorical Allusion
 Worldwar / int_2a035a26
comment
Allohistorical Allusion: As the result of being hit by the Dora cannon, a Race starship explodes. By chance, this ship holds the majority of the fleet's nuclear ordnance. The bombs do not go off, but they do spread radioactive contamination across a wide area in the Ukraine. When a joint Soviet-German mission captures some of the uranium, two of them are running close to an abandoned village. The German officer asks what the village is called; the Soviet partisan replies it is Chernobyl. After being able to destroy several Race landcruisers (albeit with heavy losses) with the help of the newly developed Tiger tanks, one of Jager's men wonders if the next type of tank they'll develop will be a Tiger mounting a long-barreled gun AND sloped armor. That was precisely what the tank that succeeded the Tiger had. Being interrogated by the Japanese about how to build nuclear weapons, Race pilot Teerts wishes that a nuclear bomb would fall upon the city. The city is Nagasaki, the second city destroyed by an atomic bomb in real-life. General Patton criticizes the Race for getting bogged down in street fighting at Chicago, saying that unlike the Germans the Race are slow to learn from their mistakes and the Germans would not have tried to take Stalingrad house by house if they had reached it. In reality, they did, and it was a complete disaster. Patton uses the same tactics that the USSR used to destroy the German Sixth Army, and the main difference is that the Race actually fought smarter: they had the sense to immediately stage a breakout from Chicago and managed to save a large part of their force, while Hitler refused to allow a retreat resulting in the complete loss of the Sixth Armynote General Paulus, in command of the Sixth Army, knew full well the situation, and wanted to attempt a breakout to save what they could, but Hitler's insistence on them staying where they were, and unsuccessful attempts to resupply them by air, ultimately resulted in complete surrender. In Second Contact one member of The Race says to another, after dealing with Nazi ambassadors, that duty in the city of Nuremberg is a trial. The Nuremberg Trials were ones in which the real Nazis were tried after WWII was over. The Empire of Japan detonates their first home-built atomic bomb on Bikini Atoll, which was the site of numerous atomic bomb test detonations by the United States. In Down to Earth the Race and Nazi Germany fight a brief but devastating war over Race-occupied Poland, ending with the Nazis defeated and Germany's major cities nuked. Flensburg, on the Danish border, ends up as the capital. It was also the capital of Germany from 1 May to 23 May 1945 in our own timeline - Karl Donitz led the German government from there after Hitler's suicide. When Johannes Drucker comments on the suicide of the president of the United States, he thinks such a thing would never occur in the German Reich, and Hitler would sooner have taken up a rifle himself and fought until death. In real life, Hitler committed suicide when the Soviets overran Berlin. After President Earl Warren's suicide, several of the Race's experts on humans gather to discuss the reasons behind this act. They unofficially call this gathering the "Warren Commission". In Real Life, the Warren Commission was the unofficial name for the committee that investigated John F. Kennedy's assassination, named so after the presiding Chief Justice Earl Warren.
 Worldwar / int_2a035a26
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_2a035a26
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_2a035a26
 Worldwar / int_2a3aa1a5
type
Peace Conference
 Worldwar / int_2a3aa1a5
comment
Peace Conference: Atvar holds one with the foreign ministers from Germany, the Soviet Union, and the United States, with non-nuclear wielding Great Britain and Japan as observers. It results in the Race agreeing to let all these countries (plus Canada and some small island nations) remain independent but the Race ruling the rest of the world. The biggest point of contention is over Poland. Since the Nazis and Soviets still dispute control over Poland, the Race decides they will maintain control of it. The Soviets accept this, but not the Nazis – until the Nazis’ plan to detonate a nuclear bomb in Poland fails. The Nazis then accept this settlement for twenty years until restarting their war with the Race, resulting in Germany’s devastation.
 Worldwar / int_2a3aa1a5
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_2a3aa1a5
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_2a3aa1a5
 Worldwar / int_2a7b0247
type
Could Say It, But...
 Worldwar / int_2a7b0247
comment
Could Say It, But...: When Gorppet has been offered a transfer to the Race's intelligence services, he hesitate to accept for fear that his ginger habit will get him in trouble. The male he is speaking to says — purely hypothetically, and specifically not asking Gorppet any questions — that if he was a ginger user it wouldn't be a problem, provided he is not the sort of male who gives ginger to females without their knowledge. When General Healey offers Glen Johnson the choice of entering cold sleep to wait for a human starship, Johnson views it as a threat that something will happen to him if he doesn't accept the offer. Healey immediately and vehemently denies saying that, and says that he would never say that, but since Johnson said it he sure better think about it.
 Worldwar / int_2a7b0247
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_2a7b0247
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_2a7b0247
 Worldwar / int_2af6bbeb
type
Break the Haughty
 Worldwar / int_2af6bbeb
comment
Break the Haughty: Flight Leader Teerts gets put through the wringer as a prisoner of the Japanese. Also, the entire series could count as one Break the Haughty moment for the Race.
 Worldwar / int_2af6bbeb
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_2af6bbeb
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_2af6bbeb
 Worldwar / int_2b9e3fb0
type
Give Me a Sign
 Worldwar / int_2b9e3fb0
comment
Give Me a Sign: Moishe Russie twice asks God for some sort of sign: Before the Lizards come, he asks for a sign that God has not forgotten His people trapped in the Warsaw ghetto. Immediately afterwards, the Lizards detonate a high-altitude nuclear warhead. The fact that God apparently answered him so directly gains Russie a lot of respect amongst the other Jews of the ghetto, who start to regard him as a holy man. When the Lizard invasion of Warsaw was imminent, he asked for a sign as to whether he should sit back and let the Nazis and Lizards fight it out, or actively assist the revolt other Jews are planning. He happens to catch sight of German troops manning an anti-aircraft gun set up in a cemetery, and one of the soldiers takes a brief break to go to the bathroom. Moishe decides that seeing a German soldier pissing on Jewish graves and laughing about it is the sign he needs to assist the Lizards.
 Worldwar / int_2b9e3fb0
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_2b9e3fb0
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_2b9e3fb0
 Worldwar / int_2eb94abd
type
Deadly Euphemism
 Worldwar / int_2eb94abd
comment
Deadly Euphemism: Among the highest levels of the Soviet hierarchy, the "maximum punishment" is the term for the execution of their own personnel for failure. In the Soviet gulag system, "denied the right of correspondence" is the term the prisoners use for killing one of their own. If you're dead, you can't correspond. To 'give someone a noodle' is SS slang for a bullet to the back of the head. It has begun to leach out to the rest of the Wehrmacht as well.
 Worldwar / int_2eb94abd
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_2eb94abd
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_2eb94abd
 Worldwar / int_2fd7200b
type
Dead Guy Junior
 Worldwar / int_2fd7200b
comment
Dead Guy Junior: There are two children named Heinrich in the Colonization series, both carrying on the legacy of Heinrich Jager and the example he set. That these two children are the sons of both a Wehrmacht officer and Jewish militia leader Mordechai Anielewicz speaks to the quality of the man himself. Adolf, the little brother of the German Heinrich. Although apparently he doesn't like the Nazi government because they would have killed his mother for having a Jewish great-grandparent.
 Worldwar / int_2fd7200b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_2fd7200b
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_2fd7200b
 Worldwar / int_319e4a2f
type
Even Evil Has Standards
 Worldwar / int_319e4a2f
comment
Even Evil Has Standards: Jager and the Race are both shocked and horrified at the measures taken in the name of German national security, particularly the industrialized murder of the concentration camps and Babi Yar. For the Race, the idea of killing a whole demographic is something they've never imagined. Rance Auerbach is trying to set himself up as a ginger dealer and hopes that Basil Roundbush can be an important connection, but when he discovers that Basil is planning to have David Goldfarb killed because of what he knows, he says that Goldfarb is now under his protection. Even if it makes Roundbush his own enemy.
 Worldwar / int_319e4a2f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_319e4a2f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_319e4a2f
 Worldwar / int_31fa019d
type
All Psychology Is Freudian
 Worldwar / int_31fa019d
comment
All Psychology Is Freudian: The series is set at a time when Freud's theories are respected and accepted, and because of its focus on sex human psychologists are stumped when trying to analyse the Race. They have no sexual thoughts outside of the mating season, so Freud doesn't apply. On the Race's side, their psychologists find it equally difficult to comprehend humans, as they don't have sex for pleasure, pair bonding, or even families in their culture.
 Worldwar / int_31fa019d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_31fa019d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_31fa019d
 Worldwar / int_32e1174d
type
Nobody Ever Complained Before
 Worldwar / int_32e1174d
comment
Nobody Ever Complained Before: Members of the Race cannot understand why humans insist on fighting back so strenuously instead of just placidly accepting their rule. Their previous two conquest experiences had nothing like the long, drawn-out resistance that humanity offers even in supposedly-placid territories.
 Worldwar / int_32e1174d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_32e1174d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_32e1174d
 Worldwar / int_34dd5f3
type
La Résistance
 Worldwar / int_34dd5f3
comment
La Résistance: Portions of the first six books are dedicated to groups working in Race-occupied territory, such as the Jews in Poland or the Chinese.
 Worldwar / int_34dd5f3
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_34dd5f3
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_34dd5f3
 Worldwar / int_35a03507
type
Raised by Orcs
 Worldwar / int_35a03507
comment
Raised by Orcs: Liu Han's daughter Liu Mei was Ttomalss's first attempt at this. Then Liu Han joined Mao's Communists and forced the Race to return her daughter. However, even twenty years later, Liu Mei is unable to form facial expressions, as lizards' faces don't move, and the lack of feedback to her smiles as a child meant this response is atrophied. Additionally, Liu Mei's first word was a lizard emphatic cough. A human baby is abducted by the Race, named Kassquit and raised by the scientist Ttomalss as one of them to see if the Tosevites can integrate into the Empire. He does not know what to do when she hits puberty, and the increasing problems of reconciling her human nature with her identity as a member of the Race causes her a lot of anguish. In an inverted example, two Race hatchlings are raised as humans by Sam Yeager, who names them Mickey and Donald. Though they hide it somewhat better than Kassquit, they also experience significant emotional distress at living in the wrong society.
 Worldwar / int_35a03507
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_35a03507
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_35a03507
 Worldwar / int_38b2491d
type
The Fog of Ages
 Worldwar / int_38b2491d
comment
The Fog of Ages: The Race has had a continuous recorded history for 50,000 years, but before the unification of Home things get a bit more muddied. Their earliest recorded history — referred to as ancientest history — is deliberately suppressed in order to not upset their populace. Only specialized scholars and the highest members of government have access to these records, with the general public completely ignorant of what happened so long ago.
 Worldwar / int_38b2491d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_38b2491d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_38b2491d
 Worldwar / int_3ac2a3e3
type
Deadly Gas
 Worldwar / int_3ac2a3e3
comment
Deadly Gas: When the Race invades the British Isles, mustard gas is used against the invaders. We even get a description of its effects (they are not very nice.) From time to time, the Nazis use nerve gas, the description of which is horrifying in an entirely different manner.
 Worldwar / int_3ac2a3e3
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_3ac2a3e3
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_3ac2a3e3
 Worldwar / int_3c598f56
type
Conflict Ball
 Worldwar / int_3c598f56
comment
Conflict Ball: Not once do Major Samuel Yeager or Lieutenant Colonel Glen Johnson receive official cease-and-desist orders through the proper chain of command. Instead high-ranking officers go straight to intimidation, blustering, and (with Yeager) attempted murder, which only prompts Yeager and Johnson to dig deeper. The characters themselves state that a simple explanation of "Sorry, that's classified" from their immediate superiors would have ended their nosing around with them none the wiser.
 Worldwar / int_3c598f56
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_3c598f56
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_3c598f56
 Worldwar / int_3c88d6c2
type
Flat "What"
 Worldwar / int_3c88d6c2
comment
Flat "What": Atvar has a mental one of these while talking with the Soviet diplomat while asking him to surrender. Upon asking him how the USSR coped without an emperor, Molotov promptly replies that they murdered him, upsetting both Atvar and his interpreter. He has another when Molotov demands that the Race withdraws from Soviet territory, while Soviet forces are being hammered by the Race.
 Worldwar / int_3c88d6c2
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_3c88d6c2
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_3c88d6c2
 Worldwar / int_3ebc57ac
type
Going Native
 Worldwar / int_3ebc57ac
comment
The males of the Conquest Fleet are unable to integrate with the civilians of the Colonization Fleet after they begin establishing cities. They view the newcomers as so naive and restrained as to be stupid, and the newcomers call them no better than the Big Uglies.
 Worldwar / int_3ebc57ac
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_3ebc57ac
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_3ebc57ac
 Worldwar / int_413c475b
type
Space Age Stasis
 Worldwar / int_413c475b
comment
Space Age Stasis: The Race has been technologically stagnant for 50,000 years or so. Since they believed that every species advances at their rate, they were expecting us to still be in the Dark Ages after just a millennium of preparing for an invasion.
 Worldwar / int_413c475b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_413c475b
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_413c475b
 Worldwar / int_420a8323
type
Smart Ball
 Worldwar / int_420a8323
comment
Smart Ball: Once David Goldfarb decides to no longer be Roundbush's pawn in the ginger business and emigrates to Canada, he takes every possible proactive step to protect himself and his family. This includes informing the police of all threats and suspicious activity, using the research and development company he works for to develop technology to let him identify his tormentors over the phone, and making specific and detailed reports after each subsequent attempt on his life. This results in the arrest of four armed and dangerous individuals before they manage to make good on their threats, earns him and his company a large revenue stream and gratitude from the local police force, and the incarceration of the one person to actually get close enough to follow through on his threats.
 Worldwar / int_420a8323
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_420a8323
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_420a8323
 Worldwar / int_42a3bf5a
type
Raised by Humans
 Worldwar / int_42a3bf5a
comment
In an inverted example, two Race hatchlings are raised as humans by Sam Yeager, who names them Mickey and Donald. Though they hide it somewhat better than Kassquit, they also experience significant emotional distress at living in the wrong society.
 Worldwar / int_42a3bf5a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_42a3bf5a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_42a3bf5a
 Worldwar / int_42c9f1ec
type
Downplayed Trope
 Worldwar / int_42c9f1ec
comment
Moishe Russie has some influence with Atvar since he often serves as an advisor, but not nearly so much as other people seem to think. He is able to use his connections to get David Goldfarb out custody in the Reich, and passes along some information, but that is the extent of what he is able to accomplish. Atvar doesn't place enough importance on keeping Russie happy to exert maximum pressure on his behalf.
 Worldwar / int_42c9f1ec
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_42c9f1ec
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_42c9f1ec
 Worldwar / int_43a045de
type
Dropped a Bridge on Him
 Worldwar / int_43a045de
comment
Dropped a Bridge on Him: With a couple of point-of-view characters from Worldwar. Heinrich Jager died a few years after the first series, supposedly from complications due to the nerve-gas he breathes during his final confrontation with Skorzeny, and this is mentioned as an aside when Mordechai is talking to Ludmila about their own lingering pains. Mutt Daniels gets an even larger bridge with no details, when Sam Yeager comes across his obituary in a baseball magazine. Given that Yeager doesn't react with any shock and that Mutt made it to nearly eighty, it was likely just old age.
 Worldwar / int_43a045de
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_43a045de
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_43a045de
 Worldwar / int_443f9d8a
type
Ask a Stupid Question...
 Worldwar / int_443f9d8a
comment
Ask a Stupid Question...: After an assassination attempt on Mordechai Anielewicz, a neighbor asks why anybody would want to shoot him. Mordechai can only laugh and point out that he's a prominent Jew, which means that the Poles, Lizards, Nazis, and Russians all don't like him, and probably more people as well if the neighbor wants him to keep going.
 Worldwar / int_443f9d8a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_443f9d8a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_443f9d8a
 Worldwar / int_44989f6f
type
"Could Have Avoided This!" Plot
 Worldwar / int_44989f6f
comment
"Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: Major Samuel Yeager and Lieutenant Colonel Glen Johnson both note that they would have stopped digging into The Conspiracy if they had ever received any official orders to do so. Instead they received threats and bluster which only made them dig harder.
 Worldwar / int_44989f6f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_44989f6f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_44989f6f
 Worldwar / int_47fea76b
type
Butt-Monkey
 Worldwar / int_47fea76b
comment
Ussmak appears to be the Race's equivalent of a Butt-Monkey. Butt Beffel, perhaps? He is a tank (or "landcruiser") driver whose first commanding officer gets killed in his very first engagement by sniper fire; his replacement commander is a Grade A Idiot; his best friend, the tank gunner, gets killed shortly later; his tank gets blown up when Skorzeny, of all people, rams a satchel charge between the turret and the chassis; when Ussmak bails out he lands in a particularly radioactive patch of mud which gets him a lovely stay in a hospital ship and to add insult to injury one of the orderlies there gets him addicted to ginger. Then he gets assigned to a new crew and gets to play cat and mouse with Wehrmacht/Waffen-SS troops and armor in France; then he takes part in the invasion of Britain where he gets introduced to a new type of warfare, Chemical Warfare; then he gets sent to Siberia, when the Race can not stand even mildly cold weather, where his second crew gets killed. Afterward, Ussmak finally snaps and leads a mutiny at his base and then defects to the Big Uglies. Unfortunately, the humans he defects to are Stalin's USSR complete with Beria's NKVD, so you can guess that doesn't exactly end well for poor Ussmak.
 Worldwar / int_47fea76b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_47fea76b
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_47fea76b
 Worldwar / int_4acee1ed
type
Fish out of Temporal Water
 Worldwar / int_4acee1ed
comment
Fish out of Temporal Water: The nature of slower-than-light interstellar travel means that people miss years or decades traveling between stars, and when they return home things have inevitably changed. Even members of the Race, whose society changes much more slowly than humanity, notice this. For humans it is much more drastic. When Sam Yeager comes back to Earth in 2031 he is shocked at how much society has changed since he went into cold sleep in 1977. Since he was already old even then, the change from when he was born is nearly unfathomable.
 Worldwar / int_4acee1ed
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_4acee1ed
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_4acee1ed
 Worldwar / int_4ce37dd1
type
Snipe Hunt
 Worldwar / int_4ce37dd1
comment
Jens Larssen. The guy loses his job and marriage, gets stuck behind enemy lines, gets press-ganged into fighting on the front lines on more than one occasion despite being a mere scientist, gets sent on a Snipe Hunt, gets the clap, etc... Really, his only purpose in the story seems to be to have one humiliation after another piled onto him.
 Worldwar / int_4ce37dd1
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_4ce37dd1
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_4ce37dd1
 Worldwar / int_4dc88e20
type
Stop Being Stereotypical
 Worldwar / int_4dc88e20
comment
Stop Being Stereotypical: David Goldfarb makes a deliberate effort to always be generous when it comes to buying drinks and food for his friends, because if he doesn't then he could be perceived as a Greedy Jew. For the same reason, he doesn't act overly excited when he gets a bonus at work so that his boss and coworkers don't think he's obsessed with the money. When a starving German woman offers to sleep with Mordechai Anielewicz if he gives her his leftover food, he gives her the food for free. When she remarks how surprising it is to find such a kind Jew he almost snatches the food back, but doesn't want to confirm her prejudices.
 Worldwar / int_4dc88e20
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_4dc88e20
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_4dc88e20
 Worldwar / int_4e3f6d57
type
What Would X Do?
 Worldwar / int_4e3f6d57
comment
What Would X Do?: Unaware that Skorzeny was the one behind the SS arresting Heinrich Jäger, the tank crew under Jäger's command motivate themselves to break him out of custody by imagining that Skorzeny would do it himself if he were there.
 Worldwar / int_4e3f6d57
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_4e3f6d57
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_4e3f6d57
 Worldwar / int_4e52a624
type
Screw the Money, I Have Rules!
 Worldwar / int_4e52a624
comment
Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: David Goldfarb refuses any payment from Basil Roundbush after he's been forced into assisting ginger smuggling. He can't get out of it altogether because of the danger to his family, but he won't profit off it.
 Worldwar / int_4e52a624
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_4e52a624
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_4e52a624
 Worldwar / int_4ee5989a
type
Bizarre Alien Senses
 Worldwar / int_4ee5989a
comment
Bizarre Alien Senses: The Lizards can see a few colors in the infrared spectrum.
 Worldwar / int_4ee5989a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_4ee5989a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_4ee5989a
 Worldwar / int_4f4372e9
type
Early-Installment Weirdness
 Worldwar / int_4f4372e9
comment
Early-Installment Weirdness: Atvar doesn't even have a concept of impericide when Molotov tells him that the Russians killed their emperor, yet a later book has Atvar thinking that this has happened in the distant past of the Race and the perpetrator's name was expunged from history.
 Worldwar / int_4f4372e9
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_4f4372e9
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_4f4372e9
 Worldwar / int_4f4bbeff
type
Interspecies Friendship
 Worldwar / int_4f4bbeff
comment
Interspecies Friendship: For the Race, "friendship" is a much stronger word than it is for most of humanity, coming close to what humans mean by "family" and "love". Many members of the Race never thought they would ever become friends with a Big Ugly, and are surprised when it happens. Sam Yeager and Straha become friends after Straha's defection to the USA. Straha appreciates that Sam can think like a member of the Race more than any other Big Ugly he knows, and he cherishes that kind of connection when he is so isolated from his own kind. Mordechai Anielewicz and Nesseref become friends in Lodz after she is assigned to construct a shuttlecraft landing pad in the area. He is the first Big Ugly she met who could speak the language of the Race well enough for a meaningful conversation, and he was neither obstructive or hostile like other Big Uglies nor condescending like the males of the Race who were established in the area. Rance Auerbach and Gorpett bonded over their shared combat history when they met in South Africa, with Gorpett pointing out that the frontline soldiers for humanity and the Race had more in common with each other than they did with their superiors.
 Worldwar / int_4f4bbeff
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_4f4bbeff
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_4f4bbeff
 Worldwar / int_4fafed32
type
Higher-Tech Species
 Worldwar / int_4fafed32
comment
Higher-Tech Species: The Race have a higher technological base than any of the other three intelligent species known to exist, with an older culture and government as well. However, they are not so far ahead as they like to think when others begin to catch up.
 Worldwar / int_4fafed32
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_4fafed32
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_4fafed32
 Worldwar / int_5028baf2
type
What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?
 Worldwar / int_5028baf2
comment
What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: The Race does not have familial bonds because they view mating as a purely practical matter; the Emperor is the only individual who even keeps track of his kids. Thus they find the notion of romantic love to be confusing and disgusting. The introduction of ginger changes all that for the Race, as members of the Race who were formerly just friends can now have sex upon desire, causing more orthodox Lizards to shun them and treat them as perverts, especially when they express a desire to get married.
 Worldwar / int_5028baf2
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_5028baf2
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_5028baf2
 Worldwar / int_50dd5147
type
BeardlessProtectionProgram
 Worldwar / int_50dd5147
comment
Beardless Protection Program: Moishe's escape from the ghetto.
 Worldwar / int_50dd5147
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_50dd5147
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_50dd5147
 Worldwar / int_50f66629
type
Crazy-Prepared
 Worldwar / int_50f66629
comment
Crazy-Prepared: The Race expected humanity would be nothing but sword-wielding primitives. They still arm their Conquest Fleet with tanks, attack helicopters, fighter aircraft, and nuclear weapons. Lots and lots of all of them. When Shiplord Straha is asked why they bothered bringing so much hardware (including air-to-air ordnance that should have been superfluous and useless against medieval armies) to fight a bunch of primitives, Straha looks at the person asking like he's "egg-addled" (i.e. crazy) and explains that when you go to war you must prepare for war. Simple as that. An early scene suggests they had planned not for the conquest of Earth as they thought it would be, but to fight another invader that had beaten them to the punch, as they considered that a far more likely event than humanity developing their technology so much in what to them is a small timespan (they were, after all, doing exactly that).
 Worldwar / int_50f66629
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_50f66629
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_50f66629
 Worldwar / int_50f848cc
type
Technology Porn
 Worldwar / int_50f848cc
comment
Technology Porn: The descriptions of the Dora supercannon, in the first novel, are a fine example of this.
 Worldwar / int_50f848cc
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_50f848cc
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_50f848cc
 Worldwar / int_52871b4e
type
Vichy Earth
 Worldwar / int_52871b4e
comment
Vichy Earth: The Race attempt to achieve this, but only partly succeed.
 Worldwar / int_52871b4e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_52871b4e
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_52871b4e
 Worldwar / int_52c0c7cf
type
Motive Decay
 Worldwar / int_52c0c7cf
comment
Motive Decay: David Nussboym was originally a Lizard collaborator because he felt they were the best hope for Jewish survival in Poland, and because he hated the Nazis enough to override his concern that the entire would would become an outpost of the Race. Mordechai himself admits that David is an honorable and brave man, and that just because they have opposing viewpoints does not make him a greedy and self-serving fool. However, once David is sent to a Soviet gulag he becomes a collaborator solely to support himself, and betrays friends and enemies alike to the head of the camp in order to advance his own agenda. His own thoughts and memories now reflect on how he did the same things back in Poland and throughout his life, and his very nature is self-serving.
 Worldwar / int_52c0c7cf
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_52c0c7cf
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_52c0c7cf
 Worldwar / int_537dd8fe
type
Affably Evil
 Worldwar / int_537dd8fe
comment
Affably Evil: Otto Skorzeny spends so much time being incredibly charismatic and fun to be around that most characters forget he's a member of the SS and a virulent Nazi. After he has gotten Heinrich Jäger imprisoned by the SS, many other officers—unaware that he was behind the arrest—actually use the hypothetical example of what Skorzeny would do as motivation to break their superior out of custody.
 Worldwar / int_537dd8fe
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_537dd8fe
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_537dd8fe
 Worldwar / int_54367e5d
type
Mathematician's Answer
 Worldwar / int_54367e5d
comment
Mathematician's Answer: When Kassquit asks Sam Yeager if the human propensity for speculation is good or bad, he simply responds "Yes."
 Worldwar / int_54367e5d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_54367e5d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_54367e5d
 Worldwar / int_54bb502b
type
Nobody Poops
 Worldwar / int_54bb502b
comment
Nobody Poops: Averted; differences in waste volume are a source of difficulty in the Race space plumbing when humans are aboard. Also, the Race are somewhat shocked that human plumbing is so good, and love hot showers. It is also revealed that the Race have probes that can detect uric acid — a component of urine — in the air, which they use to keep track of enemy populations and movements. The humans, however, discover this technology and deliberately pee on it, leading one technician to scream that four billion humans were approaching.
 Worldwar / int_54bb502b
featureApplicability
-1.0
 Worldwar / int_54bb502b
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_54bb502b
 Worldwar / int_556a4e20
type
The Empire
 Worldwar / int_556a4e20
comment
The Empire: The Race's version of government. Before they encountered humans they thought it was the only version of government. The best word they can come up with to describe any system of government that is not a hereditary autocracy is "not-empire". The Race describe the not-empires thusly: "The not-empires fall into three categories. Those which have one man with the power of an emperor, but who is not one (Germany, Soviet Union), those which have emperors, but whose emperors have no real power (Britain, Japan) and those who engage in 'snout-counting' (USA, Canada)." They're actually so firmly entrenched in this idea that when Molotov brags to Atvar that in the Bolshevik Revolution the Emperor of Russia was murdered, Atvar shudders inwardly and marvels at the barbarism of the act, something which the Race didn't even have a concept for prior to that.
 Worldwar / int_556a4e20
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_556a4e20
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_556a4e20
 Worldwar / int_57b80b45
type
Fantastic Racism
 Worldwar / int_57b80b45
comment
Fantastic Racism: The Race view themselves as the apex of sapient life, exemplified by their name: They are simply the Race, anybody else is beneath them and thus deserves to be conquered and enslaved. The humans have less condescension—since they are beneath the Race technologically—but a good deal more hate.
 Worldwar / int_57b80b45
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_57b80b45
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_57b80b45
 Worldwar / int_5989e3b6
type
Enemy Mine
 Worldwar / int_5989e3b6
comment
Enemy Mine: The Allies and the Axis ally together against the Race, although distance or pre-invasion enmity still hamper their efforts. Even the Jewish Resistance fighters, or at least some of them, sometimes assist the German military because, while they want the Race to keep the Nazis out of Poland, they don't want them to conquer all of humanity either.
 Worldwar / int_5989e3b6
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_5989e3b6
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_5989e3b6
 Worldwar / int_5ac34441
type
Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp"
 Worldwar / int_5ac34441
comment
Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp": Humans tend to use the Race's names (or translations thereof) for inventions they arrived at first. Nuclear weapons are "explosive-metal bombs"; the LASER is "skelkwank", and so CDs and DVDs are called "skelkwank discs". The Race call their tanks "landcruisers" and their fighter planes "killercraft". A variation with animals from Home brought by the Colonization Fleet. For some, humans try to find analogues among human animals. For example, the Race's equivalent of cows look very much like dinosaurs with turreted eyes, except it's pointed out that they don't graze like cows, instead eating every blade of grass in the vicinity (making the area barren). The lizards also have two kinds of pets (also lizard-like). The befflem (plural of "beffel"), for example are friendly like dogs but are independent like cats. On the other hand, tsiongyu (plural of "tsiongi") are larger than befflem and must be kept on a leash (like dogs) but are not as playful as dogs and are a little reminiscent of cats in their interactions with their owners.
 Worldwar / int_5ac34441
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_5ac34441
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_5ac34441
 Worldwar / int_5c613245
type
Thrown Out the Airlock
 Worldwar / int_5c613245
comment
Thrown Out the Airlock: Glen Johnson is threatened with being thrown out an airlock after tricking his way aboard the American space station. He believes that they mean it literally, too. The only thing that saves him is that they can't prove he came aboard under false pretenses. The threat lingers for the entire duration of his stay aboard the Lewis and Clark.
 Worldwar / int_5c613245
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_5c613245
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_5c613245
 Worldwar / int_5cbaed7
type
Faux Furby
 Worldwar / int_5cbaed7
comment
Faux Furby: In Colonization, one unforeseen side effect of reptilian aliens invading during WWII is the invention of Furby-like animatronic toys (referred to as "Furries") during the 1960s. Some characters working for intelligence agencies suggest concealing recorders in them, in reference to the urban legend about Furbies.
 Worldwar / int_5cbaed7
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_5cbaed7
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_5cbaed7
 Worldwar / int_5eb92325
type
Declaration of Protection
 Worldwar / int_5eb92325
comment
Declaration of Protection: Surprisingly, Rance Auerbach declares David Goldfarb under his protection. It's partially motivated by his own pride and spite over the way Basil Roundbush dismissed his objections to Roundbush's vendetta, but he means it when he tells him to back off.
 Worldwar / int_5eb92325
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_5eb92325
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_5eb92325
 Worldwar / int_5fb6411f
type
We Are as Mayflies
 Worldwar / int_5fb6411f
comment
We Are as Mayflies: Members of the Race live longer than humanity, which is believed to be one reason for why they are more methodical and unchanging. An exact figure for their lifespan is never given, but it seems to be approximately 200 years.
 Worldwar / int_5fb6411f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_5fb6411f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_5fb6411f
 Worldwar / int_5fcb9ad1
type
Time Skip
 Worldwar / int_5fcb9ad1
comment
Time Skip: The series jumps forward twenty years between the end of the Worldwar series and the beginning of the Colonization series. Many characters have died in the interim and new people are introduced to flesh out the roster. Those characters which are returning have changed, turning from low-ranking young soldiers to experienced officers, and some are no longer as pleasant as they were in their youth. Homeward Bound features half a dozen timeskips, starting in 1972 and eventually ending up in 2031, telling the story of how the characters who were on the Admiral Peary got there.
 Worldwar / int_5fcb9ad1
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_5fcb9ad1
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_5fcb9ad1
 Worldwar / int_5fe47c0
type
Distracted from Death
 Worldwar / int_5fe47c0
comment
Distracted from Death: A seemingly recurring theme with Mutt Daniels. Twice he doesn't notice that somebody was killed by an artillery barrage they were ducking from until he tries to talk afterwards and gets no response. Sergeant Schneider, his original superior and "finest soldier", and Miss Lucille, the medic he was trying to romance.
 Worldwar / int_5fe47c0
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_5fe47c0
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_5fe47c0
 Worldwar / int_60441d9
type
Future Slang
 Worldwar / int_60441d9
comment
Future Slang: Well, Alternate 60s Slang. By Colonization, human teenagers who grew up with the Race being a fact of life, learn stock phrases in their language such as "I greet you" and "It shall be done" and treat them as slang. Additionally, American teens adopt the word "hot" to have the same connotation as modern-day "cool".
 Worldwar / int_60441d9
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_60441d9
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_60441d9
 Worldwar / int_61c683d2
type
We Have Reserves
 Worldwar / int_61c683d2
comment
We Have Reserves: The humans' way of fighting the Race (Well, that and guerilla warfare tactics.) Patton even says he is prepared to lose ten of his tanks to every Lizard tank he kills because that is still a favorable loss-ratio for the Human Alliance. This works in large part because the Race only has what they brought with them, at least until they start capturing human factories and adapting them to their own technology. The Race acknowledges this, particularly in a conversation where Atvar's adjutant says that he had a mental picture of them expending their last missile to take out the last human tank, only for another one to roll over the horizon. For that matter, they also acknowledge that some of their best technology is simply too advanced for repurposed human factories to build: they can make new bullets fitting for their own guns easily enough, but they can't make more guided smart missiles (Mutt is almost killed by a USAAF 500lb bomb modified with a Race guidance system, which doesn't explode due to likely sabotage). At least, not until the Colonization fleet arrives in the 1960s.
 Worldwar / int_61c683d2
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_61c683d2
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_61c683d2
 Worldwar / int_62434fe2
type
Sanity Slippage
 Worldwar / int_62434fe2
comment
Sanity Slippage: Jens Larssen gets pushed around one too many times, shoots a couple of soldiers and then heads out to tell the Race where the American bomb project is located. He is killed when he finally goes off the deep end when he is hunted down by the cavalry, shoots a woman, hears her shriek, and leaps up, thinking it's his wife.
 Worldwar / int_62434fe2
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_62434fe2
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_62434fe2
 Worldwar / int_63c6a75c
type
Evil Lawyer Joke
 Worldwar / int_63c6a75c
comment
Evil Lawyer Joke: It turns out that humans and the Race have a very similar view on lawyers, and both make the same style of jokes. Jonathan Yeager spends one morning passing jokes back and forth with a male of the Race that he bumped into in a park. The male of the Race says that a lawyer will enter a revolving door behind you but come out in front of you, while Jonathan says that sharks avoid eating lawyers due to professional courtesy.
 Worldwar / int_63c6a75c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_63c6a75c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_63c6a75c
 Worldwar / int_6469d82f
type
Euphemism Buster
 Worldwar / int_6469d82f
comment
Euphemism Buster: When Johannes Drucker is being interrogated by the Gestapo over the rumors that his wife's grandmother was Jewish, the interrogator tries to console Drucker that their children will not be seriously discomfited if she is found guilty. Drucker angrily thinks that all that that means is that they won't be executed out of hand, since the Reich draws the line at being one-quarter Jewish instead of one-eighth. When Roland Freisler tells Felless that anybody caught smuggling drugs into the Reich will face the "maximum punishment allowed by law", Felless instantly responds that he means they will be killed.
 Worldwar / int_6469d82f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_6469d82f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_6469d82f
 Worldwar / int_65acf9db
type
He Knows Too Much
 Worldwar / int_65acf9db
comment
He Knows Too Much: Glen Johnson is hijacked onto the crew of the Lewis & Clark after he bluffs his way aboard the space station, prevented from ever returning to Earth or communicating with anybody on the planet. The only thing that prevents them from throwing him out of the airlock immediately is that he manages to sell his lie that it was a mechanical failure that got him aboard. Sam Yeager endures several attempts on his life after he discovers that it was the USA that attacked the Colonization Fleet. This culminates in a successful kidnapping, and the only thing that keeps them from making hm disappear completely is that he managed to pass along the info to be disseminated in the event of his death. Basil Roundbush tells Rance Auerbach that the reason his organization is coming after David Goldfarb is because he knows too much. Rance doesn't find this particularly compelling.
 Worldwar / int_65acf9db
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_65acf9db
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_65acf9db
 Worldwar / int_68e501cd
type
Gay Bravado
 Worldwar / int_68e501cd
comment
Gay Bravado: Skorzeny flirts with Jager quite a bit; given the Third Reich's attitude towards homosexuality, it's clear he's just goofing around and Jager will play along with the joke.
 Worldwar / int_68e501cd
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_68e501cd
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_68e501cd
 Worldwar / int_697b5232
type
Those Wacky Nazis
 Worldwar / int_697b5232
comment
Those Wacky Nazis: Forced by circumstance to be "the good guys" of the story. Or, at least, allies of the good guys.
 Worldwar / int_697b5232
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_697b5232
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_697b5232
 Worldwar / int_6b35bdff
type
Serious Business
 Worldwar / int_6b35bdff
comment
Serious Business: Most of the stuff the Race does. They do not even allow actors playing the Emperor to put on the appropriate bodypaint because it would be seen as blasphemy.
 Worldwar / int_6b35bdff
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_6b35bdff
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_6b35bdff
 Worldwar / int_6bda9a30
type
Meaningful Name
 Worldwar / int_6bda9a30
comment
Meaningful Name: America's spacecraft tend to be named for explorers; the first ship to reach the Asteroid Belt is the Lewis and Clark, and the first ship to reach Home is named Admiral Peary. The first FTL-capable ship is named Commodore Perry, after the man who forcibly ended Japan's isolationism. The Race eventually learns the meaning behind these names and is none too pleased. The Race's spaceship built to defend Home against the Admiral Peary is not named for an Emperor, like all the others. Instead, it is called the Horned Akiss after a dragon-like beast from the Race's mythology.
 Worldwar / int_6bda9a30
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_6bda9a30
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_6bda9a30
 Worldwar / int_6e429667
type
Fantastic Slurs
 Worldwar / int_6e429667
comment
Fantastic Slurs: "Lizards" for the Race (or "Little Scaly Devils" in China), "Big Uglies" for the humans.
 Worldwar / int_6e429667
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_6e429667
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_6e429667
 Worldwar / int_6ea3206
type
Numbered Homeworld
 Worldwar / int_6ea3206
comment
Numbered Homeworld: The Race refer to Earth as Tosev 3 and the other worlds in their empire as Rabotev 2 and Halless 1; each planet is named after the star of its stellar system and the position of the planet. However, their homeworld is called simply Home.
 Worldwar / int_6ea3206
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_6ea3206
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_6ea3206
 Worldwar / int_7043a964
type
Grammar Nazi
 Worldwar / int_7043a964
comment
Grammar Nazi: Barbara Yeager becomes this by the Colonization trilogy, forcing her husband and son to use proper English in her presence since she has a background in English Literature. Naturally, neither Sam nor Jonathan bother doing this when she's not around. Sam, who was born and raised on a farm, sometimes laxes into poor grammar deliberately as a form of rebellion.
 Worldwar / int_7043a964
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_7043a964
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_7043a964
 Worldwar / int_7071bfe9
type
Humans Advance Swiftly
 Worldwar / int_7071bfe9
comment
Humans Advance Swiftly: Having sent probes and observed knights on horseback, the conquest fleet arrived 800 years later expecting basically more of the same and completely unprepared for the industrial civilization that humanity had built. The Race initially speculated that this was due to Earth having lots of oceans to mess with the pace of progress, while the Race had to plod along on land. Later on, human mating patterns are also blamed; humans are in constant competition, whereas the race mates only once a year (six months to us), thus leading to greater competition and faster advancement.
 Worldwar / int_7071bfe9
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_7071bfe9
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_7071bfe9
 Worldwar / int_722a6ef4
type
Game Show
 Worldwar / int_722a6ef4
comment
Game Show: In Homeward Bound, the human ambassadors learn that Donald, a Lizard raised from hatchlinghood by the Yeagers, is the host of a game show called You'd Better Believe It. The show is somewhat similar to Fox's The Chamber, where contestants answer questions while strapped into a human gyroscope and harassed with airjets, water sprays and mild electric shocks. It also has a beautiful assistant named Rita who goes topless, which is a common (Race-influenced) style for women of the time.
 Worldwar / int_722a6ef4
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_722a6ef4
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_722a6ef4
 Worldwar / int_7286e96d
type
Idiot Ball
 Worldwar / int_7286e96d
comment
Idiot Ball: Johannes Drucker allows himself to be blackmailed by Gorppett into helping the Race when the latter threatens to reveal to Drucker's superiors that Drucker knew, and was friends with, notorious Jewish leader Mordechai Anielwicz. This would otherwise be very useful leverage in the Reich - but Fuhrer Dornberger not only already had this information but had actually met Anielwicz via teleconference when he and Drucker were talking.
 Worldwar / int_7286e96d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_7286e96d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_7286e96d
 Worldwar / int_72c8b35c
type
When She Smiles
 Worldwar / int_72c8b35c
comment
When She Smiles: Mordechai Anielewicz finds Bertha Fleishman more attractive when she smiles, usually considering her plain.
 Worldwar / int_72c8b35c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_72c8b35c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_72c8b35c
 Worldwar / int_76df59f1
type
Thicker Than Water
 Worldwar / int_76df59f1
comment
Thicker Than Water: Averted with The Race, as they cannot understand why humans put so much emphasis on familial relations. Understandable, since the Race are raised in a communal fashion, with no known mothers or fathers, and are more generally 'domesticated' rather than 'raised' as we would think of it. Thus, Race children form no real bonds with any one particular 'parent' individual as they grow up. Friendship, however, is a powerful bond in the world of the Race, since they feel that the people you choose to be close to are much more important than the circumstances of who birthed you.
 Worldwar / int_76df59f1
featureApplicability
-1.0
 Worldwar / int_76df59f1
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_76df59f1
 Worldwar / int_79974fb8
type
Rock Beats Laser
 Worldwar / int_79974fb8
comment
Rock Beats Laser: Part of the underlying theme. The Race starts out by detonating nukes in the upper atmosphere to cause electromagnetic pulses to wipe out electronics... only to find that human technology still runs on valves (a.k.a. vacuum tubes) rather than transistors, which are not affected by EMP. Later, they find out that counter-missiles are ineffective against German supergun shells, and that radar is pretty useless when it come to detecting a low-flying plane made of wood and fabric. And so on. However, it's also averted in that any time a human machine goes up against its Race equivalent (tank vs landcruiser, plane vs killercraft), humans lose badly. The war basically comes down to "Laser beats rock, but lots of rocks will beat laser . . . and we have a lot more rocks than you will ever have lasers".
 Worldwar / int_79974fb8
featureApplicability
-1.0
 Worldwar / int_79974fb8
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_79974fb8
 Worldwar / int_7a08e8d1
type
They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!
 Worldwar / int_7a08e8d1
comment
They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!: In South Africa, Rance Auerbach calls their black cab driver Joseph Moroka "Joe" and is quickly corrected to "Mr. Moroka". He points out that before the Race came white people often never even bothered learning the names of black people, now "they have to learn, and learn right".
 Worldwar / int_7a08e8d1
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_7a08e8d1
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_7a08e8d1
 Worldwar / int_7c3dda61
type
Sliding Scale of Alternate History Plausibility
 Worldwar / int_7c3dda61
comment
Sliding Scale of Alternate History Plausibility: Type X due to the presence of alien invaders, but after that initial setup, turns into a hard 1 or 2. Softens somewhat, becoming III or IV by the end.
 Worldwar / int_7c3dda61
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_7c3dda61
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_7c3dda61
 Worldwar / int_7d30a8fa
type
But We Used a Condom!
 Worldwar / int_7d30a8fa
comment
But We Used a Condom!: Generally averted, as women only seem to get pregnant when condoms are not used, and even a few times when condoms weren't used nobody got pregnant. Completely played straight with Kassquit in Homeward Bound who uses condoms during her sexual relationship with Major Coffey. The latter asks how to say "broken rubber" in the language of the Race. Kassquit is initially upset to have her opinion on substandard human quality control confirmed but decides to keep the baby.
 Worldwar / int_7d30a8fa
featureApplicability
-1.0
 Worldwar / int_7d30a8fa
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_7d30a8fa
 Worldwar / int_7dad519f
type
Sex Is Evil
 Worldwar / int_7dad519f
comment
Sex Is Evil: Well, not exactly evil. While the Race does find the reproductive process pleasant when they're in heat, they find the idea of always being horny abhorrent and terrifying. They do have a cultural reason for this abhorrence, since during mating season they become so addled by horniness that the resulting orgy pretty much grinds their civilization to a halt for its duration. Worse for them, since the females being in heat means that not only are the females out of commission, but thanks to the pheromones they secrete, so is every male in the vicinity.
 Worldwar / int_7dad519f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_7dad519f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_7dad519f
 Worldwar / int_7df2b942
type
Moving the Goalposts
 Worldwar / int_7df2b942
comment
Moving the Goalposts: Averted by Mordechai Anielewicz. When his son Heinrich asks for a beffel (a reptilian dog-like pet), Mordechai's wife Bertha does what a typical parent would do and set a difficult condition for the kid. Of course, Heinrich manages to fulfill the condition and catches a beffel. Just as Bertha is about to invoke the trope (like any parent), Mordechai countermands her and and lets Heinrich keep him, earning Bertha's ire. A few days later, the beffel saves their lives by waking up Heinrich during a fire. After that, no one thinks that the little creature should go.
 Worldwar / int_7df2b942
featureApplicability
-1.0
 Worldwar / int_7df2b942
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_7df2b942
 Worldwar / int_7e472269
type
Obsolete Occupation
 Worldwar / int_7e472269
comment
Obsolete Occupation: The Race's empire has been unified for millennia, so not only are most military professions obsolete there (aside from those sent in the conquest fleet against Earth) but so are jobs like ambassador and interpreter (as their empire's political unification also resulted in linguistic unification).
 Worldwar / int_7e472269
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_7e472269
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_7e472269
 Worldwar / int_7f1be21
type
Functional Addict
 Worldwar / int_7f1be21
comment
Functional Addict: Ginger is addictive to any member of the Race who tries it, so almost every viewpoint character from the Race is struggling with its usage. Many of them make a conscious effort to not taste while in the middle of their work, because they recognize that it impairs their judgement and will negatively affect their performance. This gets tacit approval from their superiors, who know when to look the other way until it begins to show up during their duties.
 Worldwar / int_7f1be21
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_7f1be21
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_7f1be21
 Worldwar / int_83364794
type
Asteroid Miners
 Worldwar / int_83364794
comment
Asteroid Miners: The Lewis and Clark establishes a permanent presence in the asteroid belt, scanning asteroids and preparing for future mining and construction projects. The Columbus arrives to join her some time later. Unlike the Lewis and Clark, which is built like a space station, the Columbus is purpose-built like an interplanetary craft and looks it.
 Worldwar / int_83364794
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_83364794
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_83364794
 Worldwar / int_8344209e
type
BFG
 Worldwar / int_8344209e
comment
BFG: The biggest gun ever built in Real Life, a German 80 cm K (E) railway siege gun, makes an appearance. The Germans use it to blast a couple of Race spaceships. It is named Dora.
 Worldwar / int_8344209e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_8344209e
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_8344209e
 Worldwar / int_83a8d697
type
Oblivious Guilt Slinging
 Worldwar / int_83a8d697
comment
Oblivious Guilt Slinging: Shpaaka, who teaches at the Moishe Russie Medical College, furiously complains to Ttomalss about the idea of charging humans to allow them to practice their own religions, unaware that it was Ttomalss that came up with the idea in the first place.
 Worldwar / int_83a8d697
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_83a8d697
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_83a8d697
 Worldwar / int_8409a385
type
Exactly What It Says on the Tin
 Worldwar / int_8409a385
comment
Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Shiplord, Fleetlord, etc. all the way down to "Small Group Leader". Few of the Race's titles and ranks leave anything to the imagination.
 Worldwar / int_8409a385
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_8409a385
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_8409a385
 Worldwar / int_863fa679
type
What Happened to the Mouse?
 Worldwar / int_863fa679
comment
What Happened to the Mouse?: A lot of characters, even major ones, disappear during each break in the series—understandable considering that the action spans roughly 90 years. Some are mentioned as having died off-screen, others are left with their stories relatively tied up or having token references, but a few characters simply disappear with no real resolution to their situations. We never learn the fate of Liu Han and Liu Mei, or Rance Auerbach and Penny Summers.
 Worldwar / int_863fa679
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_863fa679
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_863fa679
 Worldwar / int_87ee897
type
Crazy Cultural Comparison
 Worldwar / int_87ee897
comment
Crazy Cultural Comparison: Occurs frequently between humans and the Race, in matters both big and small: On the macro level, the fact that the reptilian Race have a mating season makes them see the "perpetually aroused" humans as bizarre. They also conclude that this causes competition that may be the driving force behind humanity's warlike nature and related rapid progress. On the micro level, there's an amusing illustration when British engineers first try to understand captured Race technology. The Race uses screws, just like we do. It's a very efficient fastener technology, so this case of parallel development isn't terribly surprising. But an arbitrary difference in standards does cause the boffins immense frustration until someone figures out the cause: Race screws are the opposite of ours (i.e. they go in by turning them counterclockwise).
 Worldwar / int_87ee897
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_87ee897
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_87ee897
 Worldwar / int_89370eaa
type
Completely Different Title
 Worldwar / int_89370eaa
comment
Completely Different Title: The books were renamed for the Russian translation. In the Balance became Invasion Fleet (Флот вторжени�). Tilting the Balance became Retaliation (Ответный удар). Upsetting the Balance became Eye for an Eye (Око за око). Striking the Balance became The Great Turning Point (Великий перелом). Ditto for the Italian version: In the Balance - Invasion Year Zero (Invasione anno zero) Tilting the Balance - Invasion Act Two (Invasione atto secondo) Upsetting the Balance - Invasion Act Three (Invasione atto terzo) Striking the Balance - Invasion Final Act (Invasione atto finale) The Colonization series and Homeward Bound are all named Colonization Phase <number> (Colonizzazione fase <numero>).
 Worldwar / int_89370eaa
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_89370eaa
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_89370eaa
 Worldwar / int_8a800d36
type
Bilingual Dialogue
 Worldwar / int_8a800d36
comment
Bilingual Dialogue: The viewpoint characters in eastern Europe speak a variety of languages, primarily Yiddish, German, Polish, Ukrainian, and Russian. When they need to speak between the groups they get by as best they can with the languages that are mutually intelligible and occasional chains of translators. Straha has learned reasonably good English during his time in the USA, but he prefers to speak the language of the Race. When talking to his driver or Sam Yeager, their conversations will often be conducted in both languages. Jerusalem is a nexus of languages, with Yiddish, Hebrew, Arabic, English, and the language of the Race spoken by different inhabitants. Most residents are reasonably fluent in at least two of the languages. Students at the Moishe Russie Medical School takes lessons in the language of the Race, but converse amongst themselves in all of their own languages.
 Worldwar / int_8a800d36
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_8a800d36
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_8a800d36
 Worldwar / int_8ae880f7
type
Deconstruction
 Worldwar / int_8ae880f7
comment
Deconstruction: Of the entire alien invasion genre.
 Worldwar / int_8ae880f7
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_8ae880f7
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_8ae880f7
 Worldwar / int_8b2f45df
type
Cryo Sickness
 Worldwar / int_8b2f45df
comment
Cryo Sickness: Downplayed. When Sam and the rest of the Admiral Peary passengers come out of cold sleep, they're given a small amount of liquid food to regain their strength, and have to undo their own gurney straps to help regain their motor functions.
 Worldwar / int_8b2f45df
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_8b2f45df
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_8b2f45df
 Worldwar / int_8b568cb7
type
Posthumous Character
 Worldwar / int_8b568cb7
comment
Posthumous Character: The Doctor (heavily implied to be Henry Kissinger) was intended to be the USA ambassador to the Race on Home, but never awoke from the cold sleep process. Afterwards, characters frequently discuss how he would have handled the different situations that arise, and debate whether it would have been better or worse.
 Worldwar / int_8b568cb7
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_8b568cb7
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_8b568cb7
 Worldwar / int_8c995bfc
type
Zero-G Spot
 Worldwar / int_8c995bfc
comment
Zero-G Spot: Happens in the Colonization books. This is justified, since the Lewis and Clark is on a lifelong mission in the Asteroid Belt, and her crew is never coming home. Condoms are a must, though, since no one wants to experiment with trying to bear a child in zero-g. It helps that their jumpsuits are designed to "zip together". Even then, there is plenty of cleanup afterwards. When the guy is incredulous at the latter fact, the girl points out that there's always cleanup after sex even in gravity, it's just that guys normally don't bother.
 Worldwar / int_8c995bfc
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_8c995bfc
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_8c995bfc
 Worldwar / int_8d0c9743
type
Intelligent Gerbil
 Worldwar / int_8d0c9743
comment
Intelligent Gerbil: The Race are described in the books as 'looking like chameleons with delusions of grandeur.'
 Worldwar / int_8d0c9743
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_8d0c9743
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_8d0c9743
 Worldwar / int_8db4988a
type
Unusual User Interface
 Worldwar / int_8db4988a
comment
Unusual User Interface: While it's only unusual from a human point of view, the Race's controls are geared towards finger-claws rather than fingers. As such, humans need artificial finger-claws in order to operate the Race's machinery. Also, the Race's voice-activated appliances only respond to commands in their own language and have trouble with human accents (the Race have no different accents as everybody tries to speak the same way).
 Worldwar / int_8db4988a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_8db4988a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_8db4988a
 Worldwar / int_8e69fee0
type
Double-Blind What-If
 Worldwar / int_8e69fee0
comment
Double-Blind What-If: Human characters continually wonder what would have happened in World War II if the Race hadn't interrupted it. The characters from each nation all think that their own side would have persevered, and that they would have dominated human culture afterwards. From the Colonization series onward, the Race gives a lot of thought to what would have happened on Earth if they had not attempted to invade. Most of them think that humanity would have destroyed itself through nuclear war.
 Worldwar / int_8e69fee0
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_8e69fee0
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_8e69fee0
 Worldwar / int_902ff525
type
Sdrawkcab Alias
 Worldwar / int_902ff525
comment
Sdrawkcab Alias: Sam Yeager joins the Race's computer network using the alias 'Regeya'. When he is discovered and has his access terminated, he returns using the alias 'Maargyees'.
 Worldwar / int_902ff525
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_902ff525
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_902ff525
 Worldwar / int_91df9d19
type
Military Coup
 Worldwar / int_91df9d19
comment
Military Coup: After Beria's attempted coup against Molotov tried to seize control of the Soviet Union, Marshal Zhukov suppresses the NKVD and rescues Molotov. Afterwards, Molotov sees Zhukov contemplating simply killing him and seizing control himself, especially since he could easily blame Molotov's death on Beria and emerge with his hands completely clean in the public's eye. Zhukov instead welcomes Molotov back and leaves him in power.
 Worldwar / int_91df9d19
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_91df9d19
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_91df9d19
 Worldwar / int_921cdca8
type
Nothing Personal
 Worldwar / int_921cdca8
comment
Nothing Personal: Spoken by Basil Roundbush in Colonization when David Goldfarb calls him out on using the fact that Goldfarb is a Jew and Britain's growing anti-Semitism in order to get Goldfarb to do his bidding. Roundbush keeps insisting that he personally doesn't care that Goldfarb is Jewish but finds it useful to lean on him.
 Worldwar / int_921cdca8
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_921cdca8
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_921cdca8
 Worldwar / int_93168fb1
type
It's Quiet… Too Quiet
 Worldwar / int_93168fb1
comment
It's Quiet… Too Quiet: Fotsev notices something is amiss in Basra when everything is so much quieter than normal. Fewer pedestrians on the street, fewer merchants set up in the market, and even fewer beggar children. "Much too quiet". It is quiet in prelude to an uprising, and he is killed in an ambush shortly afterwards.
 Worldwar / int_93168fb1
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_93168fb1
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_93168fb1
 Worldwar / int_94b81c55
type
Spin-Offspring
 Worldwar / int_94b81c55
comment
Spin-Offspring: One of the viewpoint characters from the Colonization series is Reuven Russie, the son of Moishe Russie. Reuven was a supporting character in Moishe's story in Worldwar, and Moishe continues to appear in Reuven's story. Sam Yeager continues to be a viewpoint character in Colonization, but his son Jonathan Yeager receives his own perspective and plotline as well.
 Worldwar / int_94b81c55
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_94b81c55
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_94b81c55
 Worldwar / int_950aef88
type
FTL Travel Sickness
 Worldwar / int_950aef88
comment
FTL Travel Sickness: In the spinoff Homeward Bound, it's noted that when a ship makes a jump to FTL, it can cause a feeling of extreme nausea for some people when they're awake. The feeling passes in a second or two, but for those who are experiencing this sickness, those seconds seem to last much longer.
 Worldwar / int_950aef88
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_950aef88
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_950aef88
 Worldwar / int_9591377d
type
Heel Realization
 Worldwar / int_9591377d
comment
Heel Realization: This happens to Panzer Commander of the Wehrmacht Heinrich Jäger when an old Jewish man shows him the bullet hole in his neck, and tells him the story of how he got it. Heinrich had heard the rumors before then, but he hadn't believed in them. The third book sums it up nicely:
 Worldwar / int_9591377d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_9591377d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_9591377d
 Worldwar / int_97f53f5b
type
Superweapon Surprise
 Worldwar / int_97f53f5b
comment
Superweapon Surprise: When the Race get ready to invade Britain, Churchill promises to unleash a new weapon the likes of which the Race have not seen before. They think he is bluffing until mustard gas shells start landing on their invasion force. Turns out the Race never developed poison gas; they have no chemical weapons, chemical warfare doctrine or protective gear, and rapidly adapting to new situations and inventing things on the fly are definitely not two of the Race's strong points.
 Worldwar / int_97f53f5b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_97f53f5b
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_97f53f5b
 Worldwar / int_984ef9ef
type
"Not So Different" Remark
 Worldwar / int_984ef9ef
comment
"Not So Different" Remark: During the initial war, many human foot soldiers and infantrymales of the Race observe that they have more in common with each other than either has with the high officers on their own side. When the colonists from the Colonization Fleet begin landing in large numbers, many males from the Conquest Fleet who have had to learn to adapt and change on Earth hold them in such contempt that they say they would rather choose to act like a Big Ugly than these members of the Race.
 Worldwar / int_984ef9ef
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_984ef9ef
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_984ef9ef
 Worldwar / int_98a150f3
type
Excrement Statement
 Worldwar / int_98a150f3
comment
When the Lizard invasion of Warsaw was imminent, he asked for a sign as to whether he should sit back and let the Nazis and Lizards fight it out, or actively assist the revolt other Jews are planning. He happens to catch sight of German troops manning an anti-aircraft gun set up in a cemetery, and one of the soldiers takes a brief break to go to the bathroom. Moishe decides that seeing a German soldier pissing on Jewish graves and laughing about it is the sign he needs to assist the Lizards.
 Worldwar / int_98a150f3
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_98a150f3
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_98a150f3
 Worldwar / int_9ba53911
type
Stranger in a Familiar Land
 Worldwar / int_9ba53911
comment
Stranger in a Familiar Land: The males of the Conquest Fleet are unable to integrate with the civilians of the Colonization Fleet after they begin establishing cities. They view the newcomers as so naive and restrained as to be stupid, and the newcomers call them no better than the Big Uglies. The closing chapters of Homeward Bound have Sam returning to Earth in the 2030s after being put into cold sleep in the mid/late 20th century. One thing that surprises him is the relaxed attitude towards sexuality: his family goes to the theater to see a monster movie, and they're all quite surprised when it features an explicit sex scene between the monster and the female lead. Johnathan gets another shock when he realizes that the movie's aged professor character is played by Matt Damon, who had just entered the public eye as a young man when Johnathan went on ice in the late 90s.
 Worldwar / int_9ba53911
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_9ba53911
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_9ba53911
 Worldwar / int_9bff7822
type
Conflict Killer
 Worldwar / int_9bff7822
comment
Conflict Killer: The arrival of the Race places an almost immediate halt on the intra-human World War II already in progress. Notably, rather than truly uniting humanity, many of the characters don't like that they were interrupted and explicitly state that they wish they had a chance to finish their own struggles.
 Worldwar / int_9bff7822
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_9bff7822
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_9bff7822
 Worldwar / int_9c45b5a2
type
What Measure Is a Non-Human?
 Worldwar / int_9c45b5a2
comment
What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Both the Race and humanity have a lack of empathy for the other, and both sides commit atrocities with the explanation that the other side is only human/Lizards. The few characters who oppose such thinking, like Sam Yeager, are condemned by their compatriots.
 Worldwar / int_9c45b5a2
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_9c45b5a2
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_9c45b5a2
 Worldwar / int_9c47b23b
type
Dirty Communists
 Worldwar / int_9c47b23b
comment
Dirty Communists: Part of The Alliance, along with Nazi Germany, and therefore the "good guys".
 Worldwar / int_9c47b23b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_9c47b23b
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_9c47b23b
 Worldwar / int_9c89a71a
type
Tribal Face Paint
 Worldwar / int_9c89a71a
comment
Tribal Face Paint: The Race don't wear clothes due to the hot climate on their home planet. Instead they have an elaborate system of body paint denoting caste and rank. By the Colonization sequel trilogy, 20 years after the Race comes to Earth, some young humans, especially in warmer areas of the United States, have begun wearing body paint modeled after the Race's due to cultural diffusion.
 Worldwar / int_9c89a71a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_9c89a71a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_9c89a71a
 Worldwar / int_9d1fa121
type
Alien Catnip
 Worldwar / int_9d1fa121
comment
Alien Catnip: Ginger has a powerful and addictive narcotic effect on the Race, and once the colony ships arrive it even turns out to send their females into heat. This has profound effects on their culture, as generally they don't mate out of season.
 Worldwar / int_9d1fa121
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_9d1fa121
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_9d1fa121
 Worldwar / int_a04eb363
type
Lizard Folk
 Worldwar / int_a04eb363
comment
Lizard Folk: The alien variant that the Race are. The Rabotevs and the Halessi, the two races previously conquered and assimilated by the Race, are also this, although they are different variants on the same. For example, the Rabotevs are slightly taller and less scaly than members of the Race, featuring two thumbs on each hand and eye-stalks instead of eye-turrets. The Halessi are small and are initially mistaken for Little Green Men, as they are more humanoid than members of the Race (i.e. more erect and with smaller snouts).
 Worldwar / int_a04eb363
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_a04eb363
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_a04eb363
 Worldwar / int_a0543350
type
Earth Is a Battlefield
 Worldwar / int_a0543350
comment
Earth Is a Battlefield: The invasion is world-wide. The only landmasses that are not physically landed upon by the Race are assorted islands deemed too small to merit occupation, and even these are attacked from the air.
 Worldwar / int_a0543350
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_a0543350
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_a0543350
 Worldwar / int_a0f6ab07
type
Nicknaming the Enemy
 Worldwar / int_a0f6ab07
comment
Nicknaming the Enemy: Humans are called Big Uglies; the Race are called Lizards.
 Worldwar / int_a0f6ab07
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_a0f6ab07
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_a0f6ab07
 Worldwar / int_a1b0c1c2
type
Revealing Cover-Up
 Worldwar / int_a1b0c1c2
comment
Revealing Cover-Up: It is precisely the extreme over-the-top security surrounding the American space station that attracts the attention of Glen Johnson and Sam Yeager.
 Worldwar / int_a1b0c1c2
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_a1b0c1c2
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_a1b0c1c2
 Worldwar / int_a1ca3743
type
Believing Their Own Lies
 Worldwar / int_a1ca3743
comment
Believing Their Own Lies: Glen Johnson repeats the story of how he boarded the American space station — that his engine suffered a failure at an inopportune moment and he had to board for repairs — so often that he almost forgets that he rigged the engine to fail deliberately. After the war between the Reich and the Race, Atvar thinks that this is part of what lead to the war in the first place. The Reich had spent so much time bellowing about what it deserved, and bragging about its might and skills, that they eventually believed all of their own claims and thought they could win the war.
 Worldwar / int_a1ca3743
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_a1ca3743
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_a1ca3743
 Worldwar / int_a2492aff
type
Dogged Nice Guy
 Worldwar / int_a2492aff
comment
Dogged Nice Guy: Mutt is just a sweet old man whose fervent pursuit eventually makes Miss Lucille warm up to him. Even though she's a lesbian who's never had a man. But if she had one, it would be Mutt.
 Worldwar / int_a2492aff
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_a2492aff
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_a2492aff
 Worldwar / int_a8559a9f
type
RealLife
 Worldwar / int_a8559a9f
comment
After President Earl Warren's suicide, several of the Race's experts on humans gather to discuss the reasons behind this act. They unofficially call this gathering the "Warren Commission". In Real Life, the Warren Commission was the unofficial name for the committee that investigated John F. Kennedy's assassination, named so after the presiding Chief Justice Earl Warren.
 Worldwar / int_a8559a9f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_a8559a9f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_a8559a9f
 Worldwar / int_a86069f
type
Alternate History
 Worldwar / int_a86069f
comment
Alternate History: Aliens invade during World War II.
 Worldwar / int_a86069f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_a86069f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_a86069f
 Worldwar / int_a8abe9d1
type
Separated by a Common Language
 Worldwar / int_a8abe9d1
comment
Separated by a Common Language: Yiddish and German are close enough to be mutually intelligible, but each carry large cultural baggage. Jews and Germans can therefore understand one another, but are continuously reminded of who they're speaking to. When members of the Race speak German, their terminology by necessity borrows much of the Nazi talking points about their own superiority, which is grating for every Jew they speak with. When David Goldfarb emigrates to Canada, he speaks with a sailor on their ship about the way they each use the English language. David says the sailor sounds like an American, but the sailor points out the ways that Canadian English has similarities to both American English and British English. David continues to mentally note the differences between his way of speaking and native Canadians for the rest of his story. Multiple members of the Race note that even the most fluent of humans do not speak the language of the Race the same way as the Race does. Sam Yeager, who is described as thinking the most like a member of the Race as a human possibly could, nonetheless still uses directly translated English idioms, and the legacy of his American way of thinking makes him come across as a lot more sarcastic and sly than he does while speaking English.
 Worldwar / int_a8abe9d1
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_a8abe9d1
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_a8abe9d1
 Worldwar / int_a94eaaa4
type
Odd Friendship
 Worldwar / int_a94eaaa4
comment
Odd Friendship: Ludmila Gorbunova (Communist Russian Pilot) and Heinrich Jager (Nazi Tank Commander).
 Worldwar / int_a94eaaa4
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_a94eaaa4
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_a94eaaa4
 Worldwar / int_aa8fa208
type
Well-Trained, but Inexperienced
 Worldwar / int_aa8fa208
comment
Well-Trained, but Inexperienced: One of the Race's main problems in the war. Their army is meticulously trained and extremely well-equipped, but they haven't actually had to fight in a war for countless generations. The humans, on the other hand, were in the middle of a world-spanning conflict when the invasion happened and have oodles of battle-hardened veterans to send into the fight.
 Worldwar / int_aa8fa208
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_aa8fa208
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_aa8fa208
 Worldwar / int_aabe2fb
type
Deliberate Values Dissonance
 Worldwar / int_aabe2fb
comment
Deliberate Values Dissonance: Taking place during the middle of the twentieth century, the social aspects of the time are present throughout the books. Racism, sexism and nationalism are much more prevalent than modern times even in the "good" nations.
 Worldwar / int_aabe2fb
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_aabe2fb
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_aabe2fb
 Worldwar / int_aaff69d0
type
Unexpected Successor
 Worldwar / int_aaff69d0
comment
Unexpected Successor: Secretary of State Cordell Hull assumes the Presidency after Franklin Delano Roosevelt's death, since Vice President Henry Wallace was killed in the atomic bombing of Seattle. Wehrmacht General Walter Dornberger ultimately becomes Führer of the Greater German Reich after the war with the Race leaves Germany devastated and most of the government dead.
 Worldwar / int_aaff69d0
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_aaff69d0
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_aaff69d0
 Worldwar / int_ab8e26e2
type
Slipping a Mickey
 Worldwar / int_ab8e26e2
comment
Slipping a Mickey: Males of the Race who have been aroused but cannot find any females in heat start spiking drinks with ginger and giving them to females to spur them into heat.
 Worldwar / int_ab8e26e2
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_ab8e26e2
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_ab8e26e2
 Worldwar / int_abb930ed
type
Sleeper Starship
 Worldwar / int_abb930ed
comment
Sleeper Starship: Both the Race and in the final novel humanity use these for interstellar travel. Then humanity invents FTL and makes them obsolete.
 Worldwar / int_abb930ed
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_abb930ed
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_abb930ed
 Worldwar / int_abd29ad8
type
No-Sell
 Worldwar / int_abd29ad8
comment
No-Sell: The weapons of the Race are almost uniformly effective against any target on Earth they are aimed at. The exception is when their anti-missile missiles are launched against the big dumb seven-ton Dora rounds, as the cannon warhead doesn't even change its trajectory after being hit.
 Worldwar / int_abd29ad8
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_abd29ad8
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_abd29ad8
 Worldwar / int_ac320c0e
type
Nuke 'em
 Worldwar / int_ac320c0e
comment
Nuke 'em: The Race came equipped with nuclear weapons, but intends not to use them in order to preserve as much usable land as possible. They destroy Berlin and Washington, D.C. in the hopes of intimidating the resisting powers into surrender, but initially do not deploy them in active combat scenarios. Once humans develop nuclear weapons of their own they employ them throughout frontline combat, and the lizards enact a policy of retaliation to destroy one human city for every human nuclear bomb. The lizards eventually realize that humans would rather waste the whole planet rather than submit to the Race, and they sue for peace so that something of the planet is left when the Colonization Fleet arrives. Once the war between the Reich and the Race restarts in Colonization, both sides use nukes heavily. The Nazis nuke most major Polish cities and other Race-held urban areas across Earth, and their spaceships (all armed with nukes) attempt to destroy Race ships. When Romania attempts to avoid the war, the Reich punishes them by nuking Bucharest. By the time the Reich sues for peace, though, most of it is a radioactive wasteland. Despite this, a generation or two later, Germany is back to being a spacefaring power.
 Worldwar / int_ac320c0e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_ac320c0e
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_ac320c0e
 Worldwar / int_ac711709
type
Easily Thwarted Alien Invasion
 Worldwar / int_ac711709
comment
Easily Thwarted Alien Invasion: Subverted. On the one hand, the Race expected to confront spearmen and armored knights on horseback only to end up confronting World War II-era Earth. On the the other hand, despite the reduced technological gap it still remains a hard struggle.
 Worldwar / int_ac711709
featureApplicability
-0.3
 Worldwar / int_ac711709
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_ac711709
 Worldwar / int_ad1db87c
type
Oh, Crap!
 Worldwar / int_ad1db87c
comment
Oh, Crap!: During the Race's first (and only) encounter with the German Dora cannon, which fires 80-cm shells, they mistakenly assume by its speed and size on the radar that it's a missile and attempt to shoot it down with their own. However, the round's tough outer shell shrugs off the missiles, allowing the cannon to take out two ships before the cannon is found and destroyed. The stunned, silent reaction of Atvar's assembled ship captains when they realize that humans already have a pretty good understanding of radiation and atomic physics (i.e. they use X-rays on a regular basis to deal with broken bones)...meaning that it is a question of when, not if, the human nations can develop their own nuclear weapons.
 Worldwar / int_ad1db87c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_ad1db87c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_ad1db87c
 Worldwar / int_ad9fbc1e
type
Pyrrhic Victory
 Worldwar / int_ad9fbc1e
comment
Pyrrhic Victory: Atvar describes the Race's victory over the Reich as such, even quoting King Pyrrhus of Epirus when talking about how hard-won the fight was.
 Worldwar / int_ad9fbc1e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_ad9fbc1e
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_ad9fbc1e
 Worldwar / int_af3ea0e3
type
Face–Heel Turn
 Worldwar / int_af3ea0e3
comment
Face–Heel Turn: Jens Larssen starts as one of the viewpoint characters who volunteers for dangerous missions for the good of America, but slowly loses his sanity and turns against humanity after becoming the Butt-Monkey.
 Worldwar / int_af3ea0e3
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_af3ea0e3
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_af3ea0e3
 Worldwar / int_afbe3295
type
Mating Season Mayhem
 Worldwar / int_afbe3295
comment
Mating Season Mayhem: The Race have a specific mating season, and once females arrive on Earth, they cause mass chaos by Making Love in All the Wrong Places. Once it's discovered that ginger makes females go into heat at any time, this lessens and some even use it to try out the utterly alien concept of monogamy.
 Worldwar / int_afbe3295
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_afbe3295
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_afbe3295
 Worldwar / int_b06bbf4b
type
Be Careful What You Wish For
 Worldwar / int_b06bbf4b
comment
Be Careful What You Wish For: Straha spends much of the Colonization series wishing that there was some way he could earn his way back into the good graces of the Race. When Sam Yeager gives Straha an envelope to hold in case he dies or disappears he wonders if this may be his key back. He also wants to know the secret to satisfy his own curiosity. When Sam does disappear, Straha finds that the concern over his friend overpowers his desire to know the secret, and after opening the envelope he is not sure what to do with the secret information at all.
 Worldwar / int_b06bbf4b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_b06bbf4b
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_b06bbf4b
 Worldwar / int_b3eecaae
type
Colony Drop
 Worldwar / int_b3eecaae
comment
Colony Drop: After the Columbus arrives to join the Lewis and Clark in the Asteroid Belt, one of the tasks the astronauts perform is to strap rockets to asteroids in order to, potentially, use them to bombard territories belonging to the Race on Earth. They successfully test one of these by slamming it into Mars. Atvar is not pleased. After the Commodore Perry arrives to Home, and the Race is confronted by Gunboat Diplomacy, they warn humans that, while the Race lacks FTL drives, their ships are able to go to a fairly high (50%) percentage of the speed of light. Should Home be threatened, the Race may send ships to slam into Earth at half the speed of light (or even more, given that they wouldn't be worrying about decelerating in time and can use all fuel for acceleration), likely starting a new Ice Age. Even with FTL, it would be impossible to intercept all of them.
 Worldwar / int_b3eecaae
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_b3eecaae
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_b3eecaae
 Worldwar / int_b42b7e7b
type
Moral Myopia
 Worldwar / int_b42b7e7b
comment
Moral Myopia: David Goldfarb thinks about the way the morality of Basil Roundbush's actions will depend on the perspective of the person considering them. To David, Basil's actions are monstrous as he extorts under-the-table favors from David by threatening his family. To the higher ups in the RAF and the UK government, Basil might be perceived as doing necessary Dirty Business in the war against the Lizards. To the public at large, he may even be perceived as a hero. The Reich allows, and even encourages, the sale of ginger to the Race because ginger is not illegal within the Reich. When the Race threatens to legalize human drugs in their territory and encourage their sale in the Reich, the Reich declares that this could be seen as an act of war. They are not quite able to articulate why it is an act of war when the Race does it, but not when the Reich does it. Jonathan Yeager was very excited when he began helping to raise two Lizards in an experiment to see how they would acclimate to US society. When he learned that the Race had already done the same with Kassquit, he was enraged and suggested that the US government should try to "free" her. It took his father pointing out the hypocrisy for him to even realize it was there. Jane Archibald is furious with the Race over the way they have so thoroughly occupied Australia and are driving out the human occupants, since the humans were there first. Reuven Russie thinks that the Australian Aborigines probably feel the same way over the way they were colonized and driven from their homes by Jane's ancestors.
 Worldwar / int_b42b7e7b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_b42b7e7b
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_b42b7e7b
 Worldwar / int_b4ac1655
type
Molotov Cocktail
 Worldwar / int_b4ac1655
comment
Molotov Cocktail: Molotov is one of the main characters, but he never actually touches one. Sam Yeager and Liu Han have them in their sections, though.
 Worldwar / int_b4ac1655
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_b4ac1655
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_b4ac1655
 Worldwar / int_b506c9ff
type
Hide Your Lesbians
 Worldwar / int_b506c9ff
comment
Hide Your Lesbians: Miss Lucille, despite Mutt's obvious crush, rebuffs all his advances and explains that she is not interested in any man, not just him. When Mutt asks if she is one of those "lizzies", she merely asks what his reaction would be if she was. It is never expounded upon, and she soon begins to return Mutt's attraction.
 Worldwar / int_b506c9ff
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_b506c9ff
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_b506c9ff
 Worldwar / int_b51128fa
type
Gilded Cage
 Worldwar / int_b51128fa
comment
Gilded Cage: Straha's life after his defection is as pleasant as the Americans can make it. He has his own house, is supplied with all the food — and ginger — that he wants, and he has a personal chauffeur to to see to his every need. Nonetheless he can never escape the isolation he feels from being separated from the Race, nor can he ignore that the Americans hold him in their power no matter how polite they are about it. Monique and Pierre Dutourd discuss the merits of such a cage after Monique joins him in hiding. Pierre prefers "living as a hunted animal than as one in a cage, where the keeper could reach in and pet me — or do anything else he wanted — whenever he chose". Monique agrees, but points out that for her she hasn't escaped the cage, she has only exchanged the cage of the SS for Pierre's.
 Worldwar / int_b51128fa
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_b51128fa
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_b51128fa
 Worldwar / int_b7248073
type
My Country, Right or Wrong
 Worldwar / int_b7248073
comment
My Country, Right or Wrong: How some German and Russian characters, like Ludmila Gorbunova and Heinrich Jager, feel. For a while, anyway.
 Worldwar / int_b7248073
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_b7248073
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_b7248073
 Worldwar / int_b7c53a22
type
Blood Knight
 Worldwar / int_b7c53a22
comment
Blood Knight: Skorzeny does not appear to care who he fights, or for what reason, just as long as he gets to fight. The child-like enthusiasm he displays, including when he is using weapons of mass destruction, before, during and after said fights is both disturbing and more than a little funny.
 Worldwar / int_b7c53a22
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_b7c53a22
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_b7c53a22
 Worldwar / int_b8198b96
type
Dead Man's Switch
 Worldwar / int_b8198b96
comment
Dead Man's Switch: Sam Yeager gives Straha an envelope, with a promise that he not open it unless Sam dies or disappears. It contains the proof that the USA was behind the attack on the Colonization Fleet, and Straha delivers it to Atvar after government operatives kidnap Sam.
 Worldwar / int_b8198b96
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_b8198b96
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_b8198b96
 Worldwar / int_b8e3f20a
type
Demoted to Extra
 Worldwar / int_b8e3f20a
comment
Demoted to Extra: Happens to a couple of point-of-view characters from Worldwar in the sequel series. Ludmila Gorbunova gets only two appearances in the first book of the Colonization series, neither of which last more than two pages and both through the eyes of Mordechai. Still, she gets off better than Heinrich (see "Dropped a Bridge on Him" below). George Bagnall actually does do something in Colonization, but only for one single scene when he helps David Goldfarb emigrate to Canada. Great Britain, after having several characters and plotlines during the Worldwar series, suffers this afterwards. Story-wise, the Colonization trilogy has only one British character (David Goldfarb) who is based in Belfast, and he emigrates by Book 2. In-universe, the UK is the only one of the Big Five of WWII whose power has diminished, and is on its way to becoming an economic (and socio-political) satellite of the Reich.
 Worldwar / int_b8e3f20a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_b8e3f20a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_b8e3f20a
 Worldwar / int_bba34b82
type
Humans Are Divided
 Worldwar / int_bba34b82
comment
Humans Are Divided: It's WWII, so naturally.
 Worldwar / int_bba34b82
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_bba34b82
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_bba34b82
 Worldwar / int_bc4a290
type
Patriot in Exile
 Worldwar / int_bc4a290
comment
Patriot in Exile: Straha is an alien version of this; the second most senior commander in an alien invasion fleet, he disagrees with the senior commander Atvar's approach to handling the invasion and makes an attempt to become the new commander. He fails to do so and flees to the United States in an effort to avoid Atvar's wrath; after the war ends, he's one of the ex-alien prisoners who remain in the United States, but unlike the other aliens he considers himself still loyal to the Empire and doesn't "Americanize" himself the way the other aliens do.
 Worldwar / int_bc4a290
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_bc4a290
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_bc4a290
 Worldwar / int_bd39588d
type
Desecrating the Dead
 Worldwar / int_bd39588d
comment
Desecrating the Dead: While preparing for the Lizard invasion of Warsaw, Moishe Russie happens to catch sight of German troops manning an anti-aircraft gun set up in a cemetery. One of the soldiers takes a brief break to go to the bathroom, and Moishe decides that seeing a German soldier pissing on Jewish graves and laughing about it is the sign he needs to assist the Lizards.
 Worldwar / int_bd39588d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_bd39588d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_bd39588d
 Worldwar / int_bedd799b
type
Blunt "Yes"
 Worldwar / int_bedd799b
comment
Blunt "Yes": When Ttomalss is debriefing Straha after his re-defection to the Race, Straha asks if he enjoys being able to be rude to somebody whose rank is so far above his own. Ttomalss has to consider for a moment, but then he answers that yes, he does. This wins him some respect from Straha.
 Worldwar / int_bedd799b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_bedd799b
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_bedd799b
 Worldwar / int_c0965210
type
Canada Does Not Exist
 Worldwar / int_c0965210
comment
Canada Does Not Exist: Played with In-Universe. As part of the peace settlement with Earth's major power countries, Atvar agrees to withdraw Race forces from "the northern territory that seems to be not quite part of the U.S.A. or Britain." Both US Secretary of State George Marshall and British Foreign Minister simultaneously respond: "Canada." Atvar notes to himself that Marshall acted as though it was part of the U.S.A. anyway.
 Worldwar / int_c0965210
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_c0965210
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_c0965210
 Worldwar / int_c145f69b
type
Subverted Trope
 Worldwar / int_c145f69b
comment
Pierre Dutourd has extensive connections in the Lizard hierarchy from his ginger dealings, and uses them to protect him from Reich officials when they want to co-opt his business. In the war between the Reich and the Race, he even believes he can use his connections to prevent the Race from bombing Marseilles. In both instances he is incorrect, as eventually the Race becomes so angry over the ginger trade that they no longer protect him, and the Race decides to bomb Marseilles anyway.
 Worldwar / int_c145f69b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_c145f69b
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_c145f69b
 Worldwar / int_c18d469b
type
Mutually Assured Destruction
 Worldwar / int_c18d469b
comment
Mutually Assured Destruction: After the first wave of invasion, this is the status quo between the human powers and the Race. Working together, the humans could eradicate the lands controlled by the Race, but only at the cost of getting obliterated themselves, and none of the major human powers like each other very much. Later, in "Homeward Bound," the Race turns this around on humans: yes, the humans could use their FTL warships to obliterate the Empire before any given world knew they were under attack. But the Race's slower-than-light ships are capable of being used as relativistic kill vehicles against Earth. The mass of a Race starship impacting the planet at 50% of the speed of light would not just obliterate human civilization, it would probably wipe out virtually all life and begin a new ice age.
 Worldwar / int_c18d469b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_c18d469b
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_c18d469b
 Worldwar / int_c3448a6f
type
Informed Attribute
 Worldwar / int_c3448a6f
comment
Informed Attribute: The Race keep saying that their language is very logical compared to human ones, but from the few words we see they seem to have a similar number of irregular plural forms to your average human language. The Race themselves are often described as being obedient and subservient by nature, but once the Colonization Fleet arrives it turns out they casually break laws just as often as humans, including several characters who begin tasting ginger despite the already-present (and extremely harsh) regulations against it.
 Worldwar / int_c3448a6f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_c3448a6f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_c3448a6f
 Worldwar / int_c3478f1d
type
Badass Bookworm
 Worldwar / int_c3478f1d
comment
Badass Bookworm: Jens Larssen manages to travel his way across war-torn America on a bicycle, fights as a competent infantryman in Patton's army and repeatedly shows himself to be tough, resourceful and determined despite the fact he is simply a nuclear physicist with no combat training. Rare case of a badass also being a Butt-Monkey. Heinrich Jager: Skorzeny enlisted him for the raid in Split as much for his training in Archeology (The Race were based in Diocletian's Palace, and Jager finds the underground passage in) as for his military experience.
 Worldwar / int_c3478f1d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_c3478f1d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_c3478f1d
 Worldwar / int_c41668cd
type
Needle in a Stack of Needles
 Worldwar / int_c41668cd
comment
Needle in a Stack of Needles: When Mordechai Anielewicz needs to move the atomic bomb he has hidden in Glowno, he arranges for the Jewish fighting groups in Poland to have a conference in the town. They all send participants, so the area is absolutely filled with armed Jewish soldiers having meetings, training exercises, shooting competitions, etc. With so many armed Jews milling about, the ones moving the bomb aren't even noticed.
 Worldwar / int_c41668cd
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_c41668cd
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_c41668cd
 Worldwar / int_c558da6a
type
Gunship Rescue
 Worldwar / int_c558da6a
comment
Gunship Rescue: The Race love their helicopters, but as time goes on they become more and more vulnerable to partisan rocket fire.
 Worldwar / int_c558da6a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_c558da6a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_c558da6a
 Worldwar / int_c5f0119c
type
Insane Troll Logic
 Worldwar / int_c5f0119c
comment
Insane Troll Logic: Molotov, when he meets with Hitler, is repeatedly astounded by how much of the man's thinking revolves around the "fact" that the Jews are trying to cause trouble for humanity. Particularly when his different statements and beliefs contradict one another in the same conversation. In the Colonization series, a member of The Race thinks this of a Nazi official she talks to about their status as the "Master Race".
 Worldwar / int_c5f0119c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_c5f0119c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_c5f0119c
 Worldwar / int_c75df49a
type
Shout-Out
 Worldwar / int_c75df49a
comment
Shout-Out: The initial Race invasion is compared to The War of the Worlds by Sam Yeager when he and Mutt Daniels are shot out of their train in the beginning of the Worldwar series. A "grey-haired colored fellow" brings some US troops fried chicken in the first book, and Mutt Daniels offends him with some *ahem* Southern terms for blacks, while another kid calls him "Colonel." The black man corrects him by saying his name is Charlie Sanders. In the Colonization series, members of the Race refer to "The Red-Headed League" from Sherlock Holmes. Major Samuel Yeager thinks of Thoats, Green Martians and Barsoom and his son speaks of Tarzan, all references to the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs. The captain of the Commodore Perry is an African-American woman named Nichole Nichols, after actress Nichelle Nichols (Uhura from Star Trek: The Original Series). Homeward Bound contains a reference to a movie called Rescuing Private Renfall set during the invasion with James Dean playing the lead. The Colonization series features the debut of a band from England whose heads are shaved (teenagers are shaving their heads to imitate the Lizards). They call themselves 'The Beetles' partly because of their shaved heads. In Homeward Bound, a minor character is an Inspector Second Grade named Garanpo, who is investigating ginger smuggling. He looks and acts exactly like a Lizard version of Columbo. It turns out that in a cosmic coincidence, the name of one of the most famous works of Race literature is Gone with the Wind (in direct translation). The plot is nothing like the human book about the U.S. Civil War, but about two best friends who are separated during the course of their lives and the loss they feel. Moishe Russie knew and worked with Eric Blair when he was broadcasting at the BBC during the initial invasion. In the Colonization series, when he thinks back to how Blair described Nazi Germany and the USSR he uses a quote from Blair's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. Atvar and Pshing discuss the works of Niccolò Machiavelli, particularly The Prince, after the war between the Race and the Reich. Atvar tries to use his teachings to properly administer their new territory. Ttomalss reflects on the works of William Shakespeare, quoting Hamlet, when he ponders the fate of the Race in Homeward Bound.
 Worldwar / int_c75df49a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_c75df49a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_c75df49a
 Worldwar / int_c8c968c3
type
The Alliance
 Worldwar / int_c8c968c3
comment
The Alliance: The Axis and Allied alliances put aside their differences in order to focus on their common enemy. However, characters from all sides repeatedly note that they wish they had not been interrupted, and hope to resume their own conflicts once the present situation is resolved. Many don't wait that long, and engage in minor skirmishes or acts of sabotage against each other.
 Worldwar / int_c8c968c3
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_c8c968c3
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_c8c968c3
 Worldwar / int_c9597a03
type
Self-Deprecation
 Worldwar / int_c9597a03
comment
Self-Deprecation: In Aftershocks, Monique Dutourd is thinking about a Byzantine historian at the University of Tours, and text goes "which struck even Monique as uselessly arcane". Author Harry Turtledove has a Ph.D. in Byzantine History.
 Worldwar / int_c9597a03
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_c9597a03
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_c9597a03
 Worldwar / int_ca3a6dbd
type
Informed Ability
 Worldwar / int_ca3a6dbd
comment
Informed Ability: Sam Yeager is constantly mentioned to be the only human capable of thinking as the Race do, but few actual examples are provided of him doing it. Most of his "insights" are common sense and real-world techniques of communicating between people who don't speak the same language (generally pantomime, slow repetition and emotive expressions/sounds). It may simply be that Sam is actually willing to try communicating with the Race, whereas just about everybody else (especially in the military) would just as soon kill them and call it a day.
 Worldwar / int_ca3a6dbd
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_ca3a6dbd
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_ca3a6dbd
 Worldwar / int_ca87e3ec
type
No Name Given
 Worldwar / int_ca87e3ec
comment
No Name Given: "The Doctor" is never provided with any other name, though it's heavily implied to be Henry Kissinger.
 Worldwar / int_ca87e3ec
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_ca87e3ec
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_ca87e3ec
 Worldwar / int_caf89e54
type
Taking You with Me
 Worldwar / int_caf89e54
comment
Taking You with Me: When the Jews of Lodz get control of an atomic bomb, they have no way of transporting it easily or of detonating it remotely. This means that if they ever do decide to use it, it will destroy themselves along with whatever enemies are nearby. The analogy they use most often for the situation is 'Samson in the temple'.
 Worldwar / int_caf89e54
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_caf89e54
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_caf89e54
 Worldwar / int_cc7fae30
type
Outside-Context Problem
 Worldwar / int_cc7fae30
comment
Outside-Context Problem: None of the human participants conceived at all of an alien invasion disrupting their own conflicts.
 Worldwar / int_cc7fae30
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_cc7fae30
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_cc7fae30
 Worldwar / int_cd23ee7d
type
Colonel Badass
 Worldwar / int_cd23ee7d
comment
Colonel Badass: Heinrich Jager. Skorzeny's SS rank was Obersturmbannfuhrer, which is the equivalent to Lieutenant Colonel.
 Worldwar / int_cd23ee7d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_cd23ee7d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_cd23ee7d
 Worldwar / int_cd809603
type
Tank Goodness
 Worldwar / int_cd809603
comment
Tank Goodness: From the in-book descriptions, the Race's main battle tank, the Landcruiser, seems to resemble an M1 Abrams (which, by the time of writing, was the most advanced tank in the 90s). The only difference, other than that it has an autoloader (rather than the Abrams loading it's shells manually by a loader) is that the compartments are designed for Race bodies and that the Race version is powered by hydrogen fuel cells. The human forces need to use Zerg Rush tactics (6-10 Panthers/Tigers per race tank, and the Americans count 10:1 as good odds) in order to triumph over the Race's more advanced weaponry. However, to paraphrase the Germans, "They (The Race) are like the Russians: their tanks are good, but their tank skills are scheiße."
 Worldwar / int_cd809603
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_cd809603
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_cd809603
 Worldwar / int_d026cad8
type
Sigil Spam
 Worldwar / int_d026cad8
comment
Sigil Spam: Rance Auerbach notes that the French tricolor flies everywhere in Free France, comparing it to the way American flags are ubiquitous on the Fourth of July. He thinks that it is their way of trying prove that they're a real country instead of being spurred by legitimate patriotism or national pride.
 Worldwar / int_d026cad8
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_d026cad8
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_d026cad8
 Worldwar / int_d0bf8a6d
type
No Periods, Period
 Worldwar / int_d0bf8a6d
comment
No Periods, Period: Due to being raised in orbit over the Eaarth, Kassquit has never been ill. The closest she has come to suffering from a disease is "the cyclic nature of Tosevite female physiology".
 Worldwar / int_d0bf8a6d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_d0bf8a6d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_d0bf8a6d
 Worldwar / int_d295a79e
type
Just Here for Godzilla
 Worldwar / int_d295a79e
comment
Just Here for Godzilla (In-Universe): In Homeward Bound, the returned Americans find that Donald (a Lizard whom Sam and Barbara Yeager raised) hosts a game show with a Lovely Assistant who goes topless. At the end of the episode, Donald remarks "I know why you folks tune in" and shoots a knowing glance at his co-host's "assets".
 Worldwar / int_d295a79e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_d295a79e
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_d295a79e
 Worldwar / int_d29e9f65
type
Nature Versus Nurture
 Worldwar / int_d29e9f65
comment
Nature Versus Nurture: The series features aliens raising humans, and humans raising aliens, in order to see how close they can make each species to their own. Needless to say, the three 'test subjects' seen in the series suffer from identity-related problems in adulthood.
 Worldwar / int_d29e9f65
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_d29e9f65
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_d29e9f65
 Worldwar / int_d30dfd1c
type
Ridiculous Exchange Rates
 Worldwar / int_d30dfd1c
comment
Ridiculous Exchange Rates: "Rumkies" were the currency of the Lodz ghetto during the Nazi administration, and they continued to be exchanged after the Race conquered the area and continued to prop up the existing ghetto administration. Since the Jewish fighters set up their own administration, the value of the Rumkies plummeted in comparison to the Polish zloty and the German deutschmark. Moishe Russie wound up paying hundreds of Rumkies just for a small portion of a day's grocery shopping. After the Reich-Race war, the deutschmark plummeted in value. When spending zlotys at a German tavern, Mordechai Anielewicz was able to buy a full dinner, including leftovers and a pot to carry them, for the equivalent cost of a few pieces of fruit in Poland. Johannes Drucker recalled that Germany went through similar inflation after WWI, and hated having to go through it again.
 Worldwar / int_d30dfd1c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_d30dfd1c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_d30dfd1c
 Worldwar / int_d31da2e3
type
If It's You, It's Okay
 Worldwar / int_d31da2e3
comment
If It's You, It's Okay: Miss Lucille makes it quite clear that she is not interested in Mutt (Or anybody else) and half admits that she is a "lizzie." However, after Mutt keeps his dogged persistence Lucille admits that, with him, she is closer to giving it a try with a man than she ever has been before. Then she gets killed by Lizard artillery.
 Worldwar / int_d31da2e3
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_d31da2e3
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_d31da2e3
 Worldwar / int_d4508136
type
There Should Be a Law
 Worldwar / int_d4508136
comment
There Should Be a Law: When a female of the Race is given ginger without her knowledge so that she will go into her mating season, both she and the males who discover her afterwards feel that a crime has been committed, but quickly realize that there is no actual law among the Race that covers this situation.
 Worldwar / int_d4508136
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_d4508136
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_d4508136
 Worldwar / int_d45c0b86
type
Refuge in Audacity
 Worldwar / int_d45c0b86
comment
Refuge in Audacity: When Skorzeny is ordered to acquire an infrared range finder from a Race tank, he actually strolls into a Lizard base with a bunch of ginger and uses it to buy an entire tank! He then proceeds to drive it off the base in broad daylight and past Lizard patrols back to his own lines.
 Worldwar / int_d45c0b86
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_d45c0b86
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_d45c0b86
 Worldwar / int_d52d28b6
type
Hypocrite
 Worldwar / int_d52d28b6
comment
Hypocrite: The Race dismisses all human religions as silly superstitions based entirely on blind faith, and yet they believe in a form of heaven where the dead are united with the spirits of Emperors past. Whenever a human points this out to a member of the Race, their response is almost universally "Yes, except you're wrong and we're right." In fact, a lot of the Race's interactions with humanity boil down to "You can't do that, only we can do that!" To name one example, they deliberately import flora and fauna from Home to Earth, causing massive ecological damage and alterations to the environment of certain regions of the planet, and causing famine in India (with the Race's reaction amounting to "unfortunate, but can't be helped"). Then in Homeward Bound, a single pair of mice gets released on Home, completely by accidentnote The American ambassadors brought them along as food testers, and the hotel's room service person released them without realizing and the Lizards hit the roof. Sam Yeager even points this out to Atvar the next time they meet, and the former admiral can't really defend himself.
 Worldwar / int_d52d28b6
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_d52d28b6
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_d52d28b6
 Worldwar / int_d705d771
type
Exposed Extraterrestrials
 Worldwar / int_d705d771
comment
Exposed Extraterrestrials: The Race never wears clothes, except for (sometimes) anti-ballistic vests or radiation suits. Their idea of proper attire is to cover themselves with body paint. They are utterly unprepared for Earth's far chillier climate, and suffer greatly in their campaigns in the USSR and America during the winter months, being forced to scavenge clothing to keep from freezing.
 Worldwar / int_d705d771
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_d705d771
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_d705d771
 Worldwar / int_d7c65f26
type
Introduced Species Calamity
 Worldwar / int_d7c65f26
comment
Introduced Species Calamity: Once the humans and the Race find a form of peace, the Race starts importing large amounts of flora and fauna from their homeworld, causing serious ecological damage in the areas of Earth they occupy. As they're adapted to their homeworld's arid environment they devastate Earth flora and outcompete local animals in the regions controlled by the Empire and all the remaining human not-empires can do is shoot any that cross the borders. In Homeward Bound, this happens to the Race when some mice the humans had brought to Home as food-testers are (accidentally) released (by a member of The Race, no less) and promptly multiply and go invasive. The Race promptly throws a fit.
 Worldwar / int_d7c65f26
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_d7c65f26
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_d7c65f26
 Worldwar / int_d8573ef9
type
Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!
 Worldwar / int_d8573ef9
comment
Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Johannes Drucker manages to protect his wife from the SS, and keep himself on active duty in the Wehrmacht, because General Walter Dornberger recognizes that Drucker is a competent officer and he carries enough weight to protect him. Pierre Dutourd has extensive connections in the Lizard hierarchy from his ginger dealings, and uses them to protect him from Reich officials when they want to co-opt his business. In the war between the Reich and the Race, he even believes he can use his connections to prevent the Race from bombing Marseilles. In both instances he is incorrect, as eventually the Race becomes so angry over the ginger trade that they no longer protect him, and the Race decides to bomb Marseilles anyway. Moishe Russie has some influence with Atvar since he often serves as an advisor, but not nearly so much as other people seem to think. He is able to use his connections to get David Goldfarb out custody in the Reich, and passes along some information, but that is the extent of what he is able to accomplish. Atvar doesn't place enough importance on keeping Russie happy to exert maximum pressure on his behalf.
 Worldwar / int_d8573ef9
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_d8573ef9
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_d8573ef9
 Worldwar / int_d9ffec82
type
Curb-Stomp Battle
 Worldwar / int_d9ffec82
comment
Curbstomp Battle: Partially averted. The Race is expecting their invasion of Tosev 3 to last days at most - which, of course, doesn't pan out. However, even with the massive technological leap that Humanity has taken since the arrival of the Race's probe, the Race does still succeed in conquering about two-thirds of the planet within three months, and all meaningful resistance after that is largely confined to Europe, North America and eastern Asia. Certainly at the beginning of the series, this trope is played straight with most individual skirmishes between Humanity and the Race. Case in point being Race killercraft scything through the RAF's 'Thousand Bomber Raid' over Cologne on the night they first land. Absolutely no doubt is left in anybody's mind - be they Lizard, Human or reader - that the Race has vastly superior weaponry. The Race-German War of 1965 ends up being this for the Reich. The Germans' conventional equipment is now on par or close enough to the Race and they manage to nuke some Race-controlled cities and colonies. The aliens still manage to stalemate their invasion of Poland and practically bathe Germany itself in nuclear fire. By the time it's over the Reich's territories are not far from being Mad Max in Europe.
 Worldwar / int_d9ffec82
featureApplicability
-1.0
 Worldwar / int_d9ffec82
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_d9ffec82
 Worldwar / int_dca70c44
type
Reasonable Authority Figure
 Worldwar / int_dca70c44
comment
Reasonable Authority Figure: Emperor Risson, whom we finally meet in Homeward Bound, is very level-headed and sensible in his dealings with the humans and with Atvar. This actually stands in stark contrast to many Race authority figures, who tend to start out Lawful Stupid before a long and painful education (admittedly, Risson has almost certainly had years of long-distance reports from Earth, allowing him time to better prepare himself for what dealing with humans is like).
 Worldwar / int_dca70c44
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_dca70c44
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_dca70c44
 Worldwar / int_def127cc
type
Leave Behind a Pistol
 Worldwar / int_def127cc
comment
Leave Behind a Pistol: When Colonel Jäger thinks that Skorzeny has been sent to kill him, he asks if Skorzeny is carrying a pistol with a single bullet for him. In one of the only times in the series when he seems honestly surprised, Skorzeny swears that he isn't here for Jäger.
 Worldwar / int_def127cc
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_def127cc
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_def127cc
 Worldwar / int_dfa40c1b
type
Didn't See That Coming
 Worldwar / int_dfa40c1b
comment
Didn't See That Coming: Even if the Lizards know in advance Tosev 3 is a water-rich world, especially next to theirs, it's mentioned the Race is caught by surprise by attacks from warships - both aircraft carriers and big-gunned vessels - though these are easily found by Lizard aircraft. Later on in Colonization nuclear submarines cause far more headaches for them as they can be submerged almost indefinitely and are very hard to detect.
 Worldwar / int_dfa40c1b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_dfa40c1b
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_dfa40c1b
 Worldwar / int_e0207930
type
Humans Are Special
 Worldwar / int_e0207930
comment
Humans Are Special: Kind of. The other two races the Race has conquered were reptilian and similar in nature to themselves, while humans are mammalian. Logically, the Race deduced that all intelligent life is like them. There are several different theories proposed by the Race as to why we seem to be an aberration.
 Worldwar / int_e0207930
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_e0207930
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_e0207930
 Worldwar / int_e0d133d0
type
Insufficiently Advanced Alien
 Worldwar / int_e0d133d0
comment
Insufficiently Advanced Alien: The technology of the Race is more advanced than that of humanity, but is not so far advanced as it should have been given how long they have been developing it. One human explicitly points out that if humanity had had nuclear technology for thousands of years, they would have done more with it than the Race did.
 Worldwar / int_e0d133d0
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_e0d133d0
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_e0d133d0
 Worldwar / int_e13156e1
type
Mama Bear
 Worldwar / int_e13156e1
comment
Mama Bear: Liu Han would like you to know that you are so not going to get away with keeping her baby away from her.
 Worldwar / int_e13156e1
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_e13156e1
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_e13156e1
 Worldwar / int_e22dae0a
type
Pretext for War
 Worldwar / int_e22dae0a
comment
Pretext for War: In the Colonization series, the Greater German Reich reaffirms its territorial claims to Poland and makes a lot of public noise about its rights and security concerns. All of the other human powers note many similarities to what happened in 1939, and recognize that it means the Germans want war and cannot be talked out of it by logic or persuasion.
 Worldwar / int_e22dae0a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_e22dae0a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_e22dae0a
 Worldwar / int_e27693
type
The Coup
 Worldwar / int_e27693
comment
The Coup: In Second Contact, Beria attempts to overthrow Molotov and take control of the Soviet Union. He manages to abduct Molotov without any difficulty and is in the process of having the NKVD beat him until he signs the papers that he voluntarily abdicated, when the Red Army suddenly bursts into the prison. It seems that Marshal Zhukov's bodyguards were better prepared, and the Red Army swiftly puts down the NKVD with little difficulty.
 Worldwar / int_e27693
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_e27693
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_e27693
 Worldwar / int_e3109dae
type
Switching P.O.V.
 Worldwar / int_e3109dae
comment
Switching P.O.V.: Multiple characters rotate through the chapters, usually at least one from each of the major human countries and the race itself.
 Worldwar / int_e3109dae
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_e3109dae
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_e3109dae
 Worldwar / int_e34541d
type
One World Order
 Worldwar / int_e34541d
comment
One World Order: Averted. While humanity at large works together to fight the Race, it quickly becomes clear that the notion gets cast aside, since no one is all that eager to let any particular nation, group or ideology take charge over all mankind. It's telling that even after several decades, the human-controlled portions of Earth are still divided between nation-states, albeit most of that territory is part of one of four major powers (USA, USSR, German Reich and the Japanese Empire).
 Worldwar / int_e34541d
featureApplicability
-1.0
 Worldwar / int_e34541d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_e34541d
 Worldwar / int_e41a9801
type
All Women Are Lustful
 Worldwar / int_e41a9801
comment
All Women Are Lustful: The Race is absolutely disgusted by the way human women can be sexually "receptive" at any time. They refuse to accept it as truth when it is first described to them, and run numerous experiments to see if it really is possible for a woman to have sex and become pregnant at any time. They think that this constant state of horniness is one of the explanations for humanity's rapid technological progress
 Worldwar / int_e41a9801
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_e41a9801
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_e41a9801
 Worldwar / int_e5c64f3f
type
Shame If Something Happened
 Worldwar / int_e5c64f3f
comment
Shame If Something Happened: When Basil Roundbush first tries to recruit David Goldfarb into his ginger smuggling schemes, David turns him down flat. Roundbush tells him to reconsider, since whatever David thinks might happen to him for joining up is better than what will happen to him if he refuses. And what will happen to his family as well. Dieter Kuhn's flirtations with Monique Dutourd walk the finest of fine lines - he knows the reputation of the SS and he assures her that he would not use his authority to punish her if she turned him down when he asks her out on a date. She believes him for the most part, which is part of why she accepts, but the rest of the reason that she accepts is that she doesn't believe him completely and fears what will happen if she does reject him. Both Sam Yeager and Glen Johnson are encouraged to enter cold sleep so that they will still be alive when the first human starship is built and sent to Home. Both of them also believe that if they don't accept the "offer" to board the ship, something permanent — and fatal — may befall them.
 Worldwar / int_e5c64f3f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_e5c64f3f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_e5c64f3f
 Worldwar / int_e624f0e8
type
Suspiciously Specific Denial
 Worldwar / int_e624f0e8
comment
Suspiciously Specific Denial: When a patrol from the Race is searching Basra for Ruhollah Khomeini, a local who speaks the language of the Race steps out of his home to tell them that Khomeini is not there and they should go away. They figure that anything a Big Ugly says is a lie by default, so make a deliberate effort to search his home. Khomeini really is not hiding there, and the local aggravatedly points out that that is what he was saying all along.
 Worldwar / int_e624f0e8
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_e624f0e8
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_e624f0e8
 Worldwar / int_e67ff203
type
Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder
 Worldwar / int_e67ff203
comment
Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder: Jens Larssen and Barbara Larssen are separated when Jens goes on an important mission to contact the US military, and both begin to feel physical attraction to others during the separation. Barbara ultimately believes that Jens has died on his mission and begins a relationship with Sam Yeager, while Jens believes that Barbara is still waiting for him and so avoids having an affair.
 Worldwar / int_e67ff203
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_e67ff203
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_e67ff203
 Worldwar / int_e698d371
type
Alternate-History Nazi Victory
 Worldwar / int_e698d371
comment
Alternate-History Nazi Victory: A more limited version. Nazi Germany successfully defends itself and becomes one of the three human nuclear powers, and retains all of its pre-1942 conquests except the western USSR (which is returned) and Poland (which is surrendered to the aliens). In 1965 the Greater German Reich fights and loses a short nuclear war against the aliens but, while forced to give up France and its nuclear and spacefaring technology, manages to retain the rest of its empire. By 2031, the Reich has recovered and is once again considered a world power.
 Worldwar / int_e698d371
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_e698d371
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_e698d371
 Worldwar / int_e6f2f710
type
But Liquor Is Quicker
 Worldwar / int_e6f2f710
comment
But Liquor Is Quicker: Males of the Race who have been aroused but cannot find any females in heat start spiking drinks with ginger and giving them to females to spur them into heat.
 Worldwar / int_e6f2f710
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_e6f2f710
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_e6f2f710
 Worldwar / int_e866f3b8
type
Puppet State
 Worldwar / int_e866f3b8
comment
Puppet State: In the time between the Worldwar and Colonization series, the United Kingdom has slowly slid towards puppet status as it needs to rely more and more on the Greater German Reich for supplies and protection after losing its entire overseas empire. They're not quite there yet, but many see it only as a matter of time. Of course, the Reich's devastation in Down to Earth aborts this slide and leaves Britain independent but weak and totally irrelevant. When the Race requires that France be made an independent nation as a condition for accepting the surrender of the Reich, everybody recognizes that it will only ever be a puppet for the Race. Finland voluntarily becomes one for the Race after the Reich's defeat, correctly fearing that the Soviets will now try to bully it into submission. That said, the Finns' puppet status is pretty much nominal as they make it clear to the Race that they will court the Soviets if Finland's independence is actually threatened.
 Worldwar / int_e866f3b8
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_e866f3b8
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_e866f3b8
 Worldwar / int_e8cae797
type
Freudian Trio
 Worldwar / int_e8cae797
comment
Freudian Trio: the three most senior members of the alien Race's conquest fleet exemplify the parts of the human psyche, in the context of a generally very conservative and cautious species-society: Id: Straha, third in the hierarchy, is so aggressive, radical, adaptable and short-term oriented his superior compares him to humans (not a compliment). After the conquest suffers setbacks, he tries to overthrow his commander and take over the fleet. When that fails, he takes refuge with humanity, only to later regret his choice. Ego: Atvar, the fleetlord, tries to balance tradition and change, caution and initiative, and play off the other two against each other. Superego: Kirel, the second-in-command, is focused on not making any mistakes, and never deviating from the path laid down, almost regardless of price or consequence. His attitude is very common among the junior members of the fleet, but he represents it at the very top.
 Worldwar / int_e8cae797
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_e8cae797
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_e8cae797
 Worldwar / int_ea8ba51d
type
No Full Name Given
 Worldwar / int_ea8ba51d
comment
No Full Name Given: Straha's driver plays a key role in several plotlines as a bodyguard, spy, and even an antagonist, but is only ever identified as "Gordon".
 Worldwar / int_ea8ba51d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_ea8ba51d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_ea8ba51d
 Worldwar / int_edfb8d92
type
The Generation Gap
 Worldwar / int_edfb8d92
comment
The Generation Gap: The younger human generation that grew up after the arrival of the Lizards has created a subculture based around imitating them in appearance, which has lead to drastically reduced nudity taboos as men and even women begin casually going around topless while wearing body paint. Eventually their children begin covering up again, and view going around shirtless as something that old people do. The Race generally does not experience any cultural disconnects between their generations, as they explicitly note that changes to their society come so slowly as to not be noticeable within a single lifetime. When Ttomalss begins having difficulty in raising Kassquit he wonders if such friction is normal among Tosevites, but then concludes that parents and children probably get along much more smoothly.
 Worldwar / int_edfb8d92
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_edfb8d92
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_edfb8d92
 Worldwar / int_eedee4d
type
The Starscream
 Worldwar / int_eedee4d
comment
The Starscream: Straha, who is constantly maneuvering to place himself in the Fleetlord's position.
 Worldwar / int_eedee4d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_eedee4d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_eedee4d
 Worldwar / int_f56aeb67
type
Alien Invasion
 Worldwar / int_f56aeb67
comment
Alien Invasion: The central plot point of the series.
 Worldwar / int_f56aeb67
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_f56aeb67
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_f56aeb67
 Worldwar / int_f6b30338
type
Murder Is the Best Solution
 Worldwar / int_f6b30338
comment
Murder Is the Best Solution: Molotov discusses the benefits and drawbacks of quickly resorting to murder to solve a problem when considering how to handle the Communist rebels in China. He seems to regard assassination as a valuable tool of politics, but not always the best tool. When Monique Dutourd resolves to finally get Dieter Kuhn out of her life for good, she tries to get her brother to have him killed. Since Kuhn is also a bother for his ginger business, her brother does not take much persuading to go along with it. The conspiracy tries multiple times to have Sam Yeager assassinated as soon as he starts poking around secure areas of the computer network, before he has even realized that there is a conspiracy.
 Worldwar / int_f6b30338
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_f6b30338
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_f6b30338
 Worldwar / int_f9cf12b2
type
Love Cannot Overcome
 Worldwar / int_f9cf12b2
comment
Love Cannot Overcome: Reuven Russie dates Jane Archibald while they attend medical school in Jerusalem together, but Jane has made it clear that she is not willing to permanently settle in territory ruled by the Race. After graduation she emigrates to Canada, and Reuven cannot bring himself to leave either his family or his place in the Jewish community to go with her.
 Worldwar / int_f9cf12b2
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_f9cf12b2
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_f9cf12b2
 Worldwar / int_fc39769d
type
Gunboat Diplomacy
 Worldwar / int_fc39769d
comment
Gunboat Diplomacy: Homeward Bound features two human starships. The first is the Admiral Peary and comes on equal footing as two star-faring races seeking a lasting peace; the second is Commodore Perry and comes with a Faster Than Light Drive, and the willingness to (bleep) things up if the Race doesn't play nice with the humans.
 Worldwar / int_fc39769d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_fc39769d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_fc39769d
 Worldwar / int_fd1f1a63
type
Ridiculously Cute Critter
 Worldwar / int_fd1f1a63
comment
Ridiculously Cute Critter: The sounds that beffels make are high-pitched and cute, likened to the noises made by squeeze toys. Johannes Drucker ever says they are "preposterously friendly".
 Worldwar / int_fd1f1a63
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_fd1f1a63
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_fd1f1a63
 Worldwar / int_fe10cf42
type
Alien Space Bats
 Worldwar / int_fe10cf42
comment
Alien Space Bats: In this case, the POD literally involves aliens visiting Earth during World War II.
 Worldwar / int_fe10cf42
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_fe10cf42
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_fe10cf42
 Worldwar / int_fe74de12
type
Interrupted Cooldown Hug
 Worldwar / int_fe74de12
comment
Interrupted Cooldown Hug: After a heated argument, Groves gives Jens the rest of the day off to go home and calm down. On the way home, he is approached by the base commander, who, informed of his leave, calls him a liar and a malingerer and tries to escort him back to Groves to clear things up. This is the last straw for Jens, who kills the colonel and his guard and tries to defect to the Lizards.
 Worldwar / int_fe74de12
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_fe74de12
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_fe74de12
 Worldwar / int_name
type
ItemName
 Worldwar / int_name
comment
 Worldwar / int_name
featureApplicability
1.0
 Worldwar / int_name
featureConfidence
1.0
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Worldwar / int_name
 Worldwar / int_name
itemName
Worldwar

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Crossover / Fan Fic
seeAlso
Worldwar
 Literature / Fan Fic
seeAlso
Worldwar
 WorldWar
sameAs
Worldwar
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Alien Invasion / int_67c02f03
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Alien Works / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
All Jews Are Cheapskates / int_67c02f03
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Allohistorical Allusion / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Alternate-History Nazi Victory / int_67c02f03
 Worldwar
hasFeature
America Saves the Day / int_67c02f03
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Aren't You Going to Ravish Me? / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Awesome Personnel Carrier / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Beardness Protection Program / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Benevolent Alien Invasion / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Bizarre Alien Senses / int_67c02f03
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Body Paint / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp" / int_67c02f03
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Capital Letters Are Magic / int_67c02f03
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Checkpoint Bluff / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Closest Thing We Got / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Comforting the Widow / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Cowboys and Indians / int_67c02f03
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Crazy Cultural Comparison / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Creative Sterility / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Cryonics Failure / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Curb-Stomp Cushion / int_67c02f03
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Deadly Gas / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Desecrating the Dead / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Ditto Aliens / int_67c02f03
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Divide and Conquer / int_67c02f03
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Double-Blind What-If / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Dry Crusader / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Earth Is a Battlefield / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Emotion Bomb / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Enforced Cold War / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Enforced Technology Levels / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Evil Reactionary / int_67c02f03
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Excrement Statement / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Exposed Extraterrestrials / int_67c02f03
 Worldwar
hasFeature
False Teeth Tomfoolery / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Fantastic Religious Weirdness / int_67c02f03
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Fantastic Slurs / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
G-Rated Drug / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Government in Exile / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Heroic Resolve / int_67c02f03
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Human Furniture Is a Pain in the Tail / int_67c02f03
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Humanity Is Insane / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Humanity Is Superior / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Humans Are Cthulhu / int_67c02f03
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Humans Are Divided / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Humans Are Ugly / int_67c02f03
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Humans Are Warriors / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Humans Kill Wantonly / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
In Your Nature to Destroy Yourselves / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Insufficiently Advanced Alien / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Inter-Service Rivalry / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Interstellar Weapon / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Introduced Species Calamity / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Invaded States of America / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Istanbul (Not Constantinople) / int_67c02f03
 Worldwar
hasFeature
King Bob the Nth / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Lame Pun Reaction / int_67c02f03
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Legally Ousted Leader / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Lizard Folk / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Low Culture, High Tech / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Mars Wants Chocolate / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Master Race / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Mating Season Mayhem / int_67c02f03
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Military Mashup Machine / int_67c02f03
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Mundane Luxury / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Named After Their Planet / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Nature Versus Nurture / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Nazi Protagonist / int_67c02f03
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Nicknaming the Enemy / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
No Blood Ties / int_67c02f03
 Worldwar
hasFeature
No Prison Segregation / int_67c02f03
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Not Quite the Right Thing / int_67c02f03
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Nuclear Option / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Nuke 'em / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Obsolete Occupation / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Occupiers Out of Our Country / int_67c02f03
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Operator Incompatibility / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Our Nudity Is Different / int_67c02f03
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Outside-Context Problem / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Pass Fail / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Patriot in Exile / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Peace Conference / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Phone-Trace Race / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Planetville / int_67c02f03
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Point Defenseless / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Quote Mine / int_67c02f03
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Raised by Humans / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Rape by Proxy / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Recursive Ammo / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Renegade Splinter Faction / int_67c02f03
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Rhetorical Question Blunder / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Richard Nixon, the Used Car Salesman / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Scary Dogmatic Aliens / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Seduction-Proof Marriage / int_67c02f03
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Shoot the Bullet / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Shotgun Wedding / int_67c02f03
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Sleeper Starship / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Space Age Stasis / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Space Brasília / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Space Fighter / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Spice of Life / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Starbucks Skin Scale / int_67c02f03
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Stock Star Systems / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Sub-Lightspeed Setting / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Suddenly Significant City / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Superweapon Surprise / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Swallow the Key / int_67c02f03
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Switching P.O.V. / int_67c02f03
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Tanks for Nothing / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Technologically Advanced Foe / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
The Alliance / int_67c02f03
 Worldwar
hasFeature
The Gulag / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
The Plot Reaper / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
The Political Officer / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
The Scrounger / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Throw-Away Country / int_67c02f03
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Truth Serums / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Unexpected Successor / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Urban Warfare / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Urine Trouble / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Villain Forgot to Level Grind / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Violence Really Is the Answer / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Volatile Second Tier Position / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
War Fic / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Washington D.C. Invasion / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
We Will Use WikiWords in the Future / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Weird Historical War / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
What If? / int_67c02f03
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Wild Child / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Winter Warfare / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
Zero-G Spot / int_67c0a723
 Worldwar
hasFeature
The Right of a Superior Species / int_67c0a723