History Literature / TomSwift

1910's to 30's Creator/StratemeyerSyndicate kids' series following the adventures of boy inventor Tom Swift. Each book began with Tom inventing some new gadget that conveniently proved essential to resolving the plot. Invented or popularized many GadgeteerGenius tropes.

* BadBoss: Roscoe in the final 90's book is willing to brianwash his henchmen, use them as test subjects for a forcefield device (while using bullets) and even outright shoot a loyal one who hasn't done anything just to make his own attempted escape go smoother. And while none of this is completely unique to the series, Roscoe is a lot scarier because of how he ''succeeds'' [[KnightOfCerebus in killing multiple people.]]
* BigBad: David Luna, during the 80's series and Xavier "The Black Dragon" Mace in the 90's one, both CorruptCorporateExecutive's out to crush the Swift's.
* BrainsAndBrawn: George and Len (whose names are likely a ShoutOut to ''Literature/OfMiceAndMen''), the henchmen of Tom's evil alternate universe counterpart in the 90's book "The Negative Zone", and get tricked into helping the real Tom when he ends up there.
* BluffTheImposter: in the 90's book ''Monster Machine'' in the aftermath of the main cast being kidnapped Tom and Rick are trying to rescue their girlfriends from a room when a computer sensor tells them it's filled with poison gas. They ask the girls to answer specific (trick) questions which they are unable to do. A little later, when they find the real girls (wearing gas masks) they ask the same questions just to make sure and this time they know the right answers.

* TeenGenius: Tom, of course, and his twin sister as well in the 90's version. Tom is probably the UrExample of this trope as well.
* ThoseTwoBadGuys: The mutated assistants of the mad scientist i the 90's book "Mutant Beach".

* UncertainDoom: In the 80's book, David Luna is presumed dead in the fourth book along with a sympathetic alien pursuing him during a dangerous hyperspace jump. Luna returns alive but his pursuer's chances were less good.

** Zigzagged in "The Aquatech Warriors" from the 90's series. After Tom and the others save the surviving crewmen from The Black Dragons undersea base from drowning, they end up held at gunpoint. The leader of the group says its not that they aren't grateful, it's just that the'd prefer not to stand trial for privacy and murder by going quietly, although they ''do'' plan to leave Tom and the others with the materials to make a raft of their own (on the rapidly sinking land platform) as well as the scientific data which had brought Tom to the area in the first place. Naturally though, Tom and the others turn the tables.
** Played completely straight in "Moonststalker" also from the 90's, when the BigBad and one of his men pull a gun on them after being rescued from their own destroyed spaceship and attempt to murder Tom and the others.

While popular in his time, Tom proved to have less staying power than his Stratemeyer stablemates [[Literature/TheHardyBoys Frank and Joe Hardy]] and Franchise/NancyDrew, perhaps because of how quickly his "cool technology" was superseded in the real world. An Atomic-age attempt to revive the franchise with a new series starring his son failed when people started questioning the wisdom of atomic-powered airplanes and automobiles. If anything Tom Swift Jr.'s Gee-whiz tech went obsolete even faster than his father's did.

* AndroclesLion: Prior to the second book of the fifth series, Swift Enterprises executive Yvonne Williams was kidnapped by anti-technology terrorists. One of her guards died after being bitten by a snake, and Yvonne used her cellphone battery to shock him back to life. The next day, that guard let her escape.

--> '''Tom:'' Mandy, tell me what color bathing suit you wore on our date last Friday.

* BadBoss: Roscoe in the final 90's book is willing to brianwash his henchmen, use them as test subjects for a forcefield device (while using bullets) and even outright shoot a loyal one who hasn't done anything just to make his own attempted escape go smoother. And while none of this is completely unique to the series, Roscoe is a lot scarier because of how he ''succeeds''[[KnightOfCerebus in killing multiple people.]]

* BadBoss: Roscoe in the final 90's book is willing to brianwash his henchmen, use them as test subjects for a forcefield device (while using bullets) and even outright shoot a loyal one who hasn't done anything just to make his own attempted escape go smoother. And while non of this is completely unique to the series, Roscoe is a lot scarier because of how [[KnightOfCerebus He ''succeeds'' in killing multiple people.]]

* SwissCheeseSecurity: In one "Jr." novel (the one with th giant robots) a villain rocks out a Swiftworks who resembles him and walks into their plant with the mans security pass, boasting that their security "makes a bank job look tough."

** Zigzagged in "The Aquatech Warriors" from the 90's series. After Tom and the others save the surviving crewmen from The Black Dragons undersea base from drowning, they end up held at gunpoint. The leader of the group says its not that they aren't grateful, it's just that the'd prefer not to stand trial for privacy and murder by going quietly, although they ''do'' plan to leave Tom and the others with the materials to make a raft of their own (on the rapidly sinking land platform) as well as the scientific data which had brought Tom to the area in the first place/ Naturally though, Tom and the others turn the tables.

* BadBoss: Roscoe in the final 90's book is willing to brianwash his henchmen, use them as test subjects for a forcefield device (while using bullets) and even outright shoot a loyal one who hasn't done anything just to make his own attempted escape go smoother. And while non of this is completely unique to the series, Roscoe is a lot scarier because of how [[KnightOfCerberus He ''succeeds'' in killing multiple people.]]

* UncertainDoom: IN the 80's book, David Luna is presumed dead in the fourth book along with a sympathetic alien pursuing him during a dangerous hyperspace jump. Luna returns alive but his pursuer's chances were less good.

* TheMadScientistsBeautifulDaughter: One of these characters appears in "Mutant Beach".
* NightMakesRight: In ''Mind Games'', the human antagonist, Gary Gitmoe, says, "The strong get what they deserve. So do the weak."

* {{MST}}: ''[[http://keithpalmer.ca/mst3k/favourites/tom-swifts-war-tank.txt Tom Swift's War Tank]]'' is one of the more extensive {{MSTing}}s available.

----
!!The ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' presentation of ''[[http://keithpalmer.ca/mst3k/favourites/tom-swifts-war-tank.txt Tom Swift's War Tank]]'' has examples of:
* TheDitz: Ned.
* FourthWallBreaking: Ned's stupidity becomes so severe that Joel and the bots run out of ways to riff him and are forced to ask the readers for help.
* IdiotBall: Ned and Mr Damon keep a firm grip on this at all times, but it seems that anyone who isn't Tom gets their sticky mitts on it at some point.
-->'''Servo''': Ah, it all becomes clear, now. The residents of Shopton, except for the Swifts, share a collective intelligence. Someone else in town must be buttoning their coat and thereby placing a strain on the town's remaining IQ resources.
* InvincibleHero: Lampshaded by Servo:
-->'''Servo''': I've never read any of the books in this series, and I'll bet I know everything there is to know about him already. He's really good at everything that he does, which is everything done by any American of his age and class. Girls admire him, but he only has pure love for one. He's RogerRamjet played straight. He is, in effect, every bit as annoying as every MarySue ever penned.
* ObfuscatingStupidity:
-->'''Joel''': Meanwhile, back on the Swift plant, Eradicate and Koku had undergone a change since their Master had been away....
-->'''Servo [as Eradicate]''': I disagree -- even given Rossini's questionable reusage of material from his earlier operas, "The Barber of Seville" is one of the greatest Opera Buffas ever written; even the renowned Verdi himself said as much.
-->'''Crow [as Koku]''': True, my friend, but I still think you're downplaying Mozart's "Don Giovanni" too much -- that raised the level of Opera Buffas to unknown levels which Verdi himself only matched with "Falstaff," some eighty years later.
* OverlyLongGag: Crow, Servo and Joel's description of Swift's ColdBloodedTorture. Justified in that it lasts as long as it takes for Mr Damon and Ned to realize that Tom Swift, inventor extraordinaire and tank engineer, may have ''possibly'' been kidnapped by the German spies they know full well are prowling around Shopton.
* RunningGag: "I get paid by the word, you know."
* StuffBlowingUp: [[RuleOfFunny Crow destroys Tom's airfield as revenge for ditching him in a biplane over the no-fly zone in southern Iraq]].
* TooDumbToLive: Ned. Oh ''boy'', NED.
* WhatTheHellHero: Tom Swift has a tank to test. He wants to see how it fares when driven through a building. He spots a barn in a farmyard. Does he stop and ask the farmer's permission first? No.

* TheRedStapler: [[StunGuns "TASER"]] is an acronym for "''T''homas ''A''. ''S''wift's ''E''lectric ''R''ifle; the inventor, Jack Cover, got the name from the title of the 10th book of the original series (which he read as a child).

* {{Unobtainium}}: Tomasite. The supermaterial that can do almost anything

* RaygunGothic

* TeenGenius: Tom, of course. His twin sister as well in the 90's version.

While popular in his time, Tom proved to have less staying power than his Stratemeyer stablemates [[HardyBoys Frank and Joe Hardy]] and NancyDrew, perhaps because of how quickly his "cool technology" was superseded in the real world. An Atomic-age attempt to revive the franchise with a new series starring his son failed when people started questioning the wisdom of atomic-powered airplanes and automobiles. If anything Tom Swift Jr.'s Gee-whiz tech went obsolete even faster than his father's did.

* {{Defictionalization}}: [[ShockAndAwe Thomas A Swift's Electric Rifle]].
** "Don't tase me, bro!"

1910's to 30's StratemeyerSyndicate kids' series following the adventures of boy inventor Tom Swift. Each book began with Tom inventing some new gadget that conveniently proved essential to resolving the plot. Invented or popularized many GadgeteerGenius tropes.

* TeenGenius: Tom, of course.

* Minovsky Physics: The radiation-blocking Tomasite plastic can block radiation, and is a good neutron reflector. Period. Apart from that, it's just a strong, hard plastic. The repelatron device can do one thing: Push on the specific combination of elements it's been tuned to. The potential complications and the difficulties of keeping the things properly tuned are not ignored.