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* ChildhoodImmortality: Averted on several occasions.
** First one is when [[spoiler:Robin's niece, Ella, is killed along with her mother through "Penance" when Robin is caught fixing Ivory tech at Elro's house.]]
** Then, it happens when [[spoiler: officials at The Tower respond to pupil Gerry briefly escaping and seeing the outside world by staging his suicide in a theatrical play to ensure compliance from the rest.]] Much later on, [[spoiler: most of the same pupils get killed by Mother's Corners, deluded into thinking this will bring Mother back and reset the world.]]
** First one is when [[spoiler:Robin's niece, Ella, is killed along with her mother through "Penance" when Robin is caught fixing Ivory tech at Elro's house.]]
** Then, it happens when [[spoiler: officials at The Tower respond to pupil Gerry briefly escaping and seeing the outside world by staging his suicide in a theatrical play to ensure compliance from the rest.]] Much later on, [[spoiler: most of the same pupils get killed by Mother's Corners, deluded into thinking this will bring Mother back and reset the world.]]
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* EliteMooks: The aptly named Bastion Elites. Whereas the regular One Concern soldiers wear grey uniform with blue helmet visors and fight with submachine guns and grenades, Bastion Elites have also possess white breastplates and white helmets with purple visors, while their main weapon is a like a more powerful version of Robin's stun gun, with the same ability to fire bomb shots.
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* EliteMooks: The aptly named Bastion Elites. Whereas the regular One Concern soldiers wear grey uniform with blue helmet visors and fight with submachine guns and grenades, Bastion Elites have also possess white breastplates and white helmets with purple visors, while their visors. Their main weapon is a like a more powerful an evolved version of Robin's stun gun, whose bomb shots produce a fiery ShockwaveStomp running in both directions, while their primary shot is also powerful (though it can be deflected at them with a wrench.) They can also dodge shots and rapidly cover distance by sliding along the same ability ground.
** The trope is subverted, though, in that while they are better suited tofire bomb shots. close-range indoor fighting, they are not exceedingly powerful next to the regular Attackers and Defenders. In particular, a full burst from the Attacker's submachine gun still does far more damage than any of the Elite's attacks, even though it's easier for the player to dodge. As such, [[spoiler: when Mother's death and Chrome's revelations trigger a civil war between Bastion Elites formerly loyal to Mother, and Attackers/Defenders loyal to Chrome, the visible casualties appear in a strict 1/1 ratio. In the end, Bastion Elites appear completely wiped out, at least at City One, with regular Attackers prevailing, even if it only happened through sheer numbers.]]
** The trope is subverted, though, in that while they are better suited to
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* InfantImmortality: Averted on several occasions.
** First one is when [[spoiler:Robin's niece, Ella, is killed along with her mother through "Penance" when Robin is caught fixing Ivory tech at Elro's house.]]
** Then, it happens when [[spoiler: officials at The Tower respond to pupil Gerry briefly escaping and seeing the outside world by staging his suicide in a theatrical play to ensure compliance from the rest.]] Much later on, [[spoiler: most of the same pupils get killed by Mother's Corners, deluded into thinking this will bring Mother back and reset the world.]]
** First one is when [[spoiler:Robin's niece, Ella, is killed along with her mother through "Penance" when Robin is caught fixing Ivory tech at Elro's house.]]
** Then, it happens when [[spoiler: officials at The Tower respond to pupil Gerry briefly escaping and seeing the outside world by staging his suicide in a theatrical play to ensure compliance from the rest.]] Much later on, [[spoiler: most of the same pupils get killed by Mother's Corners, deluded into thinking this will bring Mother back and reset the world.]]
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* {{Irony}}: One easy-to-miss example: When asked about One Concern, Yon at the Settlement 17's Church replies that they exist to "enforce His will of a preserved, untouched planet." In reality, [[spoiler: One Concern's Ivory mining is the main reason the planet is suffering earthquakes as the Earth's crust has difficulty holding itself together and resisting magma beneath, and if things continued the same way, it would have collapsed like the moon. Once One Concern leadership understood this, they opt to build B-17 rocket to escape the planet and potentially relocate the rest of the population there if they had enough time, rather than trying to reverse the process. Moreover, the planet is anything but preserved: Omega Controller changes the shape of the entire continents at its whim. Since its destruction summons the Star Worm, the best One Concern came up with was to execute any map-makers so that the secret wouldn't get out.]]
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** There's a comparable quandary with the "Penance". [[spoiler: While a house being ground down from underneath by a Controller acting as a giant buzzsaw is clearly not magical, it's unclear how much control the One Concern has over the process. Even Black appears genuinely uncertain when she asks Robin if she's the reason for all the Penance in her Settlement, so it's possible all Penance happens because the Omega Controller sent minor Controllers there, while One Concern can at most signal which house they would like destroyed, and ensure City One remains untouched. As such, Mrs. Andress' Penance for creating small maps was probably Omega Controller's own decision to ensure its planet-altering properties are not found out, since no-one besides Mr. Andress appears to have even known of it.]]
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* MrExposition: Old man named Yon at the Settlement 17's Church only exists to fill you in on the basic tenets of One Concern's beliefs.
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* StupidityIsTheOnlyOption: Sure, Elro, let's ask your sister to repair the technology in your home, as is explicitly forbidden and punished to death by One Concern, right when the One Concern agents are around the place, and not, say, a couple days later! It's particularly galling given that Black and the rest were in a rush, and would have soon had to leave to meet Royal at Chrome's camp, while he wanted repairs done ''for the winter'', so there was absolutely no rush.
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* WellIntentionedExtremist: Even the most tyrannical of One Concern's rules do have a reasoning behind them. Executing the unlicensed mechanics who work with Ivory? [[spoiler: Ivory consumption is causing earthquakes and will lead to the planet's crust collapsing, so they cannot allow it to happen faster than they can finish building the rockets that would take the people elsewhere.]] Making cartography a capital crime as well? [[spoiler: The planet is artificial, and it's constantly changing due to the Omega Controller, who was left behind by the Star Worm itself and so cannot be touched for fear of summoning it. Thus, this is kept a secret, and it's even possible Omega Controller might send regular Controllers to cause Penance on any mapmakers on its own. After all, it does not seem like anyone at One Concern knew of]]
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* BoomHeadshot: Lawrence executes a hapless One Concern Attacker in this manner, before [[spoiler: turning around to face Elro.]]
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* EliteMooks: The aptly named Bastion Elite. Whereas the regular One Concern soldiers wear grey uniform with blue helmet visors and fight with submachine guns and grenades, Bastion Elite have lighter grey uniform with white breastplates and helmets with purple visors,
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* EliteMooks: The aptly named Bastion Elite. Elites. Whereas the regular One Concern soldiers wear grey uniform with blue helmet visors and fight with submachine guns and grenades, Bastion Elite Elites have lighter grey uniform with also possess white breastplates and white helmets with purple visors, while their main weapon is a like a more powerful version of Robin's stun gun, with the same ability to fire bomb shots.
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** Emmet Darland is a regular human who nevertheless became one of One Concern's most important civilian commanders, and oversees its most important projects like [[spoiler: The Tower and B-17 rocket]], while agents and Chrome, powerful as they are, are simply guarding them. He is a thoughtful man, whose notes at One Concern HQ reveal his regrets about the way war with the Isi went, amongst other examples. He also [[spoiler: orders for Gerry, a frightened pupil at the Tower who left it too early and saw that the outside world is not the wasteland as the pupils were told, to be shot with a prototype of Star Worm's guilt weapon, so that he would commit suicide on a stage in front of the other pupils, and thus dissuade them from ever leaving it again.]]
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** Emmet Darland is a regular human who nevertheless became one of One Concern's most important civilian commanders, and commander, who oversees its most important projects like [[spoiler: The Tower and B-17 rocket]], while agents and Chrome, powerful as they are, are simply guarding them. He is a soft-spoken and thoughtful man, whose notes at One Concern HQ reveal his regrets about the way the war with the Isi went, amongst other examples. He also [[spoiler: orders for Gerry, a frightened pupil at the Tower who left it too early and saw that the outside world is not the wasteland as the pupils were told, to be shot with a prototype of Star Worm's guilt weapon, so that he would commit suicide on a stage in front of the other pupils, and thus dissuade them from ever leaving it again.]]
* IronicEcho: Multiple examples, but one even occurs in the credits: [[spoiler: the Ivory spores seen around the planet after Robin restored its original environment through injecting Isi seed into Star Worm's body are the same ones that fly around during the third phase of Agent Black's final fight.]]
* NeckSnap: The way Agent Black kills [[spoiler: Royal at the Detritus pit at the One Concern West, before Robin drags him to safety where he could revive.]]
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* OnlyAFleshWound: Elro is a notable example of this. First, he loses an eye, but gets off with a BadassEyepatch. Then, [[spoiler: Agent Black rips off his arm, yet he doesn't bleed out (though he does receive medical help from Chrome's army a short while later. He also goes back to wielding his sword in the other hand soon afterwards.]] Lastly, [[spoiler: he is shot in the leg by Mina, severely enough to lose consciousness for a while, and yet eventually comes back to his senses to push the launch button like she wanted from the start. Again he receives medical help afterwards, but it's unclear how much time passed since then.]]
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* OnlyAFleshWound: Elro is a notable example of this. First, he loses an eye, but gets off with a BadassEyepatch.an EyepatchOfPower. Then, [[spoiler: Agent Black rips off his arm, yet he doesn't bleed out (though he does receive medical help from Chrome's army a short while later. He also goes back to wielding his sword in the other hand soon afterwards.]] Lastly, [[spoiler: he is shot in the leg by Mina, severely enough to lose consciousness for a while, and yet eventually comes back to his senses to push the launch button like she wanted from the start. Again he receives medical help afterwards, but it's unclear how much time passed since then.]]
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**
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** Mother's Corners are an even more severe example. When they are first seen in the flesh (after being featured on multiple wall frescoes earlier) next to Mother, they are giving measured advice [[spoiler: just before the battle that kills her]]. The next time you encounter them, they have devolved to [[spoiler: killing all the Tower pupils they can find in a belief this will bring Mother back, and crying out for your blood once they encounter you.]]
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** Royal's [[spoiler: plan to communicate with the Starworm as well, though in this case the Shaggy Dog is agent Black. Having lost everything, Black found one last point of stability in guarding the rocket from anyone who would dare to use it. This unfortunately included the one person capable of beating her in a fight. The really sad part comes from the fact the ''her death could have been avoided'' if Royal had just taken Elro and Mina's advice and gone home; it was very likely Robin would have tried to fight the Starworm anyway, allowing Black to live.]]
* ShieldBearingMook: The One Concern Defenders, who attack by producing a blue ShockwaveStomp from their shields.
* ShieldBearingMook: The One Concern Defenders, who attack by producing a blue ShockwaveStomp from their shields.
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** Royal's [[spoiler: plan to communicate with the Starworm as well, though in this case the Shaggy Dog is agent Black. Having lost everything, Black found one last point of stability in guarding the rocket from anyone who would dare to use it. This unfortunately included the one person capable of beating her in a fight. ]] The really sad part comes from the fact the [[spoiler: ''her death could might have been avoided'' if Royal had just taken Elro waited for the Star Worm to descend to Earth, and Mina's advice and gone home; it was very likely then joined Robin as she would have tried to fight the Starworm anyway, allowing Black to live.]]
*** Then again, [[spoiler: once Royal triggered Star Worm's arrival by destroying the Omega Controller, the best thing to do was probably to just wait for His arrival and get ready for a fight. Going to City One and killing Mother accomplished nothing; Chrome might have still triggered a civil war once Mother rejected his overtures, but it would have likely ended in a stalemate, and Mother would have escaped like she planned. It might not have been just, but at least the pupils wouldn't have died.]]
* ShieldBearingMook: The One Concern Defenders, who attack by producing a blueShockwaveStomp ShockwaveStomp, and are immune to regular melee and ranged attacks from the front due to their shields.shields. They are still somewhat affected by the bomb detonations, but the easiest way to knock them out is through GoombaStomp.
*** Then again, [[spoiler: once Royal triggered Star Worm's arrival by destroying the Omega Controller, the best thing to do was probably to just wait for His arrival and get ready for a fight. Going to City One and killing Mother accomplished nothing; Chrome might have still triggered a civil war once Mother rejected his overtures, but it would have likely ended in a stalemate, and Mother would have escaped like she planned. It might not have been just, but at least the pupils wouldn't have died.]]
* ShieldBearingMook: The One Concern Defenders, who attack by producing a blue
* SkeletonMotif: Seen in the second and third boss of the game - the One Concern's Kerthunk mech and Isi's Kibuka walker. Even though they are made by two diametrically opposed sides of the conflict, and fight in a different manner, both still feature a body section shaped like a skull.
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* TheWoobie: Elro. His wife and daughter die within the game's first minutes. Over the course of the game, in trying to protect Robin, his only remaining family, he gets dragged all over the world, imprisoned, beaten, and even [[spoiler:loses his arm and gets shot in the back]] for doing what he thinks is right. Throughout the game, he constantly moans about how he ''just wants to go home.''
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* TheWoobie: Elro. His wife and daughter die within WorldHealingWave: One occurs after [[spoiler: Robin injects an Isi seed into Star Worm's corpse, which contained extraordinary amounts of Ivory. This causes regular, "round" plants, rather than the game's first minutes. Over the course of the game, in trying cubic, Ivory-deficient ones, to protect Robin, his only remaining family, he gets dragged sprout all over the world, imprisoned, beaten, and even [[spoiler:loses his arm and gets shot in planet. It had also stopped the back]] for doing what he thinks is right. Throughout earthquakes, which were a precursor to the game, he constantly moans about how he ''just wants planet's crust collapsing apart due to go home.''being weakened by Ivory mining.]]
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* YourHeadAsplode: The demise of [[spoiler: Agent Black's final form, preceded by her uttering HEAD...ACHE for one final time.]]
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* BadassEyepatch: Elro gets one after [[spoiler: surviving the Penance that killed his wife and daughter.]]
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* ChildhoodImmortality: Averted. First when Robin's niece, Ella, is killed along with her mother through "Penance" when Robin is caught fixing Ivory tech at Elro's house. Then, it happens when [[spoiler: officials at The Tower respond to pupil Gerry briefly escaping and seeing the outside world by staging his suicide in a theatrical play to ensure compliance from the rest.]] Much later on, [[spoiler: most of the same pupils get killed by Mother's Corners, deluded into thinking this will bring Mother back and reset the world.]]
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* ChildhoodImmortality: Averted. Averted on several occasions.
** First one is whenRobin's [[spoiler:Robin's niece, Ella, is killed along with her mother through "Penance" when Robin is caught fixing Ivory tech at Elro's house. house.]]
** Then, it happens when [[spoiler: officials at The Tower respond to pupil Gerry briefly escaping and seeing the outside world by staging his suicide in a theatrical play to ensure compliance from the rest.]] Much later on, [[spoiler: most of the same pupils get killed by Mother's Corners, deluded into thinking this will bring Mother back and reset the world.]]
** First one is when
** Then, it happens when [[spoiler: officials at The Tower respond to pupil Gerry briefly escaping and seeing the outside world by staging his suicide in a theatrical play to ensure compliance from the rest.]] Much later on, [[spoiler: most of the same pupils get killed by Mother's Corners, deluded into thinking this will bring Mother back and reset the world.]]
* EyepatchOfPower: Elro gets one after [[spoiler: surviving the Penance that killed his wife and daughter.]]
* TheSocialDarwinist: Lawrence takes a full tilt into this after [[spoiler: Mother's death]]. By the time he's [[spoiler: confronted by Elro]], he's gleefully shot multiple One Concern soldiers and executes the last one point-blank while giving a speech on how they must become ever stronger to be the best protectors. He continues to spout quotes of this nature all the way through his battle.
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* TheSpiny: encountered in the Isilugar Depths. They are positioned in such a way that simply stunning them with a bomb shot still leaves their spiny backs blocking the path. Instead, you must curve it in such a way that it detonates the explosive on their tail.
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* TheSpiny: The first enemies encountered are small spiny creatures called Pluro, which can't be stomped at, but are easily shot or defeated with a wrench.
** Then, there are the Squints, which are much stronger enemies of this nature encountered in the Isilugar Depths. They are heavily armored, and positioned in such a way that simply stunning them with a bomb shot still leaves their spiny backs blocking the path. Instead, you must curve it in such a way that it detonates the explosiveon tip of their tail.
** Then, there are the Squints, which are much stronger enemies of this nature encountered in the Isilugar Depths. They are heavily armored, and positioned in such a way that simply stunning them with a bomb shot still leaves their spiny backs blocking the path. Instead, you must curve it in such a way that it detonates the explosive
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Expansion and clarification.
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** [[spoiler:Fitzroy]] slowly crawls towards Robin for his first two phases, which only makes it harder to keep dodging attacks from [[spoiler:his ivory-borne golem monster]].
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** [[spoiler:Fitzroy]] slowly crawls towards Robin for his first two phases, which only makes it harder to keep dodging attacks from [[spoiler:his ivory-borne [[spoiler: the golem monster]].face made of Ivory rising out of his back, which represents his memory of Leticia as she once was, and of her after she lost her face to Transcendence, respectively.]].
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* AllForNothing: [[spoiler:All the pain and sacrifice to get Royal to the moon to commune with the Starworm ends up not mattering — Royal can't even get the thing to respond to him. In a larger sense, all the panic and strife over the Starworm's return ends up not mattering either, since Robin still kicks its ass.]]
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* AlienBlood: Two separate examples. [[spoiler: Transcended individuals is the color of Ivory, being totally infused with it. Then, the final boss may have blue feathers, but its blood is green]]
* AllForNothing:[[spoiler:All All the pain and sacrifice to get Royal [[spoiler:Royal to the moon to commune with the Starworm ends up not mattering — Royal can't even get the thing to respond to him. He does end up wounding him, which then allowed Robin to defeat him, but he could have done that on the planet, too.]] In a larger sense, [[spoiler: all the panic and strife over the Starworm's return ends up not mattering either, since Robin still kicks its ass.]]
* AllForNothing:
* AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs: Barely a few hours pass between Robin, Mina and Royal getting to Isilugar, and the attack on it by the One Concern. [[spoiler: it gets moved to prevent them from sending back-up down there, and the whole batttle works out well for the Isi, but disastrous for the One Concern, since the only person to die in the battle is Agent White, earlier considered to be nigh-immortal. They also lose ten soldiers prisoner, while Isi only lose Samba, who is eventually recovered by Mina anyway.]]
* AndIMustScream: It's implied that being possessed by the blue eye creatures feels like this. [[spoiler: It's further implied that if Star Worm was alive, and not just a mech, then this is what it felt for untold years as the pilot controlled it through the blue eye. If so, then pilot the dying after the Star Worm crushes its skull is not simply caused by him failing at the controls, but rather the last conscious act of a Star Worm before it expires.]]
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* AppliedPhlebotinum: Ivory is used to power all technology and the Concern's stranglehold on it is the basis for their control of all society. It can function as a battery for a home, a component to be used in ItemCrafting, [[spoiler:a source of immortality and superpowers for those with the necessary constitution]], and ultimately [[spoiler:gasoline for some alien bird's space truck]].
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* AppliedPhlebotinum: Ivory is used to power all technology and the Concern's stranglehold on it is the basis for their control of all society.society besides the pirates/Isi, who get it from underwater Ivory pustules. It can function as a battery for a home, a component to be used in ItemCrafting, [[spoiler:a source of immortality and superpowers for those with the necessary constitution]], and ultimately [[spoiler:gasoline for some alien bird's space truck]].
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* ArtificialLimbs: [[spoiler:Those who survive Transcendence often lose limbs in the process, requiring cybernetic replacements. Agent Black has cybernetic arms, General Chrome has cybernetic legs, and Agent Grey appears to have cybernetic ''ears''. Due to their Ivory blood, Transcended individuals are the only ones who can actually make use of these limbs in the first place.]]
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* ArtificialLimbs: [[spoiler:Those who survive Transcendence often lose limbs in the process, requiring cybernetic replacements. At first, they appear as simply a necessary attribute of an agent. Agent Black White has cybernetic arms, eyes that allow him to shoot EyeBeams, and Agent Black is revealed to have cybernetic arms. Eventually, Royal reveals that [[spoiler: any individual who survives Transcendence but doesn't perfectly merge with the Ivory like Mother and Royal did will end up with a certain body part consumed by the Ivory. Said body part is then replaced by an implant that gives said individual their powers, while itself functioning only due to the Ivory in the rest of the person's body. As such, General Chrome has cybernetic legs, legs and Agent Grey appears to have had cybernetic neck or ''ears''. Due to their Ivory blood, Transcended individuals are the only ones Ash, who can actually make use of these limbs in the first place.complained about gut pains, might have lost an internal organ to gain invisibility. ]]
* AttackItsWeakPoint: The majority of the bosses possess weak points of some kind that need to be hit in order to defeat them. Only the comparatively rare human bosses are the exception.
* BadassBoast: Several human antagonists get to say them:
** ''''Agent Black''': ''When you know no-one has got your back, you learn to prepare to fight in any situation. Let us grieve existence, together.''
** '''Mother''': ''I am the mother of this earth. You are challenging the very ground you walk on.''
*** Mina gives it an IronicEcho [[spoiler: the first time Mother is knocked down during the battle, allowing Mina to apply her seeds]]:
---> ''Come down here, coward Mother! Have a fistful of MY earth!''
** Amusingly, the first such boast is said by Benley, a minor character at Settlement 17 pub who could obviously never live up to it:
--> '''Barten''': ''That moon has been coming apart for decades now. The more it crumbles, the more Penance seems to happen.''
--> '''Turkosa''': ''It's because of sin, isn't it? Do you think pieces of the moon could fall on us too?''
--> '''Barten''': ''Benley wouldn't allow it.''
--> '''Benley''':''I would punch it back into orbit with my own fist, girl!''
* BadassEyepatch: Elro gets one after [[spoiler: surviving the Penance that killed his wife and daughter.]]
* BadassBoast: Several human antagonists get to say them:
** ''''Agent Black''': ''When you know no-one has got your back, you learn to prepare to fight in any situation. Let us grieve existence, together.''
** '''Mother''': ''I am the mother of this earth. You are challenging the very ground you walk on.''
*** Mina gives it an IronicEcho [[spoiler: the first time Mother is knocked down during the battle, allowing Mina to apply her seeds]]:
---> ''Come down here, coward Mother! Have a fistful of MY earth!''
** Amusingly, the first such boast is said by Benley, a minor character at Settlement 17 pub who could obviously never live up to it:
--> '''Barten''': ''That moon has been coming apart for decades now. The more it crumbles, the more Penance seems to happen.''
--> '''Turkosa''': ''It's because of sin, isn't it? Do you think pieces of the moon could fall on us too?''
--> '''Barten''': ''Benley wouldn't allow it.''
--> '''Benley''':''I would punch it back into orbit with my own fist, girl!''
* BadassEyepatch: Elro gets one after [[spoiler: surviving the Penance that killed his wife and daughter.]]
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* BaitAndSwitch: Ash mentions that [[spoiler:his daughter volunteered for Transcendence in order to become like him]]. The player will most likely assume he is referring to [[spoiler:Black]], since [[spoiler:she's the only female Agent they have encountered at this point]], but the credits imply that he was actually referring to [[spoiler:Nobel]]. This was {{foreshadow|ing}}ed by [[spoiler:Nobel's superpower being invisibility, like Ash]].
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* BaitAndSwitch: Ash mentions that [[spoiler:his his daughter volunteered for Transcendence in order to become like him]]. him. The player will most likely assume he is referring to [[spoiler:Black]], since [[spoiler:she's [[spoiler:Black, the only female Agent they have agent encountered at up to this point]], but the credits imply that he was actually referring to [[spoiler:Nobel]]. This was {{foreshadow|ing}}ed by [[spoiler:Nobel's superpower being invisibility, like Ash]].
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* BattleInTheCentreOfTheMind: [[spoiler:The first phase of the Starworm has Robin face off against shadow creatures that can only be killed by activating switches. This is symbolic in many regards: the shadows represent her failures (specifically, in order: Elro, Mina, Royal, and Black), and turning the switches represents her desire to “fix” things.]]
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* BattleInTheCentreOfTheMind: [[spoiler:The first phase of We finally find out what the One Concern "prototype" does when [[spoiler: Starworm uses the real thing on Robin, and she has Robin to face off against the shadow creatures that who represent the people she failed, while the backgrounds portray said failure. Creature representing Elro has a ruined house standing in a sunflower field, with the statues of his wife and daughter in the background. Mina's shadow has the graves of her Isi ancestors filling the background, Robin presumably thinking they would've lived if she could have stopped the One Concern sooner, Royal has the broken moon where he died, and Agent Black has a literal black void, referring to her death at Robin's hands. They can only be killed defeated by activating switches. This is symbolic in many regards: the shadows represent her failures (specifically, in order: Elro, Mina, Royal, and Black), and turning the switches switches, which represents her Robin's desire to “fix” things.things. All but Black that is. "She" must either be shot again, or allowed to crawl past and explode on her own.]]
** Royal also manages to find another way to anger Black, when he tells her "This is bigger than you." while trying to [[spoiler: persuade her to leave the B-17 launchpad so that they can fly to the Star Worm.]] The sheer hypocrisy of an Agent who sacrificed her humanity to her service hearing this from someone who followed his whims all his life completely crosses out his earlier efforts:
->'''Black''': ''HAHAHAHA! So right! THERE HAS NEVER BEEN ANYTHING SMALLER THAN ME. BUT YOU [[spoiler: TAKE THIS ROCKET OVER MY DEAD BODY.]]''
->'''Black''': ''HAHAHAHA! So right! THERE HAS NEVER BEEN ANYTHING SMALLER THAN ME. BUT YOU [[spoiler: TAKE THIS ROCKET OVER MY DEAD BODY.]]''
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* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Robin successfully dismantles the One Concern, stops armageddon from occuring by destroying the Starworm and its pilot to prevent him from siphoning off the remaining Ivory keeping the planet together, the defeat of the Starworm causes nature to repair the planet, and it's implied [=ChemiCo=] Contra are making headway into alternative energy research without the One Concern to hold them back. However, Royal is dead, Agent Black has become consumed by her grief and rage over the loss of her comrades and can barely be considered human anymore (and that's assuming she survived the combination of Isi Seed overgrowth, blue eye corruption, and being on the outside of a rocket exiting the atmosphere), and Elro has not only lost an arm, but has been greatly embittered by everything he and Robin have gone through. That said, it's implied that his finally acknowledging Robin's ability to care for herself has granted him some measure of peace.]]
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* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Robin successfully dismantles [[spoiler: On the one hand, the One Concern, Concern theocracy falls, and its remaining forces are led by clueless Tolo, and no longer have the power to harass Isi or intimidate peaceful people with Penance. Robin stops armageddon Armageddon from occuring occurring by destroying the Starworm and its pilot to prevent him from siphoning off the remaining Ivory keeping the planet together, the defeat of the Starworm causes while nature to repair repairs the planet, and it's planet after she sticks an Isi seed into Starworm's Ivory-infused corpse. It's also implied [=ChemiCo=] Contra are making headway into alternative energy research without to ensure planet won't get to the same drained state again. On the other hand, the demise of One Concern to hold them back. However, Concern's transcended leaders like Mother, Chrome and Royal is dead, results in dozens of rank-and-file soldiers dying in the civil war, while most pupils at the Tower were killed by Mother's Corners, and the remainder appear unable to adapt to the independent life. The cycle of revenge between Agent Black has become consumed by her grief and rage over the loss of her comrades and can barely be considered human anymore (and that's assuming she survived the combination of Isi Seed overgrowth, blue eye corruption, and being on the outside of a rocket exiting the atmosphere), and Elro has not only lost an arm, ends with the former dying a horrible death, her remains burnt up in the atmosphere as B-17 took off, while the latter is alive, but has been greatly embittered by everything he crippled and Robin have gone through. That said, it's implied that his finally acknowledging Robin's ability to care for herself has granted him some measure of peace.embittered.]]
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** [[spoiler:Along with the usual superpowers and immortality, Transcending caused Agent Black to suffer constant, unrelenting headaches which she describes as feeling like knives cutting her, meaning they are most likely [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluster_headache cluster headaches]], known for their extreme intensity. She has been like this for almost 200 years, so it's no wonder she's such a grouch all the time, and why her sanity could take such an abrupt nosedive as it did.]]
to:
** [[spoiler:Along Along with the usual superpowers and immortality, Transcending [[spoiler:Transcending caused Agent Black to suffer constant, unrelenting headaches which she describes as feeling like knives cutting her, meaning they are most likely [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluster_headache cluster headaches]], known for their extreme intensity. She has been like this for almost 200 years, so it's no wonder she's such a grouch all the time, and why her sanity could take such an abrupt nosedive as it did.]]
* BloodlessCarnage: None of the dead bodies seen in the game, whether it's [[spoiler: One Concern soldiers killed in their civil war]] or [[spoiler: the Tower's pupils killed by Mother's Corners]] ever display blood. The only exception is the AlienBlood of [[spoiler: the Transcended individuals, which is white like Ivory, and the green blood of the final boss, an actual alien.]]
Changed line(s) 51 (click to see context) from:
** The entire process of [[spoiler:Transcending, which involves injecting Ivory directly into a person's body. A few people will succeed and survive the process with superpowers, though some will lose body parts in the process. And the many that fail basically melt into puddles of white goo. Even if it does work out, those who Transcend are plagued by sharp chronic pains, and Transcended people who live long enough will find themselves consumed by the Ivory; Fitzroy turned into a mindless being made of dripping Ivory, while Leticia kept her sanity but is no longer recognizably human]].
to:
** The entire process of [[spoiler:Transcending, which involves injecting Ivory directly into a person's body. A few people will succeed and survive the process with superpowers, though some will lose body parts in the process. And the many that fail basically melt into puddles of white goo. ]] Even if it does work out, [[spoiler: those who Transcend are plagued by sharp chronic pains, and Transcended people who live long enough will find themselves consumed by the Ivory; Father is essentially comatose, Fitzroy turned into a mindless being made of dripping Ivory, while Leticia kept her sanity but is no longer recognizably human]].
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* ButThouMust: [[spoiler:There's no getting around leaving Royal to die on a decompressing Midway, as one scanner is pulled too far away from the door to work while you're carrying him, and the other is just flat out broken, meaning trying to use the Usurper Shot to position him near it would be pointless even if it did work. The game even twists the knife by giving you way more time than you need to escape, as if to suggest that there is actually a way to save him when there isn't.]]
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* TheCobblersChildrenHaveNoShoes: [[spoiler:The only doctor in the game has an incurable disease.]]
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* ChildhoodImmortality: Averted. First when Robin's niece, Ella, is killed along with her mother through "Penance" when Robin is caught fixing Ivory tech at Elro's house. Then, it happens when [[spoiler: officials at The Tower respond to pupil Gerry briefly escaping and seeing the outside world by staging his suicide in a theatrical play to ensure compliance from the rest.]] Much later on, [[spoiler: most of the same pupils get killed by Mother's Corners, deluded into thinking this will bring Mother back and reset the world.]]
* TheCobblersChildrenHaveNoShoes:[[spoiler:The The only doctor in the game has [[spoiler:has an incurable disease.]]]]
* ConcussionFrags: The grenades thrown by One Concern Attackers have practically no range at all. On the bright side, they can at least bounce between floor and ceiling a few times, making them difficult to avoid.
* TheCobblersChildrenHaveNoShoes:
* ConcussionFrags: The grenades thrown by One Concern Attackers have practically no range at all. On the bright side, they can at least bounce between floor and ceiling a few times, making them difficult to avoid.
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* DarkReprise: [[spoiler:The final boss's theme, "Castle Doctrine", is a remixed version of an earlier boss theme, "Machines".]]
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* DarkReprise: [[spoiler:The The final boss's boss theme, "Castle Doctrine", is happens to be a remixed version of an earlier the second boss theme, "Machines".]]
* DieChairDie: You get Ivory Squares for breaking both the small light-grey busts of Mother and the similarly colored Isi icons. The game '''is''' called ''Iconoclasts'' after all.
* DrivenToSuicide: A few examples.
** [[spoiler: Polro's]] death is ultimately implied to be a suicide. After all, [[spoiler: Elro]] says he hated him for being weak in the end, and no other possible culprit is revealed.
** Even earlier in the timeline: [[spoiler: Agent Black mentions her repeated suicide attempts untold numbers of years ago, until she finally accepted it was easy for her to be brought back.]]
** We first get to see what the "prototype" Tolo mentioned at the One Concern camp does when [[spoiler: a pupil at the tower, Gerry, briefly escapes it inside Hazard Armor and sees that the outside world is fine]] so he's shot with it, and led to commit suicide by falling.
** Once [[spoiler: Mother dies, Aisling Ferrier and Emmet Darland are seen trying to strangle each other with their scarves, fearful of the incoming Star Worm.]] It's somewhat fitting, given that [[spoiler: Darland was one of those who ordered to stage Gerry's suicide. The end credits, however, reveal that he survives, while Ferrier is nowhere to be seen.]]
** [[spoiler: Polro's]] death is ultimately implied to be a suicide. After all, [[spoiler: Elro]] says he hated him for being weak in the end, and no other possible culprit is revealed.
** Even earlier in the timeline: [[spoiler: Agent Black mentions her repeated suicide attempts untold numbers of years ago, until she finally accepted it was easy for her to be brought back.]]
** We first get to see what the "prototype" Tolo mentioned at the One Concern camp does when [[spoiler: a pupil at the tower, Gerry, briefly escapes it inside Hazard Armor and sees that the outside world is fine]] so he's shot with it, and led to commit suicide by falling.
** Once [[spoiler: Mother dies, Aisling Ferrier and Emmet Darland are seen trying to strangle each other with their scarves, fearful of the incoming Star Worm.]] It's somewhat fitting, given that [[spoiler: Darland was one of those who ordered to stage Gerry's suicide. The end credits, however, reveal that he survives, while Ferrier is nowhere to be seen.]]
* EliteMooks: The aptly named Bastion Elite. Whereas the regular One Concern soldiers wear grey uniform with blue helmet visors and fight with submachine guns and grenades, Bastion Elite have lighter grey uniform with white breastplates and helmets with purple visors,
Changed line(s) 82,83 (click to see context) from:
** [[spoiler:Mother herself, who presents a facade of being a matronly goddess, but really is a glorified One Concern super soldier with a god complex and a hell of a temper.]]
** The Concern officials present themselves as affable to the general public, but each of them [[spoiler:aside from Grey]] is consumed by some sort of emotion that drives them to commit heinous acts. Chrome is a self-important fundamentalist with delusions of grandeur, Black is an emotionally-driven spiteful cynic, and so on.
** The Concern officials present themselves as affable to the general public, but each of them [[spoiler:aside from Grey]] is consumed by some sort of emotion that drives them to commit heinous acts. Chrome is a self-important fundamentalist with delusions of grandeur, Black is an emotionally-driven spiteful cynic, and so on.
to:
** [[spoiler:Mother herself, who presents a facade of being a matronly goddess, but really Mother is a glorified borderline example. On one hand, she genuinely believes in what she and One Concern super soldier is doing, and seems to genuinely care for all her "children", which is seen very well when she's contrasted with Royal. Her original plan [[spoiler: to finish the B-17 rocket so that it would hold as many humans as possible and take them to a god new world, before this one breaks apart from Ivory overuse]] could also have saved the world, even if at an enormous cost. On the other hand, she still presides over a theocracy which liberally executes those violating its decrees and hunts down dissenters like Isi, as well as [[spoiler:creating a Tower complex to indoctrinate a few dozen chosen pupils into worshipping her above everything else, and considering them a hell of a temper.priority over everyone besides the agents when Royal destroyed the Omega Controller and put paid to her original plan.]]
** Emmet Darland is a regular human who nevertheless became one of One Concern's most important civilian commanders, and oversees its most important projects like [[spoiler: The Tower and B-17 rocket]], while agents and Chrome, powerful as they are, are simply guarding them. He is a thoughtful man, whose notes at One Concernofficials present themselves as affable to HQ reveal his regrets about the general public, but each of them [[spoiler:aside from Grey]] is consumed by some sort of emotion way war with the Isi went, amongst other examples. He also [[spoiler: orders for Gerry, a frightened pupil at the Tower who left it too early and saw that drives them the outside world is not the wasteland as the pupils were told, to be shot with a prototype of Star Worm's guilt weapon, so that he would commit heinous acts. Chrome is suicide on a self-important fundamentalist with delusions stage in front of grandeur, Black is an emotionally-driven spiteful cynic, the other pupils, and so on.thus dissuade them from ever leaving it again.]]
* {{Fauxshadowing}}: In the first few minutes of the game, you can find people wondering if the moon breaking apart is going to result in pieces of it falling down on the planet. This is the '''one''' thing that ends up not happening.
** Emmet Darland is a regular human who nevertheless became one of One Concern's most important civilian commanders, and oversees its most important projects like [[spoiler: The Tower and B-17 rocket]], while agents and Chrome, powerful as they are, are simply guarding them. He is a thoughtful man, whose notes at One Concern
* {{Fauxshadowing}}: In the first few minutes of the game, you can find people wondering if the moon breaking apart is going to result in pieces of it falling down on the planet. This is the '''one''' thing that ends up not happening.
** The Inti machine, used by the Isi to [[spoiler: move Isilugar around]] has to have bomb projectiles shot into its mouth during the second stage of the battle.
* ForAWantOfANail: Pretty much the only reason Robin and Elro didn't die in the tunnels underneath Ferrier Shockwood is because the Carver machine was missing a single tooth in its buzzsaw.
* ForAWantOfANail: Pretty much the only reason Robin and Elro didn't die in the tunnels underneath Ferrier Shockwood is because the Carver machine was missing a single tooth in its buzzsaw.
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** [[spoiler:Samba and Mina's dialogues drop massive hints towards their relationship.]]
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** [[spoiler:Samba At the One Concern camp in the Shard Desert, when Robin is captured
** Samba and Mina's dialoguesdrop [[spoiler:drop massive hints towards their relationship.]]
** Samba and Mina's dialogues
Changed line(s) 93,94 (click to see context) from:
** [[spoiler:Interestingly, it's not the enormous worm from the stars that crashes down onto your planet - the worm's pretty well established into the lore of the game, and bears a resemblance to some previously fought bosses. It's the giant, muscular alien bird piloting the worm, who was never hinted at before the fight, and is never properly explained afterward as the game ends. Context allows you to piece together that the planet used to be a fuel depot for starship pilots like him that was colonized by humans, but he's still an alien bird of an otherwise unknown species, with no dialogue and no connection to any other characters, and he's the final boss.]]
** Similarly, the [[spoiler:blue eye corruption seems to appear out of nowhere after Robin escapes the Tower and it's never explained what exactly it is or what its relation to Ivory is. Computers in the underground area hint it's some sort of biotech, it can be seen when using the fast travel system at the core of the planet, and the Starworm has a cluster of the eyes roughly where another creature would have actual eyes, as well as the ability to manipulate and create more. However, other than that, the game doesn't reveal anything.]]
** Similarly, the [[spoiler:blue eye corruption seems to appear out of nowhere after Robin escapes the Tower and it's never explained what exactly it is or what its relation to Ivory is. Computers in the underground area hint it's some sort of biotech, it can be seen when using the fast travel system at the core of the planet, and the Starworm has a cluster of the eyes roughly where another creature would have actual eyes, as well as the ability to manipulate and create more. However, other than that, the game doesn't reveal anything.]]
to:
** [[spoiler:Interestingly, :Interestingly, it's not the enormous worm from the stars [[spoiler: that crashes down onto your planet - the worm's pretty well established into the lore of the game, and bears a resemblance to some previously fought bosses. It's the giant, muscular alien bird piloting the worm, who was never hinted at before the fight, and is never properly explained afterward as the game ends. Context allows you to piece together that the planet used to be a fuel depot for starship pilots like him that was colonized by humans, but he's still an alien bird of an otherwise unknown species, with no dialogue and no connection to any other characters, and he's the final boss.]]
** Similarly, the [[spoiler:blue eye corruption seems to appear out of nowhere after Robin escapes the Tower and it's never explained what exactly itis or what its relation to Ivory is. Computers in the underground area hint it's some sort of biotech, it can be seen when using the fast travel system at the core of the planet, it is present at the core of the Omega Controller, and the Starworm has a cluster of the eyes roughly where another creature would have actual eyes, as well as eyes.]]
*** There's speculation that theability to manipulate [[spoiler: blue eye substance is produced by the bird pilot species, whether naturally or through technology, and create more. However, its existence is what allowed it to control Star Worm all along. For what it's worth, the article positing that link, amongst other than that, the game doesn't reveal anything.things, was retweeted by konjak himself.]]
** Similarly, the [[spoiler:blue eye corruption seems to appear out of nowhere after Robin escapes the Tower and it's never explained what exactly it
*** There's speculation that the
* GoombaStomp: One of the ways in which Robin can attack. It obviously doesn't work on TheSpiny enemies like , or the electrified One Concern mechs, but is a very useful way to knock out various One Concern soldiers, who have a hard time shooting upwards to defend from it, with [[ShieldBearingMook Defenders]] only able to attack along the ground. [[spoiler: FinalBoss tries using it ''on you'' during the second phase.]]
Changed line(s) 115 (click to see context) from:
** A more classic version is [[spoiler:Elro, going up against Lawrence. Lawrence can shoot Elro, throw knives, punch him if he gets too close, but unless he runs out of HP, Elro keeps. On. Coming. Good thing you're playing Elro, and your job is just to NoSell Lawrence's attacks while you keep marching up and stabbing him.]]
to:
** A more classic version is [[spoiler:Elro, going up against Lawrence. Lawrence ]] He can shoot Elro, shoot, throw knives, punch him if he gets too close, but unless he runs out of HP, Elro [[spoiler: Elro]] keeps. On. Coming. Good thing you're playing Elro, as him, and your job is just to NoSell Lawrence's attacks while you keep marching up and stabbing him.]]
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* KillTheGod: [[spoiler:Robin sets out to destroy the Starworm after Royal's death, as it's her last option.]]
to:
* KillTheGod: [[spoiler:Robin sets out to destroy the Starworm after Royal's death, as it's her last option. It works, and reveals it was never a god at all.]]
Changed line(s) 129 (click to see context) from:
* LostTechnology: [[spoiler:At Darland Ascent, it's revealed that the Controllers the One Concern use to enforce their will are this. Sadly for the rest of the world, the pit they pull them from has enough in good enough shape that they're likely to not run out anytime soon.]]
to:
* LimitBreak: Averted. Most bosses tend to become weaker as the battle goes, forced to use less effective and impressive attacks as they become more and more damaged.
* LostTechnology:[[spoiler:At At Darland Ascent, it's revealed that [[spoiler: the Controllers the One Concern use to enforce their will are this.were reverse-engineered from the Omega Controller during Father's reign, with the technology being lost once the facility had to be abandoned. Sadly for the rest of the world, the pit they pull them from has enough in good enough shape that they're likely to not run out anytime soon.]]
* LostTechnology:
Changed line(s) 136 (click to see context) from:
** From amusing to serious: [[spoiler:Agent Black's pre-boss cutscene starts with a mildly humorous moment where Mina tells Robin not to point her butt at her... seconds before Agent Black brutalizes and ([[HealingFactor temporarily]]) kills Royal]].
to:
** From amusing to serious: [[spoiler:Agent Black's pre-boss cutscene starts with a mildly humorous moment where Mina tells Robin not to point her butt at her... her [[spoiler: seconds before Agent Black gives Royal TheReasonYouSuckSpeech, brutalizes and ([[HealingFactor temporarily]]) kills Royal]].him]].
* MookMaker: The Kerthunk mech of the One Concern, and the Inti machine [[spoiler: used to move Isilugar, but taken over by the Controller at first]] are both reduced to spamming weak Controllers in the last stage of their battles.
* MoralMyopia: Royal has a severe case of ProtagonistCenteredMorality. Whereas Mother, whom he is meant to succeed, understands that people living under One Concern accept her as a goddess '''not''' just because of her power, but because she's using it for their good (even if it's her theocracy's understanding of good), Royal does not bother to act on anything but his feelings, expects "his people" to surrender their interests to his whims, and doesn't seem to care about killing them when they are in the way. He expresses this most clearly when he's [[spoiler: imprisoned in a Detritus-filled room at the One Concern HQ]]:
->'''Royal''': ''I have EVERY RIGHT. I am a son of HE, THE ALMIGHTY! What's a train compared to me? What's [[spoiler: swordsman Silver]] compared to me? My choices are divine! Like Mother's!''
* MoralMyopia: Royal has a severe case of ProtagonistCenteredMorality. Whereas Mother, whom he is meant to succeed, understands that people living under One Concern accept her as a goddess '''not''' just because of her power, but because she's using it for their good (even if it's her theocracy's understanding of good), Royal does not bother to act on anything but his feelings, expects "his people" to surrender their interests to his whims, and doesn't seem to care about killing them when they are in the way. He expresses this most clearly when he's [[spoiler: imprisoned in a Detritus-filled room at the One Concern HQ]]:
->'''Royal''': ''I have EVERY RIGHT. I am a son of HE, THE ALMIGHTY! What's a train compared to me? What's [[spoiler: swordsman Silver]] compared to me? My choices are divine! Like Mother's!''
* OnlyAFleshWound: Elro is a notable example of this. First, he loses an eye, but gets off with a BadassEyepatch. Then, [[spoiler: Agent Black rips off his arm, yet he doesn't bleed out (though he does receive medical help from Chrome's army a short while later. He also goes back to wielding his sword in the other hand soon afterwards.]] Lastly, [[spoiler: he is shot in the leg by Mina, severely enough to lose consciousness for a while, and yet eventually comes back to his senses to push the launch button like she wanted from the start. Again he receives medical help afterwards, but it's unclear how much time passed since then.]]
* OrcusOnHisThrone: Mother is the essential goddess of the One Concern and the ruler of the planet, and yet, she hardly does anything with this power, and simply stays in City One, [[spoiler: waiting for the B-17 rocket to get finished and take her to the moon]] and only venturing out to inspire her "children" [[spoiler: where she ends up killed by an angry Mina with Robin's assistance]]. Everything the One Concern does during the game is initiated by the lower-level leaders, be they Transcended, like Agent Black or General Chrome, or even regular humans, like Ferrier and Darland. It's implied that she's lived for so long, she's beginning to enter the kind of decline seen in [[spoiler: Father and Fitzroy]], and so her commanders have taken on the active roles, and are already squabbling for succession.
* OrcusOnHisThrone: Mother is the essential goddess of the One Concern and the ruler of the planet, and yet, she hardly does anything with this power, and simply stays in City One, [[spoiler: waiting for the B-17 rocket to get finished and take her to the moon]] and only venturing out to inspire her "children" [[spoiler: where she ends up killed by an angry Mina with Robin's assistance]]. Everything the One Concern does during the game is initiated by the lower-level leaders, be they Transcended, like Agent Black or General Chrome, or even regular humans, like Ferrier and Darland. It's implied that she's lived for so long, she's beginning to enter the kind of decline seen in [[spoiler: Father and Fitzroy]], and so her commanders have taken on the active roles, and are already squabbling for succession.
Changed line(s) 154 (click to see context) from:
* PoorCommunicationKills: Mother [[spoiler:blames Royal for hastening the end of the world due to him activating and destroying an Omega Controller. However, Mother herself is partially at fault because she didn't tell Royal anything about her plans or the true nature of the planet they were living on, which she was very well aware of]].
to:
* PoorCommunicationKills: Mother [[spoiler:blames blames Royal for hastening [[spoiler:hastening the end of the world due to him activating and destroying an Omega Controller. Controller, whose demise sent out a signal to the Starworm to come down, and made the earthquakes afflicting the planet from Ivory loss completely uncontrollable.]] However, Mother herself is (and the other One Concern officials) are also partially at fault because she didn't tell none of them told Royal anything about her plans or to [[spoiler: build up B-17 rocket so that it can hold the true nature of entire surviving humanity by the time the planet would collapse from Ivory loss]].
** Not to mention that [[spoiler: apparently, no One Concern official dared to tell her '''how''' Agent White died, and so her reaction at Mina jamming seeds into her is bewilderment, rather than horror and desire to stop the fight. Robin is obviously not allowed to mention this as well.]]
** Equally, [[spoiler: when Royal first suggests his plan to see Mother to heal Elro, neither Robin nor Elro himself bother to tell him that Elro murdered an agent unprovoked, and so is highly unlikely to receive help at the best of times.]]
** Then, [[spoiler: Robin was already told by Teegan how Elro's serum works when theywere living on, confronts Chrome at the Bastion. Yet, she again cannot mention the part about binary compounds, which she was very well aware of]].might have dissuaded Chrome from exposing himself to the syringe.]]
** Not to mention that [[spoiler: apparently, no One Concern official dared to tell her '''how''' Agent White died, and so her reaction at Mina jamming seeds into her is bewilderment, rather than horror and desire to stop the fight. Robin is obviously not allowed to mention this as well.]]
** Equally, [[spoiler: when Royal first suggests his plan to see Mother to heal Elro, neither Robin nor Elro himself bother to tell him that Elro murdered an agent unprovoked, and so is highly unlikely to receive help at the best of times.]]
** Then, [[spoiler: Robin was already told by Teegan how Elro's serum works when they
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* QuirkyMinibossSquad: The Reborns — Lawrence, Nobel, and Mendeleev — fought at One Concern East.
to:
* QuirkyMinibossSquad: The Reborns — Lawrence, Nobel, and Mendeleev — who are fought at One Concern East.East.
* * {{Railroading}}: There's no getting around [[spoiler:leaving Royal to die on a decompressing Midway, as one scanner is pulled too far away from the door to work while you're carrying him, and the other is just flat out broken, meaning trying to use the Usurper Shot to position him near it would be pointless even if it did work. The game even twists the knife by giving you way more time than you need to escape, as if to suggest that there is actually a way to save him when there isn't.]]
** Far more egregious example at City One. Usually, you are locked into a boss battle by the One Concern metal doors activating behind you. However, this doesn't happen when [[spoiler: fighting Mother, because all she wants is for you to get out of the way, and let her converse with her people in peace. She even offers to talk to you at the Bastion at first, before ordering Bastion Elites to escort you there.]] Yet, you are forced to fight regardless, the way out blocked by an InvisibleWall, even though [[spoiler: the reason you wanted to meet her in the first place was so that she could '''heal''' Elro, which she obviously can't do at all once she's dead.]]
* * {{Railroading}}: There's no getting around [[spoiler:leaving Royal to die on a decompressing Midway, as one scanner is pulled too far away from the door to work while you're carrying him, and the other is just flat out broken, meaning trying to use the Usurper Shot to position him near it would be pointless even if it did work. The game even twists the knife by giving you way more time than you need to escape, as if to suggest that there is actually a way to save him when there isn't.]]
** Far more egregious example at City One. Usually, you are locked into a boss battle by the One Concern metal doors activating behind you. However, this doesn't happen when [[spoiler: fighting Mother, because all she wants is for you to get out of the way, and let her converse with her people in peace. She even offers to talk to you at the Bastion at first, before ordering Bastion Elites to escort you there.]] Yet, you are forced to fight regardless, the way out blocked by an InvisibleWall, even though [[spoiler: the reason you wanted to meet her in the first place was so that she could '''heal''' Elro, which she obviously can't do at all once she's dead.]]
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** The Silver Watchman is fought four times. The first three fights are in The Tower, with one and two being DuelBoss encounters and the third being a gimmick fight inside a tiny elevator. You face him one last time in Dark Cave, where [[spoiler:he’s being used as a puppet by the Possessed Thunk, a Kathunk mecha infested with the blue eyeballs]].
to:
** The Silver Watchman is fought four times. The first three fights are in The Tower, with one and two being DuelBoss encounters and the third being a gimmick fight inside a tiny elevator. You face him one last time in Dark Cave, where [[spoiler:he’s being used as a puppet by the Possessed Thunk, a Kathunk Kerthunk mecha infested with the blue eyeballs]].
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Agent Black gives a long one to Royal [[spoiler: when she encounters him in the detritus pit outside One Concern West, where he can't use his powers, and after he killed Silver Watchman]] A fragment of it below:
-> '''Black''': ''You are a sheltered child. You don't know rejection. [[spoiler: The world will die within '''days''' because of you.]] You are now the antithesis of everything you hoped to be.''
-> ''Royal'': ''What are you talking about?''
-> '''Black''': ''How would you rule, Royal? When was the last time you could feel for another person? You are a faultless production. Never had discomfort. Never had true misery. You could never relate to people. You're beyond change.''
* RelationshipValues: Say the right things to a few characters and the [[spoiler:BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind]] right before the FinalBoss has one or more phases become easier [[spoiler:by stunning them once you activate a switch]], and Mina might join you for the FinalBoss itself.
* {{Retraux}}: The ''Ivory Springs'' version was very much so, and the newer version still has elements like square flowers. However, they have become a plot element, [[spoiler: being a sign of the One Concern recklessly draining Ivory from environment which [[spoiler: would have eventually turned those plants to Detritus dust, though the whole planet would have broken apart before then, the core becoming too weak to hold itself against the magma below. Isi still possess seeds of the original plants that didn't have Ivory drained from them, which lets them break Ivory-based machinery and kill Transcended people by overgrowing their body.]]
-> '''Black''': ''You are a sheltered child. You don't know rejection. [[spoiler: The world will die within '''days''' because of you.]] You are now the antithesis of everything you hoped to be.''
-> ''Royal'': ''What are you talking about?''
-> '''Black''': ''How would you rule, Royal? When was the last time you could feel for another person? You are a faultless production. Never had discomfort. Never had true misery. You could never relate to people. You're beyond change.''
* RelationshipValues: Say the right things to a few characters and the [[spoiler:BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind]] right before the FinalBoss has one or more phases become easier [[spoiler:by stunning them once you activate a switch]], and Mina might join you for the FinalBoss itself.
* {{Retraux}}: The ''Ivory Springs'' version was very much so, and the newer version still has elements like square flowers. However, they have become a plot element, [[spoiler: being a sign of the One Concern recklessly draining Ivory from environment which [[spoiler: would have eventually turned those plants to Detritus dust, though the whole planet would have broken apart before then, the core becoming too weak to hold itself against the magma below. Isi still possess seeds of the original plants that didn't have Ivory drained from them, which lets them break Ivory-based machinery and kill Transcended people by overgrowing their body.]]
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* RelationshipValues: Say the right things to a few characters and the BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind right before the FinalBoss has one or more phases become easier [[spoiler:by stunning them once you activate a switch]], and Mina might join you for the FinalBoss itself.
* {{Retraux}}: The ''Ivory Springs'' version was very much so, and the newer version still has elements like square flowers.
* {{Retraux}}: The ''Ivory Springs'' version was very much so, and the newer version still has elements like square flowers.
to:
* RelationshipValues: Say RocketFist: Inti does this during the right things to a few characters and the BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind right before the FinalBoss has one or more phases become easier [[spoiler:by stunning them once you activate a switch]], and Mina might join you for the FinalBoss itself.
* {{Retraux}}: The ''Ivory Springs'' version was very much so, and the newer version still has elements like square flowers.first phase of its battle.
* {{Retraux}}: The ''Ivory Springs'' version was very much so, and the newer version still has elements like square flowers.
**
* ShieldBearingMook: The One Concern Defenders, who attack by producing a blue ShockwaveStomp from their shields.
** Pure electric attacks (not counting blue energy ShockwaveStomp attacks) are also used by One Concern's Spotters, which have electricity running along their whole body to prevent you from [[GoombaStomp jumping on them]] and Agent Black, who can zap lightning on ground level, as well as Isi's Inti machine, which zaps lightning from its fingers during the first phase of its battle, when [[spoiler: it's taken over by a Controller during the One Concern attack on Isilugar.]]
* ShockwaveStomp: A shockwave of blue energy running along the ground at a considerable height, and often in both directions, is an attack frequently associated with One Concern forces like Defenders, Silver Watchman [[spoiler: Mother]] and even the Isi toolboxes that were taken over by the Controllers.
* ShockwaveStomp: A shockwave of blue energy running along the ground at a considerable height, and often in both directions, is an attack frequently associated with One Concern forces like Defenders, Silver Watchman [[spoiler: Mother]] and even the Isi toolboxes that were taken over by the Controllers.
* SpinAttack: In the Possessed Thunk fight [[spoiler: the Silver Watchman it controls]] swings his sword so fast he resembles a buzzsaw, especially since he's hanging on a string a few feet off the ground the whole time.
* TheSpiny: encountered in the Isilugar Depths. They are positioned in such a way that simply stunning them with a bomb shot still leaves their spiny backs blocking the path. Instead, you must curve it in such a way that it detonates the explosive on their tail.
* TheSpiny: encountered in the Isilugar Depths. They are positioned in such a way that simply stunning them with a bomb shot still leaves their spiny backs blocking the path. Instead, you must curve it in such a way that it detonates the explosive on their tail.
* TacticalSuicideBoss: In its first phase, the Kerthunk boss can only be damaged when it throws its metal arm in the center of the screen.
* TennisBoss: Happens in the first phases of the Possessed Thunk boss fight where [[spoiler: you have to knock back the charged projectile generated by the possessed Silver Watchman, which he can also knock back to you a couple of times before failing at that.]] Then again, you can just jump upwards to dodge that attack entirely.
** All the areas in the game are named after one of the One Concern's human officials:
*** Blockrock - Bea Blockrock
*** Glass Straight - Joseph Glass
*** Shard Desert - Oliver Shard
*** Ferrier Shockwood - Aisling Ferrier
*** Darland Ascent - Emmet Darland
*** Blockrock - Bea Blockrock
*** Glass Straight - Joseph Glass
*** Shard Desert - Oliver Shard
*** Ferrier Shockwood - Aisling Ferrier
*** Darland Ascent - Emmet Darland
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* UndyingLoyalty: The basic One Concern {{Mooks}} all have complete loyalty to General Chrome, and refuse to let anyone but Chrome and possibly his NumberTwo Tolo order them around. Not the EliteMooks of the Bastion, not the Agents, not even Mother herself. [[spoiler:They all universally back Chrome when he rebels against Mother.]]
to:
* UnderwaterBase: Pretty much what Isilugar is. [[spoiler: it's implied that it was a former colony ship used to settle this planet by humans from the original Earth.]]
* UndyingLoyalty: The basic One Concern {{Mooks}} all have complete loyalty to General Chrome, and refuse to let anyone but Chrome and possibly his NumberTwo Tolo order them around. Not the EliteMooks of the Bastion, not the Agents, not even Mother herself. [[spoiler:They all universally back Chrome when he rebels againstMother.Mother, and go to war against Bastion Elites, who were loyal only to Mother herself. Even after Chrome dies, the end-game credits show them paying respects at his grave.]]
* UndyingLoyalty: The basic One Concern {{Mooks}} all have complete loyalty to General Chrome, and refuse to let anyone but Chrome and possibly his NumberTwo Tolo order them around. Not the EliteMooks of the Bastion, not the Agents, not even Mother herself. [[spoiler:They all universally back Chrome when he rebels against
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** [[spoiler:Thor and Thandie finally manage to reach City One, right on the same day civil war breaks out between Chrome and Mother's factions. They are never seen or mentioned again.]]
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** [[spoiler:Thor Thor and Thandie finally manage to reach City One, right [[spoiler:right on the same day civil war breaks out between Chrome and Mother's factions. factions.]] They are never seen or mentioned again.]]
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Avoiding the need for another spoiler tag, I'm not pointing out why the relationship between the Starworm and the alien guns is the other way around.
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* MindRape: The Starworm is capable of doing this to people, as [[spoiler:Robin and Royal]] find out the hard way. It appears that the Concern is also able to reverse engineer a gun that can replicate the effects.
to:
* MindRape: The Starworm is capable of doing this to people, as [[spoiler:Robin and Royal]] find out the hard way. It appears that the Concern is also able to working on reverse engineer engineering a gun that can replicate the effects.effects. Careful attention will show that their prototype ended up in the hands of a sea captain who uses it to recruit and control his crew... and briefly in Mina's hands, when she ''fired'' at Robin. (It was an ineffective misfire. Probably.)
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** You can make a lesser case for every single potential hero, as just about everyone manages to in some way make things ironically worse, betraying the point of their values due to acting on them. Robin being a HeroicMime is the primary reason she's exempt, as it keeps the audience at just enough of a remove to leave her beliefs if not her motivations ambiguous.
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* SurroundedByIdiots: Agent Black's habitual attitude. It's not so much that she's actually smarter as a combination of a permanent migraine (duplicating the usual effect of the trope) and having no real ideology beyond her job of ''keeping things functioning'' while being surrounded by idealists who believe nothing should be done except in accordance with their personal value system or religion.
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* InterfaceSpoiler: There are five save slots, each with a different character's sprite marking it. First is Robin, the player character. Mina, the first player to join your party, is second, followed by your third party member, Royal. [[spoiler: This is your first big clue that Elro didn't die with the rest of his family in the Penance, as he's the fourth save icon.]] Averted with [[spoiler: Agent Black, who is the fifth save slot yet never joins the party.]]
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** Royal's [[spoiler: plan to communicate with the Starworm as well, though in this case the Shaggy Dog is agent Black. Having lost everything, Black found one last point of stability in guarding the rocket from anyone who would dare to use it. This unfortunately included the one person capable of beating her in a fight. The really sad part comes from the fact the ''her death could have been avoided'' if Royal had just taken Elro and Mina's advice and gone home; it was very likely Robin would have tried to fight the Starworm anyway, allowing Black to live.]]
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** The Reborns appear to be named after famous scientists: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitri_Mendeleev Mendeleev]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Nobel Nobel]], and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Lawrence Lawrence]].
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** The Reborns appear to be named after famous scientists: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitri_Mendeleev Mendeleev]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Nobel Nobel]], and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Lawrence Lawrence]]. Elements 101, 102 and 103 of the periodic table are named after these scientists, furthering the shared theme.
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* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Royal is hated by practically everybody due to him basically being a superpowered spoiled brat. Pretty much the only person that shows him any kindness or respect is Robin, and even then it can be up to the player's dialogue choices. [[spoiler: That said, being rude will come to bite Robin in the ass come the first phase of the final boss.]]
to:
* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Royal is hated by practically everybody due to him basically being a superpowered spoiled brat. Pretty much the only person that shows him any kindness or respect is Robin, and even then then, it can be up to the player's dialogue choices. [[spoiler: That [[spoiler:That said, being rude will come to bite Robin in the ass come the first phase of the final boss.]]
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* AGodAmI: Being the physical representative of the Starworm, Mother is prone to this. Royal also shows sign of this since [[spoiler:he's supposed to be Mother's successor]].
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* AGodAmI: Being the physical representative of the Starworm, Mother is prone to this. Royal also shows sign signs of this this, since [[spoiler:he's supposed to be Mother's successor]].
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* AllForNothing: [[spoiler: All the pain and sacrifice to get Royal to the moon to commune with the Starworm ends up not mattering -- Royal can't even get the thing to respond to him. In a larger sense, all the panic and strife over the Starworm's return ends up not mattering either, since Robin still kicks its ass.]]
to:
* AllForNothing: [[spoiler: All [[spoiler:All the pain and sacrifice to get Royal to the moon to commune with the Starworm ends up not mattering -- — Royal can't even get the thing to respond to him. In a larger sense, all the panic and strife over the Starworm's return ends up not mattering either, since Robin still kicks its ass.]]
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* AnAesop: Take time to grieve over the deaths of your loved ones and those close to you. If you don't, you may act irrationally and lash out in ways you'll later regret. [[spoiler: This bites both Elro and Agent Black ''hard.'' Elro makes a huge mistake that essentially kickstarts the conflict of the game because he didn't think rationally when Agent Grey was simply asking him to calm down and Agent Black slowly goes off the deep end demonizing Elro and Robin for what Elro did instead of taking Chrome's advice and taking time to come to terms with the death of Grey.]]
to:
* AnAesop: Take time to grieve over the deaths of your loved ones and those close to you. If you don't, you may act irrationally and lash out in ways you'll later regret. [[spoiler: This [[spoiler:This bites both Elro and Agent Black ''hard.'' Elro makes a huge mistake that essentially kickstarts the conflict of the game because he didn't think rationally when Agent Grey was simply asking him to calm down and Agent Black slowly goes off the deep end demonizing Elro and Robin for what Elro did instead of taking Chrome's advice and taking time to come to terms with the death of Grey.]]
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* AppliedPhlebotinum: Ivory is used to power all technology and the Concern's stranglehold on it is the basis for their control of all society. It can function as a battery for a home, a component to be used in ItemCrafting, [[spoiler: a source of immortality and super powers for those with the necessary constitution,]] and ultimately [[spoiler: gasoline for some alien bird's space truck.]]
to:
* AppliedPhlebotinum: Ivory is used to power all technology and the Concern's stranglehold on it is the basis for their control of all society. It can function as a battery for a home, a component to be used in ItemCrafting, [[spoiler: a [[spoiler:a source of immortality and super powers superpowers for those with the necessary constitution,]] constitution]], and ultimately [[spoiler: gasoline [[spoiler:gasoline for some alien bird's space truck.]]truck]].
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* ArtificialLimbs: [[spoiler:Those who survive Transcendence often lose limbs in the process, requiring cybernetic replacements. Agent Black has cybernetic arms, General Chrome has cybernetic legs, and Agent Grey appears to have cybernetic ''ears''. Due to their Ivory blood, Transcended individuals are the only ones who can actually make use of these limbs in the first place]].
to:
* ArtificialLimbs: [[spoiler:Those who survive Transcendence often lose limbs in the process, requiring cybernetic replacements. Agent Black has cybernetic arms, General Chrome has cybernetic legs, and Agent Grey appears to have cybernetic ''ears''. Due to their Ivory blood, Transcended individuals are the only ones who can actually make use of these limbs in the first place]].place.]]
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* BigBrotherInstinct: Elro takes this ''way'' too far, [[spoiler:nearly dooming the planet several times because of it]]. It's only once Robin [[spoiler:literally ''kills God'']] does he grudgingly admit that ''maybe'' she can actually take care of herself.
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Robin successfully dismantles the One Concern, stops armageddon from occuring by destroying the Starworm and its pilot to prevent him from siphoning off the remaining Ivory keeping the planet together, the defeat of the Starworm causes nature to repair the planet, and it's implied [=ChemiCo=] Contra are making headway into alternative energy research without the One Concern to hold them back. However, Royal is dead, Agent Black has become consumed by her grief and rage over the loss of her comrades and can barely be considered human anymore (and that's assuming she survived the combination of Isi Seed overgrowth, blue eye corruption, and being on the outside of a rocket exiting the atmosphere), and Elro has not only lost an arm but has been greatly embittered by everything he and Robin have gone through. That said, it's implied that his finally acknowledging Robin's ability to care for herself has granted him some measure of peace]].
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Robin successfully dismantles the One Concern, stops armageddon from occuring by destroying the Starworm and its pilot to prevent him from siphoning off the remaining Ivory keeping the planet together, the defeat of the Starworm causes nature to repair the planet, and it's implied [=ChemiCo=] Contra are making headway into alternative energy research without the One Concern to hold them back. However, Royal is dead, Agent Black has become consumed by her grief and rage over the loss of her comrades and can barely be considered human anymore (and that's assuming she survived the combination of Isi Seed overgrowth, blue eye corruption, and being on the outside of a rocket exiting the atmosphere), and Elro has not only lost an arm but has been greatly embittered by everything he and Robin have gone through. That said, it's implied that his finally acknowledging Robin's ability to care for herself has granted him some measure of peace]].
to:
* BigBrotherInstinct: Elro takes this ''way'' too far, [[spoiler:nearly dooming the planet several times because of it]]. It's only once Robin [[spoiler:literally ''kills God'']] does that he grudgingly admit admits that ''maybe'' she can actually take care of herself.
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Robin successfully dismantles the One Concern, stops armageddon from occuring by destroying the Starworm and its pilot to prevent him from siphoning off the remaining Ivory keeping the planet together, the defeat of the Starworm causes nature to repair the planet, and it's implied [=ChemiCo=] Contra are making headway into alternative energy research without the One Concern to hold them back. However, Royal is dead, Agent Black has become consumed by her grief and rage over the loss of her comrades and can barely be considered human anymore (and that's assuming she survived the combination of Isi Seed overgrowth, blue eye corruption, and being on the outside of a rocket exiting the atmosphere), and Elro has not only lost anarm arm, but has been greatly embittered by everything he and Robin have gone through. That said, it's implied that his finally acknowledging Robin's ability to care for herself has granted him some measure of peace]].peace.]]
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Robin successfully dismantles the One Concern, stops armageddon from occuring by destroying the Starworm and its pilot to prevent him from siphoning off the remaining Ivory keeping the planet together, the defeat of the Starworm causes nature to repair the planet, and it's implied [=ChemiCo=] Contra are making headway into alternative energy research without the One Concern to hold them back. However, Royal is dead, Agent Black has become consumed by her grief and rage over the loss of her comrades and can barely be considered human anymore (and that's assuming she survived the combination of Isi Seed overgrowth, blue eye corruption, and being on the outside of a rocket exiting the atmosphere), and Elro has not only lost an
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* BoringButPractical: The Iron Heart tweak - all it does is absorbing a single hit before breaking, but the fact that it's possible to stack three of them at a time and landing shots on an enemy helps regenerate a broken tweak means that they're incredibly useful to have equipped for most boss battles. [[spoiler:Plus, it's the only way to avoid being a OneHitPointWonder in Challenge Mode]].
to:
* BoringButPractical: The Iron Heart tweak - — all it does is absorbing a single hit before breaking, but the fact that it's possible to stack three of them at a time and landing shots on an enemy helps regenerate a broken tweak means that they're incredibly useful to have equipped for most boss battles. [[spoiler:Plus, it's the only way to avoid being a OneHitPointWonder in Challenge Mode]].
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* TheCobblersChildrenHaveNoShoes: [[spoiler:The only doctor in the game has an incurable disease]].
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* TheCobblersChildrenHaveNoShoes: [[spoiler:The only doctor in the game has an incurable disease]].disease.]]
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** [[spoiler:Finally, the pilot of the Starworm gets his head crushed by his malfunctioning ship]].
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** [[spoiler:Finally, the pilot of the Starworm gets his head crushed by his malfunctioning ship]].ship.]]
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* DarkReprise: [[spoiler:The final boss's theme, "Castle Doctrine", is a remixed version of an earlier boss theme, "Machines"]].
to:
* DarkReprise: [[spoiler:The final boss's theme, "Castle Doctrine", is a remixed version of an earlier boss theme, "Machines"]]."Machines".]]
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* {{Determinator}}: [[spoiler:Black in her final battle is absolutely determined to protect the rocket from you, to the point that she eventually breaks open the rocket's fuel tank and starts drinking the Ivory fuel just so her HealingFactor can keep up with the damage you are dealing. By the end of the fight she is weakly shambling around, with multiple Isi Seeds sprouting out of her back, barely able to form a complete sentence, and vomiting up the fuel she's been guzzling, but still ''refuses'' to stop fighting until she is swarmed with the blue eye parasites and dragged offscreen. [[OneWingedAngel And even then, she's still not done]].]]
* DragonTheirFeet: [[spoiler:Agent Black and General Chrome manage to outlive Mother. Chrome doesn't get far before he's taken care of, but Black lives long enough to fight Robin one last time, long after she has a reason to keep fighting her beyond revenge]].
* DragonTheirFeet: [[spoiler:Agent Black and General Chrome manage to outlive Mother. Chrome doesn't get far before he's taken care of, but Black lives long enough to fight Robin one last time, long after she has a reason to keep fighting her beyond revenge]].
to:
* {{Determinator}}: [[spoiler:Black in her final battle is absolutely determined to protect the rocket from you, to the point that she eventually breaks open the rocket's fuel tank and starts drinking the Ivory fuel just so her HealingFactor can keep up with the damage you are dealing. By the end of the fight fight, she is weakly shambling around, with multiple Isi Seeds sprouting out of her back, barely able to form a complete sentence, and vomiting up the fuel she's been guzzling, but still ''refuses'' to stop fighting until she is swarmed with the blue eye parasites and dragged offscreen. [[OneWingedAngel And even then, she's still not done]].]]
* DragonTheirFeet: [[spoiler:Agent Black and General Chrome manage to outlive Mother. Chrome doesn't get far before he's taken care of, but Black lives long enough to fight Robin one last time, long after she has a reason to keep fighting her beyondrevenge]].revenge.]]
* DragonTheirFeet: [[spoiler:Agent Black and General Chrome manage to outlive Mother. Chrome doesn't get far before he's taken care of, but Black lives long enough to fight Robin one last time, long after she has a reason to keep fighting her beyond
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** [[spoiler:Mother herself, who presents a facade of being a matronly goddess, but really is a glorified One Concern super soldier with a god complex and a hell of a temper]].
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** [[spoiler:Mother herself, who presents a facade of being a matronly goddess, but really is a glorified One Concern super soldier with a god complex and a hell of a temper]].temper.]]
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* HellIsThatNoise: The screams of the mutated [[spoiler: Agent Black]] in her final fight are downright ''bone-chilling''.
** The glitchy, distorted sounds after Robin get shot with what amounts to a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind gun are incredibly creepy, leading into a similarly warped soundtrack for said battle.
** The glitchy, distorted sounds after Robin get shot with what amounts to a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind gun are incredibly creepy, leading into a similarly warped soundtrack for said battle.
to:
* HellIsThatNoise: The screams of the mutated [[spoiler: Agent [[spoiler:Agent Black]] in her final fight are downright ''bone-chilling''.
** The glitchy, distorted sounds after Robinget gets shot with what amounts to a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind gun are incredibly creepy, leading into a similarly warped soundtrack for said battle.
** The glitchy, distorted sounds after Robin
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* HonorBeforeReason: [[spoiler:Agent Black admits that keeping Royal and Robin from using the rocket to attempt to reason with Him is a poor decision, but her orders to protect the rocket are the only point of stability she has to cling to at that point]].
to:
* HonorBeforeReason: [[spoiler:Agent Black admits that keeping Royal and Robin from using the rocket to attempt to reason with Him is a poor decision, but her orders to protect the rocket are the only point of stability she has to cling to at that point]].point.]]
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** While you are trying to get the elevator working, [[spoiler: Black]] can not be stopped. Defeating the boss is not an option; you must fix the elevator and get out of there.
to:
** While you are trying to get the elevator working, [[spoiler: Black]] [[spoiler:Black]] can not be stopped. Defeating the boss is not an option; you must fix the elevator and get out of there.
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** Blue-eye possessed Bipedro enemies also can't be damaged... by ''you''. However you need them to break down certain walls for you so it's probably a good thing that you can't accidentally kill them and render the game {{Unwinnable}}. After they are done, there is usually a convenient pit of SpikesOfDoom nearby that you can make them run into which will kill them. They also are the game's only non-respawning enemies.
* InjuredPlayerCharacterStage: The short segment where you play as [[spoiler:Elro is after Black rips his arm off]] so he is slowly limping around and barely leaves the ground when jumping. Despite this, he manages to have an awesome boss fight at the end of the section.
* InjuredPlayerCharacterStage: The short segment where you play as [[spoiler:Elro is after Black rips his arm off]] so he is slowly limping around and barely leaves the ground when jumping. Despite this, he manages to have an awesome boss fight at the end of the section.
to:
** Blue-eye possessed Bipedro enemies also can't be damaged... by ''you''. However However, you need them to break down certain walls for you you, so it's probably a good thing that you can't accidentally kill them and render the game {{Unwinnable}}. After they are done, there is usually a convenient pit of SpikesOfDoom nearby that you can make them run into which will kill them. They also are the game's only non-respawning enemies.
* InjuredPlayerCharacterStage: The short segment where you play as [[spoiler:Elro is after Black rips his armoff]] off]], so he is slowly limping around and barely leaves the ground when jumping. Despite this, he manages to have an awesome boss fight at the end of the section.
* InjuredPlayerCharacterStage: The short segment where you play as [[spoiler:Elro is after Black rips his arm
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* KillTheGod: [[spoiler:Robin sets out to destroy the Starworm after Royal's death, as it's her last option]].
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* KillTheGod: [[spoiler:Robin sets out to destroy the Starworm after Royal's death, as it's her last option]].option.]]
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* LostTechnology: [[spoiler:At Darland Ascent it's revealed that the Controllers the One Concern use to enforce their will are this. Sadly for the rest of the world, the pit they pull them from has enough in good enough shape that they're likely to not run out anytime soon.]]
to:
* LostTechnology: [[spoiler:At Darland Ascent Ascent, it's revealed that the Controllers the One Concern use to enforce their will are this. Sadly for the rest of the world, the pit they pull them from has enough in good enough shape that they're likely to not run out anytime soon.]]
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* MirrorBoss: [[spoiler:The FinalBoss is a humanoid avian starship pilot/mechanic who fights using a wrench and several different types of GroundPound]].
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* MirrorBoss: [[spoiler:The FinalBoss is a humanoid avian starship pilot/mechanic who fights using a wrench and several different types of GroundPound]].GroundPound.]]
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* MyBelovedSmother: Mina's mother is basically a stereotypical JewishMother in a setting where Jews don't exist, constantly guilt-tripping her daughter with the usual "You never visit! You're leaving me again! You don't love me!", as well as suggesting Mina get together with that [[NiceJewishBoy Nice Isi Boy]] who keeps asking about her. Since she is in a wheelchair this could also cross over into DisabilityAsAnExcuseForJerkassery.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler:Even though Royal had crossed the DespairEventHorizon and [[DeathSeeker asked to be left behind to die]] on the decompressing Midway moonbase, Robin obviously still feels enormously guilty for doing so. As soon as she lands back in Blockrock the first thing she does is sit in the TroubledFetalPosition and cry, and during the BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind portion of the Starworm boss, one of the shadows represents Robin's guilt for leaving behind Royal]].
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler:Even though Royal had crossed the DespairEventHorizon and [[DeathSeeker asked to be left behind to die]] on the decompressing Midway moonbase, Robin obviously still feels enormously guilty for doing so. As soon as she lands back in Blockrock the first thing she does is sit in the TroubledFetalPosition and cry, and during the BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind portion of the Starworm boss, one of the shadows represents Robin's guilt for leaving behind Royal]].
to:
* MyBelovedSmother: Mina's mother is basically a stereotypical JewishMother in a setting where Jews don't exist, constantly guilt-tripping her daughter with the usual "You never visit! You're leaving me again! You don't love me!", as well as suggesting Mina get together with that [[NiceJewishBoy Nice Isi Boy]] who keeps asking about her. Since she is in a wheelchair wheelchair, this could also cross over into DisabilityAsAnExcuseForJerkassery.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler:Even though Royal had crossed the DespairEventHorizon and [[DeathSeeker asked to be left behind to die]] on the decompressing Midway moonbase, Robin obviously still feels enormously guilty for doing so. As soon as she lands back inBlockrock Blockrock, the first thing she does is sit in the TroubledFetalPosition and cry, and during the BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind portion of the Starworm boss, one of the shadows represents Robin's guilt for leaving behind Royal]].
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler:Even though Royal had crossed the DespairEventHorizon and [[DeathSeeker asked to be left behind to die]] on the decompressing Midway moonbase, Robin obviously still feels enormously guilty for doing so. As soon as she lands back in
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* NiceJobBreakingItHero: It seems that Royal is particularly good at this. First, [[spoiler:he accidentally activates and is forced to destroy the Omega Controller, which throws the planet's ecosystem out of balance and summons the Starworm. He heads to City One to confront Mother, which basically allows Chrome to start his rebellion, which sparks a vicious civil war. He also attacks the Starworm when it ignores him, only causing it be angered and attack the planet. Though that last one may have been for the best, as the attack left a vulnerable spot on the Starworm, and it's likely a fight would have occurred regardless of Royal's assault]].
to:
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: It seems that Royal is particularly good at this. First, [[spoiler:he accidentally activates and is forced to destroy the Omega Controller, which throws the planet's ecosystem out of balance and summons the Starworm. He heads to City One to confront Mother, which basically allows Chrome to start his rebellion, which sparks a vicious civil war. He also attacks the Starworm when it ignores him, only causing it to be angered and attack the planet. Though that last one may have been for the best, as the attack left a vulnerable spot on the Starworm, and it's likely a fight would have occurred regardless of Royal's assault]].
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* NoNonsenseNemesis: Agent Black is very much a student of the WhyDontYouJustShootHim school of thought. [[spoiler:Indeed, she almost shoots Robin point blank in The Tower, and is only stopped by the Silver Watchman tackling Robin through the wall and out of room they were in due to wanting to kill her himself.]]
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* NoNonsenseNemesis: Agent Black is very much a student of the WhyDontYouJustShootHim school of thought. [[spoiler:Indeed, she almost shoots Robin point blank in The Tower, and is only stopped by the Silver Watchman tackling Robin through the wall and out of the room they were in due to wanting to kill her himself.]]
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* QuirkyMinibossSquad: The Reborns-- Lawrence, Nobel, and Mendeleev-- fought at One Concern East.
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* QuirkyMinibossSquad: The Reborns-- Reborns — Lawrence, Nobel, and Mendeleev-- Mendeleev — fought at One Concern East.
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** Once reduced to just a head, all the Carver machine in Ferrier Shockwood can do is spin its blades to produce debris. Elro will jam his sword into the blades to lock them up, at which point Robin has to charge up and grab a rail to ram into the head and knock It back; this repeats for a while, with Robin occasionally dislodging Elro’s sword from the ceiling, until the Carver nearly falls off a cliff (the "abyss" was only a few feet deep, but the Controller that Mina was chasing pops out and wrecks it).
to:
** Once reduced to just a head, all the Carver machine in Ferrier Shockwood can do is spin its blades to produce debris. Elro will jam his sword into the blades to lock them up, at which point Robin has to charge up and grab a rail to ram into the head and knock It it back; this repeats for a while, with Robin occasionally dislodging Elro’s sword from the ceiling, until the Carver nearly falls off a cliff (the "abyss" was only a few feet deep, but the Controller that Mina was chasing pops out and wrecks it).
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* RelationshipValues: Say the right things to a few characters and the BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind right before the FinalBoss has one or more phases become easier [[spoiler:by stunning them once you activate a switch)]], and Mina might join you for the FinalBoss itself.
to:
* RelationshipValues: Say the right things to a few characters and the BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind right before the FinalBoss has one or more phases become easier [[spoiler:by stunning them once you activate a switch)]], switch]], and Mina might join you for the FinalBoss itself.
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* ShaggyDogStory: The plight of the [[spoiler:acolytes Mother was grooming in isolation to be the chosen ones to escape to Midway. Mina leaves the entrance to the Tower open, allowing the acolytes to wander into the outside world for the first time. Unfortunately, the result is that many of the die from the elements or are murdered by Mother's Corners, with the few surviving ones devolving into ''Literature/LordOfTheFlies'' level dysfunction]].
to:
* ShaggyDogStory: The plight of the [[spoiler:acolytes Mother was grooming in isolation to be the chosen ones to escape to Midway. Mina leaves the entrance to the Tower open, allowing the acolytes to wander into the outside world for the first time. Unfortunately, the result is that many of the them die from the elements or are murdered by Mother's Corners, with the few surviving ones devolving into ''Literature/LordOfTheFlies'' level dysfunction]].
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* SmallGirlBigGun: Robin wields a massive wrench, although her actual ''gun'' is appropriately sized, as is Mina's shotgun. [[spoiler:Agent Black, however, shows up for her rematch wielding a rocket launcher with a length that's nearly double her height]].
to:
* SmallGirlBigGun: Robin wields a massive wrench, although her actual ''gun'' is appropriately sized, as is Mina's shotgun. [[spoiler:Agent Black, however, shows up for her rematch wielding a rocket launcher with a length that's nearly double her height]].height.]]
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* TechnicalPacifist: All of Robin's attacks only kill [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman the local wildlife]], and destroy [[MechaMooks robotic enemies and machines]]. Human enemies are merely knocked out, with visible [[CirclingBirdies circling stars]] above their heads. [[spoiler:Throughout the entire story, she only ever directly kills one person out of necessity: Agent Black]]. In contrast, Mina's shotgun and Elro's sword actually do kill human enemies.
to:
* TechnicalPacifist: All of Robin's attacks only kill [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman the local wildlife]], and destroy [[MechaMooks robotic enemies and machines]]. Human enemies are merely knocked out, with visible [[CirclingBirdies circling stars]] above their heads. [[spoiler:Throughout the entire story, she only ever directly kills one person out of necessity: Agent Black]]. Black.]] In contrast, Mina's shotgun and Elro's sword actually do kill human enemies.
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* UngratefulBastard: You'd think [[spoiler:the Silver Watchman]] would be a little more grateful that you [[spoiler:freed him from his blue eye possession]]. He still tries to kill you again the next time you see him, but quickly subverted when he planted his sword to the ground, a common visual shorthand of a warrior's salute. [[spoiler:Pity Royal came crashing on him, and drowned him]].
to:
* UngratefulBastard: You'd think [[spoiler:the Silver Watchman]] would be a little more grateful that you [[spoiler:freed him from his blue eye possession]]. He still tries to kill you again the next time you see him, but quickly subverted when he planted his sword to the ground, a common visual shorthand of a warrior's salute. [[spoiler:Pity Royal came crashing on him, and drowned him]].him.]]
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* LampshadeHanging: In Isilugar, after Robin defeats the One Concern soldiers, a few of them can be seen in a prison cell, still holding their guns. If you talk with the Isi guard, he says not to worry as they took all their ammo out. This was so Konjak didn't have to make new sprites just for this scene.
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* AnAesop: Take time to grieve over the deaths of your loved ones and those around you. If you don't, you may act irrationally and lash out in ways you'll later regret. [[spoiler: This bites both Elro and Agent Black ''hard.'' Elro makes a huge mistake that essentially kickstarts the conflict of the game because he didn't think rationally when Agent Grey was simply asking him to calm down and Agent Black slowly goes off the deep end demonizing Elro and Robin for what Elro did instead of taking Chrome's advice and taking time to come to terms with the death of Grey.]]
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* AnAesop: Take time to grieve over the deaths of your loved ones and those around close to you. If you don't, you may act irrationally and lash out in ways you'll later regret. [[spoiler: This bites both Elro and Agent Black ''hard.'' Elro makes a huge mistake that essentially kickstarts the conflict of the game because he didn't think rationally when Agent Grey was simply asking him to calm down and Agent Black slowly goes off the deep end demonizing Elro and Robin for what Elro did instead of taking Chrome's advice and taking time to come to terms with the death of Grey.]]
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* AnAesop: Take time to grieve over the deaths of your loved ones and those around you. If you don't, you may act irrationally and lash out in ways you'll later regret. [[spoiler: This bites both Elro and Agent Black ''hard.'' Elro makes a huge mistake that essentially kickstarts the conflict of the game because he didn't think rationally when Agent Grey was simply asking him to calm down and Agent Black slowly goes off the deep end demonizing Elro and Robin for what Elro did instead of taking Chrome's advice and taking time to come to terms with the death of Grey.]]
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** The fight with [[spoiler:Ash]] is a stealth-based boss. [[spoiler:Ash]] is invisible, and if he sees Robin or Mina out of hiding, he’ll rush to them (regardless of who the player is controlling) and slam them into the ground for unavoidable damage. To hurt [[spoiler:Ash]], the duo has to stay in hiding spots (there are bushes and puddles to hind it, but Mina can only hide in puddles) until he starts wandering around; his location is signaled by sound waves and rustling grass, and he’s vulnerable to attack at this time.
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** The fight with [[spoiler:Ash]] is a stealth-based boss. [[spoiler:Ash]] is invisible, and if he sees Robin or Mina out of hiding, he’ll rush to them (regardless of who the player is controlling) and slam them into the ground for unavoidable damage. To hurt [[spoiler:Ash]], the duo has to stay in hiding spots (there are bushes and puddles to hind it, hide in, but Mina can only hide in puddles) until he starts wandering around; his location is signaled by sound waves and rustling grass, and he’s vulnerable to attack at this time.
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* AncientAstronauts: It's heavily implied that [[spoiler:all of the humans are descendants of colonists who migrated from Earth to an alien planet. The Isi found and recovered an ancient colony ship which they revere as a sacred artifact, and their city has paintings of known human landmarks such as the Taj Mahal. The Concern similarly have a colony ship in their possession which they use for research purposes.]]
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* AncientAstronauts: It's heavily implied that [[spoiler:all of the humans are descendants of colonists who migrated from Earth to an alien planet. The Isi found and recovered an ancient colony ship which they revere as a sacred artifact, and their city has paintings of known human landmarks such as the Taj Mahal. The Concern similarly have a colony ship in their possession which they use for research purposes.]] It's also implied that the planet that the game takes place on was originally a fuel depot for birdlike starship pilots, and at least one of them has visited the planet before]].
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** The Isi’s seeds have extremely volatile reactions when exposed to Ivory, making them grow instantaneously; this makes them an excellent tool for wrecking Concern technology, which is reliant on Ivory. Royal also notes that even though his powers allow him to control plants enough to sprout them in the middle of the desert at will, he is completely unable to affect the plants grown from these seeds. [[spoiler:They also work disturbingly well on humans who have been injected with ivory, being used to take out Agent White and Mother (Agent Black [[{{Determinator}} resists their effects]] until the blue eyes mutate her). When Robin jams a seed into the Starworm, the resulting explosion causes a wave of nature to overtake the whole planet.]]
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** The Isi’s seeds have extremely volatile reactions when exposed to Ivory, making them grow instantaneously; this makes them an excellent tool for wrecking Concern technology, which is reliant on Ivory. Royal also notes that even though his powers allow him to control plants enough to sprout them in the middle of the desert at will, he is completely unable to affect the plants grown from these seeds. [[spoiler:They also work disturbingly well on humans who have been injected with ivory, Ivory, being used to take out Agent White and Mother (Agent Black [[{{Determinator}} resists their effects]] until the blue eyes mutate her). When Robin jams a seed into the Starworm, the resulting explosion causes a wave of nature to overtake the whole planet.]]
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* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Robin successfully dismantles the One Concern and saves the world from the evil birdman and his EldritchAbomination, the defeat of the Starworm causes nature to repopulate the planet, and it's implied [=ChemiCo=] Contra are making headway into alternative energy research without the One Concern to hold them back, but Royal is dead, Agent Black has become consumed by her grief and rage over the loss of her comrades and can barely be considered human anymore (and that's assuming she survived the combination of Isi Seed overgrowth, blue eye corruption, and being on the outside of a rocket exiting the atmosphere), and Elro has lost an arm, and has been greatly embittered by everything he and Robin have gone through. That said, it's implied that his finally acknowledging Robin's ability to care for herself has granted him some measure of peace.]]
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* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Robin successfully dismantles the One Concern and saves the world Concern, stops armageddon from occuring by destroying the evil birdman Starworm and his EldritchAbomination, its pilot to prevent him from siphoning off the remaining Ivory keeping the planet together, the defeat of the Starworm causes nature to repopulate repair the planet, and it's implied [=ChemiCo=] Contra are making headway into alternative energy research without the One Concern to hold them back, but back. However, Royal is dead, Agent Black has become consumed by her grief and rage over the loss of her comrades and can barely be considered human anymore (and that's assuming she survived the combination of Isi Seed overgrowth, blue eye corruption, and being on the outside of a rocket exiting the atmosphere), and Elro has not only lost an arm, and arm but has been greatly embittered by everything he and Robin have gone through. That said, it's implied that his finally acknowledging Robin's ability to care for herself has granted him some measure of peace.]]peace]].
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** The entire process of [[spoiler:Transcending, which involves injecting Ivory directly into a person's body. A few people will succeed and survive the process with superpowers, though some will lose body parts in the process. And the many that fail basically melt into puddles of white goo. Even if it does work out, Transcended people who live long enough will find themselves consumed by the Ivory; Fitzroy turned into a mindless being made of dripping Ivory, while Leticia kept her sanity but is no longer recognizably human]].
** [[spoiler:Agent Black takes the cake when the blue eyes try to possess her while Isi Seeds sprout from her body. The end result is a giant monstrosity with ivory trees sprouting all over its body and clusters of eyes hidden inside said trees.]]
** [[spoiler:Agent Black takes the cake when the blue eyes try to possess her while Isi Seeds sprout from her body. The end result is a giant monstrosity with ivory trees sprouting all over its body and clusters of eyes hidden inside said trees.]]
to:
** The entire process of [[spoiler:Transcending, which involves injecting Ivory directly into a person's body. A few people will succeed and survive the process with superpowers, though some will lose body parts in the process. And the many that fail basically melt into puddles of white goo. Even if it does work out, those who Transcend are plagued by sharp chronic pains, and Transcended people who live long enough will find themselves consumed by the Ivory; Fitzroy turned into a mindless being made of dripping Ivory, while Leticia kept her sanity but is no longer recognizably human]].
** [[spoiler:Agent Black takes the cake when the blue eyes try to possess her while Isi Seeds sprout from her body. The end result is a giant monstrosity withivory Ivory trees sprouting all over its body and clusters of eyes hidden inside said trees.]]
** [[spoiler:Agent Black takes the cake when the blue eyes try to possess her while Isi Seeds sprout from her body. The end result is a giant monstrosity with
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* BoringButPractical: The Iron Heart tweak - all it does is absorbing a single hit before breaking, but the fact that it's possible to stack three of them at a time and landing shots on an enemy helps regenerate a broken tweak means that they're incredibly useful to have equipped for most boss battles.
* BossArenaRecovery: Many bosses will summon some type of minion or use a destroyable projectile attack that has a chance to drop health. The [[spoiler:first]] fight against Agent Black is a particularly egregious example: Three times during the fight she uses an unavoidable attack that always brings you down to [[HPToOne one hit away from death]], and then immediately summons a bunch of weak Controllers while she just slowly walks around doing the "[[VideoGame/DarkSoulsI Well! What is it?]]" gesture and not attacking, giving you plenty of time to kill the Controllers and get all of your health back.
* BossArenaRecovery: Many bosses will summon some type of minion or use a destroyable projectile attack that has a chance to drop health. The [[spoiler:first]] fight against Agent Black is a particularly egregious example: Three times during the fight she uses an unavoidable attack that always brings you down to [[HPToOne one hit away from death]], and then immediately summons a bunch of weak Controllers while she just slowly walks around doing the "[[VideoGame/DarkSoulsI Well! What is it?]]" gesture and not attacking, giving you plenty of time to kill the Controllers and get all of your health back.
to:
* BoringButPractical: The Iron Heart tweak - all it does is absorbing a single hit before breaking, but the fact that it's possible to stack three of them at a time and landing shots on an enemy helps regenerate a broken tweak means that they're incredibly useful to have equipped for most boss battles.
battles. [[spoiler:Plus, it's the only way to avoid being a OneHitPointWonder in Challenge Mode]].
* BossArenaRecovery: Many bosses will summon some type of minion or use a destroyable projectile attack that has a chance to drop health. The [[spoiler:first]] fight against Agent Black is a particularly egregious example: Three times during the fight she uses an unavoidable attack that always brings you down to [[HPToOne one hit away from death]], and then immediately summons a bunch of weak Controllers that are guaranteed to drop health pickups while she just slowly walks around doing the "[[VideoGame/DarkSoulsI Well! What is it?]]" gesture and not attacking, giving you plenty of time to kill the Controllers and getall of your health back.meter up to 75% full.
* BossArenaRecovery: Many bosses will summon some type of minion or use a destroyable projectile attack that has a chance to drop health. The [[spoiler:first]] fight against Agent Black is a particularly egregious example: Three times during the fight she uses an unavoidable attack that always brings you down to [[HPToOne one hit away from death]], and then immediately summons a bunch of weak Controllers that are guaranteed to drop health pickups while she just slowly walks around doing the "[[VideoGame/DarkSoulsI Well! What is it?]]" gesture and not attacking, giving you plenty of time to kill the Controllers and get
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** [[spoiler:Agent White: killed by an Ivory Tree Isi seed growing out of his back.]]
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** [[spoiler:Agent White: killed by an Ivory Tree Isi seed growing into an Ivory tree that tears itself out of his back.]]
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** [[spoiler:Agent Grey and General Chrome: exploded into a purple dust thanks to a syringe made by Elro.]]
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** [[spoiler:Agent Grey and General Chrome: exploded Chrome get boiled alive and explode into a purple Detritus dust thanks to Elro's anti-Ivory serum.]]
** [[spoiler:Agent Black bites it by being transformed into asyringe monster made up of Ivory trees and the "blue eye" substance seen around the rocket platform, and then soon suffering from an acute case of [[YourHeadASplode spontaneous cranial combustion]]]].
** [[spoiler:Finally, the pilot of the Starworm gets his head crushed byElro.]]his malfunctioning ship]].
** [[spoiler:Agent Black bites it by being transformed into a
** [[spoiler:Finally, the pilot of the Starworm gets his head crushed by
* DarkReprise: [[spoiler:The final boss's theme, "Castle Doctrine", is a remixed version of an earlier boss theme, "Machines"]].
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* DragonTheirFeet: [[spoiler:Agent Black and General Chrome manage to outlive Mother. Chrome doesn't get far before he's taken care of, but Black lives long enough to fight Robin one last time, long after she has a reason to keep fighting her beyond revenge.]]
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* DragonTheirFeet: [[spoiler:Agent Black and General Chrome manage to outlive Mother. Chrome doesn't get far before he's taken care of, but Black lives long enough to fight Robin one last time, long after she has a reason to keep fighting her beyond revenge.]]revenge]].
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* EldritchAbomination: [[spoiler:The final boss, Him, a giant, pale worm-like ''thing'' that destroyed the moon and that Mother secretly intends to unleash upon the world. This is actually subverted when it's revealed the Starworm/Him is really a spaceship piloted by an alien bird-man who just wants his gas tank filled up with Ivory.]]
to:
* EldritchAbomination: [[spoiler:The final boss, Him, the Starworm (also known as "Him"), a giant, pale worm-like ''thing'' that destroyed the moon and that Mother secretly intends to unleash upon the world. higher-ups of One Concern are attempting to escape via rocket from. This is actually subverted when it's revealed the Starworm/Him Starworm is really a spaceship piloted by an alien bird-man who just wants his gas tank filled up with Ivory.Ivory and doesn't even know what humans are.]]
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** [[spoiler:Mother herself, who presents a facade of being a matronly goddess, but really is a glorified One Concern super soldier with a god complex and a hell of a temper.]]
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** [[spoiler:Mother herself, who presents a facade of being a matronly goddess, but really is a glorified One Concern super soldier with a god complex and a hell of a temper.]]temper]].
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** [[spoiler:Interestingly, it's not the enormous worm from the stars that crashes down onto your planet - the worm's pretty well established into the lore of the game, and bears a resemblance to some previously fought bosses. It's the giant, muscular alien bird piloting the worm, who was never hinted at before the fight, and is never properly explained afterward as the game ends. Context allows you to piece together that the bird was using the worm to pose as a deity and exploit the planet for fuel, but he's still an alien bird of an otherwise unknown species, with no dialogue and no connection to any other characters, and he's the final boss.]]
** Similarly, the [[spoiler:blue eye corruption seems to appear out of nowhere after Robin escapes the Tower and it's never explained what exactly it is or what its relation to Ivory is. Computers in the underground area hint it's some sort of biotech, and The Starworm has a cluster of the eyes roughly where another creature would have actual eyes, as well as the ability to manipulate and create more. However, other than that, the game doesn't reveal anything.]]
** Similarly, the [[spoiler:blue eye corruption seems to appear out of nowhere after Robin escapes the Tower and it's never explained what exactly it is or what its relation to Ivory is. Computers in the underground area hint it's some sort of biotech, and The Starworm has a cluster of the eyes roughly where another creature would have actual eyes, as well as the ability to manipulate and create more. However, other than that, the game doesn't reveal anything.]]
to:
** [[spoiler:Interestingly, it's not the enormous worm from the stars that crashes down onto your planet - the worm's pretty well established into the lore of the game, and bears a resemblance to some previously fought bosses. It's the giant, muscular alien bird piloting the worm, who was never hinted at before the fight, and is never properly explained afterward as the game ends. Context allows you to piece together that the bird was using the worm to pose as a deity and exploit the planet used to be a fuel depot for fuel, starship pilots like him that was colonized by humans, but he's still an alien bird of an otherwise unknown species, with no dialogue and no connection to any other characters, and he's the final boss.]]
** Similarly, the [[spoiler:blue eye corruption seems to appear out of nowhere after Robin escapes the Tower and it's never explained what exactly it is or what its relation to Ivory is. Computers in the underground area hint it's some sort of biotech, it can be seen when using the fast travel system at the core of the planet, andThe the Starworm has a cluster of the eyes roughly where another creature would have actual eyes, as well as the ability to manipulate and create more. However, other than that, the game doesn't reveal anything.]]
** Similarly, the [[spoiler:blue eye corruption seems to appear out of nowhere after Robin escapes the Tower and it's never explained what exactly it is or what its relation to Ivory is. Computers in the underground area hint it's some sort of biotech, it can be seen when using the fast travel system at the core of the planet, and
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* HonorBeforeReason: [[spoiler:Agent Black admits that keeping Royal and Robin from using the rocket to attempt to reason with Him is a poor decision, but her orders to protect the rocket are the only point of stability she has to cling to at that point.]]
to:
* HonorBeforeReason: [[spoiler:Agent Black admits that keeping Royal and Robin from using the rocket to attempt to reason with Him is a poor decision, but her orders to protect the rocket are the only point of stability she has to cling to at that point.]]point]].
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* InjuredPlayerCharacterStage: The short segment where you play as [[spoiler:Elro is after spoiler:Black rips his arm off]] so he is slowly limping around and barely leaves the ground when jumping. Despite this he manages to have an awesome boss fight at the end of the section.
to:
* InjuredPlayerCharacterStage: The short segment where you play as [[spoiler:Elro is after spoiler:Black Black rips his arm off]] so he is slowly limping around and barely leaves the ground when jumping. Despite this this, he manages to have an awesome boss fight at the end of the section.
* KillTheGod: [[spoiler:Robin sets out to destroy the Starworm after Royal's death, as it's her last option]].
* MirrorBoss: [[spoiler:The FinalBoss is a humanoid avian starship pilot/mechanic who fights using a wrench and several different types of GroundPound]].
* MoodWhiplash:
** From amusing to serious: [[spoiler:Agent Black's pre-boss cutscene starts with a mildly humorous moment where Mina tells Robin not to point her butt at her... seconds before Agent Black brutalizes and ([[HealingFactor temporarily]]) kills Royal]].
** From serious to amusing: [[spoiler:The final boss battle has Robin undergo and break out of MindRape fighting against the Starworm, only for a giant muscular bird-person to jump out of it and squawk angrily at her, almost as if he's throwing a tantrum at his Starworm getting wrecked and the depot running low on Ivory]].
* MoodWhiplash:
** From amusing to serious: [[spoiler:Agent Black's pre-boss cutscene starts with a mildly humorous moment where Mina tells Robin not to point her butt at her... seconds before Agent Black brutalizes and ([[HealingFactor temporarily]]) kills Royal]].
** From serious to amusing: [[spoiler:The final boss battle has Robin undergo and break out of MindRape fighting against the Starworm, only for a giant muscular bird-person to jump out of it and squawk angrily at her, almost as if he's throwing a tantrum at his Starworm getting wrecked and the depot running low on Ivory]].
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* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler:Even though Royal had crossed the DespairEventHorizon and [[DeathSeeker asked to be left behind to die]] on the decompressing Midway moonbase, Robin obviously still feels enormously guilty for doing so. As soon as she lands back in Blockrock the first thing she does is sit in the TroubledFetalPosition and cry.]]
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* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler:Even though Royal had crossed the DespairEventHorizon and [[DeathSeeker asked to be left behind to die]] on the decompressing Midway moonbase, Robin obviously still feels enormously guilty for doing so. As soon as she lands back in Blockrock the first thing she does is sit in the TroubledFetalPosition and cry.]]cry, and during the BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind portion of the Starworm boss, one of the shadows represents Robin's guilt for leaving behind Royal]].
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* NiceJobBreakingItHero: It seems that Royal is particularly good at this. First, [[spoiler:he accidentally activates and is forced to destroy a Mega Controller, which throws the planet's ecosystem out of balance. He heads to City One to confront Mother, which basically allows Chrome to start his rebellion, which sparks a vicious civil war. He also attacks the Starworm when it ignores him, only causing it be angered and attack the planet. Though that last one may have been for the best, as the attack left a vulnerable spot on the Starworm, and it's likely a fight would have occurred regardless of Royal's assault]].
to:
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: It seems that Royal is particularly good at this. First, [[spoiler:he accidentally activates and is forced to destroy a Mega the Omega Controller, which throws the planet's ecosystem out of balance.balance and summons the Starworm. He heads to City One to confront Mother, which basically allows Chrome to start his rebellion, which sparks a vicious civil war. He also attacks the Starworm when it ignores him, only causing it be angered and attack the planet. Though that last one may have been for the best, as the attack left a vulnerable spot on the Starworm, and it's likely a fight would have occurred regardless of Royal's assault]].
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** Once reduced to just a head, all the Carver machine in Ferrier Shockwood can do is spin its blades to produce debris. Elro will jam his sword into the blades to lock them up, at which point Robin has to charge up and grab a rail to ram into the head and knock It back; this repeats for a while, with Robin occasionally dislodging Elro’s sword from the ceiling, until the Carver nearly falls off a cliff (it stays balanced, but the Controller that Mina was chasing pops out and wrecks it).
** Mendeleev works somewhat like this. If she's shot while she's outside of her fiery mode or when she's dropping fireballs, she gets knocked back and temporarily stunned. If she falls into an active electric current in this state, she gets zapped and loses a lot more health than she does from individual shotgun blasts.
** Mendeleev works somewhat like this. If she's shot while she's outside of her fiery mode or when she's dropping fireballs, she gets knocked back and temporarily stunned. If she falls into an active electric current in this state, she gets zapped and loses a lot more health than she does from individual shotgun blasts.
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** Once reduced to just a head, all the Carver machine in Ferrier Shockwood can do is spin its blades to produce debris. Elro will jam his sword into the blades to lock them up, at which point Robin has to charge up and grab a rail to ram into the head and knock It back; this repeats for a while, with Robin occasionally dislodging Elro’s sword from the ceiling, until the Carver nearly falls off a cliff (it stays balanced, (the "abyss" was only a few feet deep, but the Controller that Mina was chasing pops out and wrecks it).
** Mendeleev works somewhat like this. If she's shot while she's in the air outside of her fiery mode or when she's dropping fireballs, she gets knocked back and temporarily stunned. If she falls into an active electric current in this state, she gets zapped and loses a lot more health than she does from individual shotgun blasts.
** Mendeleev works somewhat like this. If she's shot while she's in the air outside of her fiery mode or when she's dropping fireballs, she gets knocked back and temporarily stunned. If she falls into an active electric current in this state, she gets zapped and loses a lot more health than she does from individual shotgun blasts.
* SigilSpam: Everything belonging to One Concern has their hollow triangle symbol plastered all over it.
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* SmallGirlBigGun: Robin wields a massive wrench, although her actual ''gun'' is appropriately sized, as is Mina's shotgun. Agent Black, however, shows up for her rematch wielding a large rocket launcher.
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* SmallGirlBigGun: Robin wields a massive wrench, although her actual ''gun'' is appropriately sized, as is Mina's shotgun. Agent [[spoiler:Agent Black, however, shows up for her rematch wielding a large rocket launcher.launcher with a length that's nearly double her height]].
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* UngratefulBastard: You'd think [[spoiler:the Silver Watchman]] would be a little more grateful that you [[spoiler:freed him from his blue eye possession]]. He still tries to kill you again the next time you see him, but quickly subverted when he planted his sword to the ground, a common visual shorthand of a warrior's salute. [[spoiler:Pity Royal came crashing on him, and drowned him.]]
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* UngratefulBastard: You'd think [[spoiler:the Silver Watchman]] would be a little more grateful that you [[spoiler:freed him from his blue eye possession]]. He still tries to kill you again the next time you see him, but quickly subverted when he planted his sword to the ground, a common visual shorthand of a warrior's salute. [[spoiler:Pity Royal came crashing on him, and drowned him.]]him]].
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* TheWoobie: Elro. His wife and daughter die within the game's first minutes. Over the course of the game, in trying to protect Robin, his only remaining family, he gets dragged all over the world, imprisoned, beaten, and even [[spoiler: loses his arm and gets shot in the back]] for doing what he thinks is right. Throughout the game, he constantly moans about how he ''just wants to go home.''
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* TheWoobie: Elro. His wife and daughter die within the game's first minutes. Over the course of the game, in trying to protect Robin, his only remaining family, he gets dragged all over the world, imprisoned, beaten, and even [[spoiler: loses [[spoiler:loses his arm and gets shot in the back]] for doing what he thinks is right. Throughout the game, he constantly moans about how he ''just wants to go home.''
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* HellIsThatNoise: The screams of the mutated [[spoiler: Agent Black]] in her final fight are downright ''bone-chilling''.
** The glitchy, distorted sounds after Robin get shot with what amounts to a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind gun are incredibly creepy, leading into a similarly warped soundtrack for said battle.
** The glitchy, distorted sounds after Robin get shot with what amounts to a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind gun are incredibly creepy, leading into a similarly warped soundtrack for said battle.
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** The Isi’s seeds have extremely volatile reactions when exposed to Ivory, making them grow instantaneously; this makes them an excellent tool for wrecking Concern technology, which is reliant on Ivory. [[spoiler:They also work disturbingly well on humans who have been injected with ivory, being used to take out Agent White and Mother (Agent Black [[{{Determinator}} resists their effects]] until the blue eyes mutate her). When Robin jams a seed into the Starworm, the resulting explosion causes a wave of nature to overtake the whole planet.]]
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** The Isi’s seeds have extremely volatile reactions when exposed to Ivory, making them grow instantaneously; this makes them an excellent tool for wrecking Concern technology, which is reliant on Ivory. Royal also notes that even though his powers allow him to control plants enough to sprout them in the middle of the desert at will, he is completely unable to affect the plants grown from these seeds. [[spoiler:They also work disturbingly well on humans who have been injected with ivory, being used to take out Agent White and Mother (Agent Black [[{{Determinator}} resists their effects]] until the blue eyes mutate her). When Robin jams a seed into the Starworm, the resulting explosion causes a wave of nature to overtake the whole planet.]]
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* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Royal is hated by practically everybody due to him basically being a superpowered spoiled brat. Pretty much the only person that shows him any kindness or respect is Robin, and even then it can be up to the player's dialogue choices.
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* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Royal is hated by practically everybody due to him basically being a superpowered spoiled brat. Pretty much the only person that shows him any kindness or respect is Robin, and even then it can be up to the player's dialogue choices. [[spoiler: That said, being rude will come to bite Robin in the ass come the first phase of the final boss.]]
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* LostTechnology: [[spoiler:At Darland Ascent it's revealed that the Controllers the One Concern use to enforce their will are this. Sadly for the rest of the world, the pit they pull them from has enough in good enough shape that they're likely to not run out anytime soon.]]
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* TheWoobie: Elro. His wife and daughter die within the game's first minutes. Over the course of the game, in trying to protect Robin, his only remaining family, he gets dragged all over the world, imprisoned, beaten, and even [[spoiler: loses his arm and gets shot in the back]] for doing what he thinks is right. Throughout the game, he constantly moans about how he ''just wants to go home.''
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* AllForNothing: [[spoiler: All the pain and sacrifice to get Royal to the moon to commune with the Starworm ends up not mattering -- Royal can't even get the thing to respond to him. In a larger sense, all the panic and strife over the Starworm's return ends up not mattering either, since Robin still kicks its ass.]]
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* AppliedPhlebotinum: Ivory, which is used to power all technology and the Concern's stranglehold on it is the basis for their control of all society.
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* AppliedPhlebotinum: Ivory, which Ivory is used to power all technology and the Concern's stranglehold on it is the basis for their control of all society.society. It can function as a battery for a home, a component to be used in ItemCrafting, [[spoiler: a source of immortality and super powers for those with the necessary constitution,]] and ultimately [[spoiler: gasoline for some alien bird's space truck.]]
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* InjuredPlayerCharacterStage: The short segment where you play as [[spoiler:Elro is after spoiler:Black rips his arm off]] so he is slowly limping around and barely leaves the ground when jumping. Despite this he manages to have an awesome boss fight at the end of the section.
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* UngratefulBastard: You'd think [[spoiler:the Silver Watchman]] would be a little more grateful that you [[spoiler:freed him from his blue eye possession]], but no, he still tries to kill you again the next time you see him.
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* UngratefulBastard: You'd think [[spoiler:the Silver Watchman]] would be a little more grateful that you [[spoiler:freed him from his blue eye possession]], but no, he possession]]. He still tries to kill you again the next time you see him, but quickly subverted when he planted his sword to the ground, a common visual shorthand of a warrior's salute. [[spoiler:Pity Royal came crashing on him, and drowned him.]]
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* BossArenaRecovery: Many bosses will summon some type of minion or use a destroyable projectile attack that has a chance to drop health. The [[spoiler:first]] fight against Agent Black is a particularly egregious example: Three times during the fight she uses an unavoidable attack that always brings you down to [[HPToOne one hit away from death]], and then immediately summons a bunch of weak Controllers while she just slowly walks around doing the "[[VideoGame/DarkSoulsI Well! What is it?]]" gesture and not attacking, giving you plenty of time to kill the Controllers and get all of your health back.
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* ButtMonkey: The Silver Watchman really can't catch a break. He gets his ass kicked by you three times, then [[spoiler:accidentally saves your life while trying to kill you a fourth time]], then [[spoiler:gets possessed by the blue eyes (and gets his ass kicked by you again in his possessed state)]], and finally [[spoiler:is taken out by ''Royal'' of all people, who drops a boulder on top of him, trapping him underwater where his teleportation powers don't work, drowning him]].
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* ButtMonkey: The Silver Watchman really can't catch a break. He gets his ass kicked by you three times, then his fourth attempt to kill you [[spoiler:accidentally saves your life while trying to kill you a fourth time]], instead]], then he [[spoiler:gets possessed by the blue eyes (and gets his ass kicked by you again in his possessed state)]], and finally [[spoiler:is [[spoiler:he is taken out by ''Royal'' of all people, who drops a boulder on top of him, trapping him underwater where his teleportation powers don't work, drowning him]].
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* PurpleIsPowerful: Purple seems to be the signature colour of the One Concern, and they are TheTheocracy that rules the planet.
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* ArtificialLimbs: The Agents and General Chrome have these [[spoiler:to replace the limbs that they lost during Transcendence]]. Agent Grey appears to have artificial ''ears''.
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* ArtificialLimbs: The Agents and [[spoiler:Those who survive Transcendence often lose limbs in the process, requiring cybernetic replacements. Agent Black has cybernetic arms, General Chrome have these [[spoiler:to replace the limbs that they lost during Transcendence]]. has cybernetic legs, and Agent Grey appears to have artificial ''ears''.cybernetic ''ears''. Due to their Ivory blood, Transcended individuals are the only ones who can actually make use of these limbs in the first place]].
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** The horrors of chemistry are demonstrated when [[spoiler:Elro develops a serum that quickly converts Ivory into Detritus dust. Its real purpose is to be used on Transcended humans, who are practically filled with Ivory. The result? The affected person's skin turns purple as they start deforming and boiling alive, until they explode into a fine purple mist]].
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** The horrors of chemistry are demonstrated when [[spoiler:Elro develops a serum that quickly converts forcibly ejects all Ivory from matter, causing the object to turn into Detritus dust. Its real purpose is to be used on Transcended humans, who are practically filled with Ivory. The result? The affected person's skin turns purple as they start deforming and boiling alive, until they explode into a fine purple mist]].
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*** There are only slight hints that the Usurper Gun's swapping shot works on [[spoiler:City One's gatekeeper]] and [[spoiler:Mother]], and no hints that it can [[spoiler:remove the blue eyes protecting enemies in the Impact Zone]].
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** Those with the same powers as Agents but other jobs in the Concern are named after metals: The Silver Watchman and General Chrome.
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** Those with the same powers as Agents but other jobs Other Transcended individuals in the Concern are named after metals: The Silver Watchman and General Chrome.
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* BoringButPractical: The Iron Heart tweak - all it does is absorbing a single hit before breaking, but the fact that it's possible to stack three of them at a time and landing shots on an enemy helps regenerate a broken tweak means that they're incredibly useful to have equipped for most boss battles.
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''Iconoclasts'' is a {{Metroidvania}} platformer game developed by Joakim "Creator/{{konjak}}" Sandberg and published ny Nifrost Entertainment, formerly a {{retraux}} VideoGame/CaveStory-influenced project called ''Ivory Springs''. It was in development for seven years before finally releasing in January of 2018.
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''Iconoclasts'' is a {{Metroidvania}} platformer game PlatformGame developed by Joakim "Creator/{{konjak}}" Sandberg and published ny Nifrost by Bifrost Entertainment, formerly a {{retraux}} VideoGame/CaveStory-influenced project called ''Ivory Springs''. It was in development for seven years before finally releasing in January of 2018.
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''Iconoclasts'' is a {{Metroidvania}} platformer game by Joakim "Creator/{{konjak}}" Sandberg, formerly a {{retraux}} VideoGame/CaveStory-influenced project called ''Ivory Springs''. It was in development for seven years before finally releasing in January of 2018.
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[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/splash.png]]
''Iconoclasts'' is a {{Metroidvania}} platformer game developed by Joakim "Creator/{{konjak}}"Sandberg, Sandberg and published ny Nifrost Entertainment, formerly a {{retraux}} VideoGame/CaveStory-influenced project called ''Ivory Springs''. It was in development for seven years before finally releasing in January of 2018.
''Iconoclasts'' is a {{Metroidvania}} platformer game developed by Joakim "Creator/{{konjak}}"
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''Iconoclasts'' is a {{Metroidvania}} platformer game by Joakim "Creator/{{konjak}}" Sandberg, formerly a {{retraux}} VideoGame/CaveStory-influenced project called ''Ivory Springs''. It was in development for seven years before finally releasing in January of 2018.
Robin is a mechanic (complete with [[WrenchWench massive wrench]]) living in a world that's slowly withering away. Her society relies on Ivory, an energy source controlled by a powerful organization called One Concern, which is the center of a religion represented by a figure known as Mother. Robin is not permitted to do mechanical work due to their regulations, but she does it anyway. When she's found out and becomes a sinner in the eyes of the world, she embarks on an adventure with other outcasts in order to stop One Concern once and for all, and find out what's really happening to the planet.
The game's release trailer is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnUN19xGIzU here]]. Links to buy the game, as well as downloads for the 2012 alpha and the ''Ivory Springs'' alpha, can be found [[http://www.konjak.org on Konjak's website]].
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!!''Iconoclasts'' contains examples of the following tropes:
* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Royal is hated by practically everybody due to him basically being a superpowered spoiled brat. Pretty much the only person that shows him any kindness or respect is Robin, and even then it can be up to the player's dialogue choices.
* ActionGirl: Robin and Mina, as well as Black being a DarkActionGirl.
* AdvancingBossOfDoom:
** [[spoiler:The Omega Controller]], first as a RiseToTheChallenge scenario on an elevator platform and then as a horizontal chase where it takes the form of a buzzsaw. In both cases, Robin has to repel the boss with bombs.
** [[spoiler:Fitzroy]] slowly crawls towards Robin for his first two phases, which only makes it harder to keep dodging attacks from [[spoiler:his ivory-borne golem monster]].
* AGodAmI: Being the physical representative of the Starworm, Mother is prone to this. Royal also shows sign of this since [[spoiler:he's supposed to be Mother's successor]].
* AffablyEvil: Chrome may be a general in the the Concern, but he's a genuinely nice and devout man who prefers to avoid violence.
* AllThereInTheManual: The official names of two late-game bosses ([[spoiler:the cat Mother rides on is named Oedipuss after her pet cat, and Black's OneWingedAngel form is the Ivory Beast]]) can only be found on the game's soundtrack.
* AllTheWorldsAreAStage:
** [[spoiler:The Impact Zone]] consists of several rooms themed after previous locations, each containing enemies from previous areas [[spoiler:infested with the blue eyes]].
** [[spoiler:The Omega Controller]] constantly causes the terrain to cycle through the different area textures as you ascend the elevator shaft.
* AmbiguousGender: Agent Grey's gender is deliberately ambiguous, with Agent Black using "them" when referring to Grey.
* AncientAstronauts: It's heavily implied that [[spoiler:all of the humans are descendants of colonists who migrated from Earth to an alien planet. The Isi found and recovered an ancient colony ship which they revere as a sacred artifact, and their city has paintings of known human landmarks such as the Taj Mahal. The Concern similarly have a colony ship in their possession which they use for research purposes.]]
* AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent:
** One part of Ferrier Shockwood is played entirely as Mina after she gets separated from Robin and Elro, complete with her own boss fight against a Controller. [[spoiler:She gets another unique segment during One Concern East, which ends with the Mendeleev fight.]]
** [[spoiler:Elro gets a segment during One Concern East as well, though most of it is him limping through the hallway with only a few enemies present. He fights Lawrence at the end of it.]]
* AnimeHair:
** Rather than tie her hair into a ponytail, Robin turns her hair into a big "U" stuck to the back of her head, most likely to resemble the head of a wrench. [[https://78.media.tumblr.com/5a220db53df86594ecfc8e0f98c6bf43/tumblr_p0f4zxLRme1rihtq2o1_1280.png Just look at it!]]
** Agent Grey has what can only be described as a big, fluffy mohawk.
* AntiMagic:
** The Isi’s seeds have extremely volatile reactions when exposed to Ivory, making them grow instantaneously; this makes them an excellent tool for wrecking Concern technology, which is reliant on Ivory. [[spoiler:They also work disturbingly well on humans who have been injected with ivory, being used to take out Agent White and Mother (Agent Black [[{{Determinator}} resists their effects]] until the blue eyes mutate her). When Robin jams a seed into the Starworm, the resulting explosion causes a wave of nature to overtake the whole planet.]]
** Detritus is a pinkish-purple powder that is produced whenever an object is drained of its Ivory. It is very much anti-Ivory, negating the HealingFactor of [[spoiler:ivory-infused individuals]] and, in the case of Royal, completely shutting down his powers. [[spoiler:Black kills Royal in a pit of Detritus at the end of One Concern West (she planned to kill Chrome there, but he had other plans), though he revives himself shortly after his body leaves the room. Elro's work with the [=ChemiCo=] Contra led to him inventing a serum that instantly removes Ivory from matter and turns it into Detritus, which is one of the few things that can kill Transcended humans.]]
* AppliedPhlebotinum: Ivory, which is used to power all technology and the Concern's stranglehold on it is the basis for their control of all society.
* ArcWords: "This is bigger than you."
* ArtificialLimbs: The Agents and General Chrome have these [[spoiler:to replace the limbs that they lost during Transcendence]]. Agent Grey appears to have artificial ''ears''.
* AsTheGoodBookSays: Chrome is fond of quoting the One Concern scriptures, even in the middle of boss battles.
* BadGuyBar: The Community Center (more or less a pub, even though alcohol is in short supply) in Settlement 17 is used as a hangout place for the One Concern while they're keeping tabs on the town, much to Black's annoyance.
* BaitAndSwitch: Ash mentions that [[spoiler:his daughter volunteered for Transcendence in order to become like him]]. The player will most likely assume he is referring to [[spoiler:Black]], since [[spoiler:she's the only female Agent they have encountered at this point]], but the credits imply that he was actually referring to [[spoiler:Nobel]]. This was {{foreshadow|ing}}ed by [[spoiler:Nobel's superpower being invisibility, like Ash]].
* BareYourMidriff: A number of Isi men, as well as Samba and that one pink-haired girl sitting on a couch underneath the save point in Isilugar. Agent Black also gets in on it once TheCoatsAreOff.
* BattleInTheCentreOfTheMind: [[spoiler:The first phase of the Starworm has Robin face off against shadow creatures that can only be killed by activating switches. This is symbolic in many regards: the shadows represent her failures (specifically, in order: Elro, Mina, Royal, and Black), and turning the switches represents her desire to “fix” things.]]
* BerserkButton:
** Reminding Agent Black about Agent Grey is a quick way to anger her (more so than usual). [[spoiler:And because of his involvement in Grey's death, Elro's mere existence is enough to set her off.]]
** Royal does not take kindly to being ignored or otherwise treated as lesser than he believes himself to be. [[spoiler:This more or less gets him killed when he attacks Him in anger.]]
* BigBrotherInstinct: Elro takes this ''way'' too far, [[spoiler:nearly dooming the planet several times because of it]]. It's only once Robin [[spoiler:literally ''kills God'']] does he grudgingly admit that ''maybe'' she can actually take care of herself.
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Robin successfully dismantles the One Concern and saves the world from the evil birdman and his EldritchAbomination, the defeat of the Starworm causes nature to repopulate the planet, and it's implied [=ChemiCo=] Contra are making headway into alternative energy research without the One Concern to hold them back, but Royal is dead, Agent Black has become consumed by her grief and rage over the loss of her comrades and can barely be considered human anymore (and that's assuming she survived the combination of Isi Seed overgrowth, blue eye corruption, and being on the outside of a rocket exiting the atmosphere), and Elro has lost an arm, and has been greatly embittered by everything he and Robin have gone through. That said, it's implied that his finally acknowledging Robin's ability to care for herself has granted him some measure of peace.]]
* BlackoutBasement: The Dark Cave area of Darland Ascent is appropriately badly lit. Robin's wrench acts as a small flashlight when charged, and she can activate generators to turn on lampposts.
* BlessedWithSuck:
** [[spoiler:Along with the usual superpowers and immortality, Transcending caused Agent Black to suffer constant, unrelenting headaches which she describes as feeling like knives cutting her, meaning they are most likely [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluster_headache cluster headaches]], known for their extreme intensity. She has been like this for almost 200 years, so it's no wonder she's such a grouch all the time, and why her sanity could take such an abrupt nosedive as it did.]]
** [[spoiler:Agents in general are stuck with this, as the very act of Transcending has caused them to lose limbs or organs which require prosthetic replacement. Chronic pain also seems to be a common symptom as well, since Ash also mentions suffering heavy pains in his gut.]]
* BodyHorror:
** The entire process of [[spoiler:Transcending, which involves injecting Ivory directly into a person's body. A few people will succeed and survive the process with superpowers, though some will lose body parts in the process. And the many that fail basically melt into puddles of white goo. Even if it does work out, Transcended people who live long enough will find themselves consumed by the Ivory; Fitzroy turned into a mindless being made of dripping Ivory, while Leticia kept her sanity but is no longer recognizably human]].
** [[spoiler:Agent Black takes the cake when the blue eyes try to possess her while Isi Seeds sprout from her body. The end result is a giant monstrosity with ivory trees sprouting all over its body and clusters of eyes hidden inside said trees.]]
** The horrors of chemistry are demonstrated when [[spoiler:Elro develops a serum that quickly converts Ivory into Detritus dust. Its real purpose is to be used on Transcended humans, who are practically filled with Ivory. The result? The affected person's skin turns purple as they start deforming and boiling alive, until they explode into a fine purple mist]].
* BonusBoss: There are two, [[spoiler:Mother's Corners and Fitzroy]], both requiring some serious GuideDangIt to find.
* BraggingRightsReward: For the purposes of a single playthrough, the DoubleJump tweak granted after [[spoiler:defeating Mother's Corners]] is useless, since all that's left of the story by the time they're available to fight is [[spoiler:to confront the Starworm]]. It can still be carried over to a NewGamePlus, however. Same goes for [[spoiler:defeating Fitzroy]], since the tweak from his fight is a JokeItem designed for a SelfImposedChallenge.
* ButThouMust: [[spoiler:There's no getting around leaving Royal to die on a decompressing Midway, as one scanner is pulled too far away from the door to work while you're carrying him, and the other is just flat out broken, meaning trying to use the Usurper Shot to position him near it would be pointless even if it did work. The game even twists the knife by giving you way more time than you need to escape, as if to suggest that there is actually a way to save him when there isn't.]]
* ButtMonkey: The Silver Watchman really can't catch a break. He gets his ass kicked by you three times, then [[spoiler:accidentally saves your life while trying to kill you a fourth time]], then [[spoiler:gets possessed by the blue eyes (and gets his ass kicked by you again in his possessed state)]], and finally [[spoiler:is taken out by ''Royal'' of all people, who drops a boulder on top of him, trapping him underwater where his teleportation powers don't work, drowning him]].
* CanonImmigrant: Mina the thief was originally the focus of [[http://www.konjak.org/index.php?folder=9&file=26 another Konjak project]], though she was redesigned significantly for this game (her original design was recycled for an unique NPC in Isilugar).
* CaptainErsatz: Not in terms of what she does, but [[VideoGame/CryptOfTheNecrodancer Robin looks familiar...]]
* CardboardPrison: The trio of Robin, Mina, and Elro find themselves caught by the Concern and locked in The Tower’s jail cells at one point. Mina and Elro are locked up tight, but Robin’s cell includes a floor plate that she can stomp through to easily crawl out of her cell. Admittedly, not many people can GroundPound as well as Robin.
* CerebusSyndrome: The game starts out as a wacky adventure as Robin struggles against cartoonish, LargeHam villains, but as the game goes on, the villains get ''far'' less cartoonish as we see just how depraved and despotic the One Concern is. By the end, [[spoiler:a large number of people have died in a bloody civil war, and the final battle is against an outright EldritchAbomination that threatens to consume the entire world]].
* ChekhovsHobby: Elro's job is a chemist. He's apparently good enough to [[spoiler:create a serum that will forcibly remove all Ivory from any object, which makes it very effective at killing Ivory-infused people such as agents]].
* TheCobblersChildrenHaveNoShoes: [[spoiler:The only doctor in the game has an incurable disease]].
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Quite a few of them.
** [[spoiler:Agent White: killed by an Ivory Tree Isi seed growing out of his back.]]
** [[spoiler:Mother shares Agent White's fate, though her entire body explodes into the tree.]]
** [[spoiler:Agent Grey and General Chrome: exploded into a purple dust thanks to a syringe made by Elro.]]
* CycleOfRevenge: The whole thing starts when [[spoiler:Robin and Elro's father's death is presumably caused by the Concern, causing Elro to kill Agent Grey in revenge, causing Agent Black to pursue Robin and Elro in response, starting Robin's quest to rescue Elro and take down the One Concern for good]].
* DespairEventHorizon: Agent Black went careening past it long ago, according to herself. [[spoiler:She almost came back when Agent Grey started trying (successfully if her dialogue before her final fight is any indication) to woo her, but that ended when Elro killed Grey.]]
* {{Determinator}}: [[spoiler:Black in her final battle is absolutely determined to protect the rocket from you, to the point that she eventually breaks open the rocket's fuel tank and starts drinking the Ivory fuel just so her HealingFactor can keep up with the damage you are dealing. By the end of the fight she is weakly shambling around, with multiple Isi Seeds sprouting out of her back, barely able to form a complete sentence, and vomiting up the fuel she's been guzzling, but still ''refuses'' to stop fighting until she is swarmed with the blue eye parasites and dragged offscreen. [[OneWingedAngel And even then, she's still not done]].]]
* DragonTheirFeet: [[spoiler:Agent Black and General Chrome manage to outlive Mother. Chrome doesn't get far before he's taken care of, but Black lives long enough to fight Robin one last time, long after she has a reason to keep fighting her beyond revenge.]]
* DualBoss: [[spoiler:Mother's Corners]] are an example where both bosses share the same health bar, and either boss can choose to hop into the background temporarily while the other keeps attacking.
* EldritchAbomination: [[spoiler:The final boss, Him, a giant, pale worm-like ''thing'' that destroyed the moon and that Mother secretly intends to unleash upon the world. This is actually subverted when it's revealed the Starworm/Him is really a spaceship piloted by an alien bird-man who just wants his gas tank filled up with Ivory.]]
* EnemyCivilWar: When [[spoiler:Chrome finds out about Mother's plan to flee to the Moon with a select few chosen ones and leave the rest of humanity behind, he stages a revolt to overthrow Mother]].
* EyeBeams: Agent White's main ability. Its properties actually change depending on the colour of sunglasses he is wearing. Red makes him shoot a fiery beam of death, while blue gives him a FreezeRay.
* FauxAffablyEvil:
** [[spoiler:Mother herself, who presents a facade of being a matronly goddess, but really is a glorified One Concern super soldier with a god complex and a hell of a temper.]]
** The Concern officials present themselves as affable to the general public, but each of them [[spoiler:aside from Grey]] is consumed by some sort of emotion that drives them to commit heinous acts. Chrome is a self-important fundamentalist with delusions of grandeur, Black is an emotionally-driven spiteful cynic, and so on.
* FeedItABomb: Both varieties of Croaktus in Shard Wastelands will eat bomb projectiles shot at them, blowing up shortly thereafter.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Quite a few things get hinted at pretty early on.
** The Agents being superhuman is shown by Agent White throwing Robin into the wall in the scene introducing the Agents.
** Agent Black's constant headaches get a small foreshadow by her pinching the bridge of her nose in almost every scene before her fights.
** [[spoiler:Samba and Mina's dialogues drop massive hints towards their relationship.]]
** After beating the first boss, you may notice [[spoiler:some large black feathers attached to the underside of the planet spine you fought the boss on, which obviously came from the Birdman (or at least ''a'' Birdman)]].
* TheFundamentalist: Chrome genuinely believes in the religion he follows, and quotes the One Concern equivalent of Literature/TheBible or Literature/TheQuran frequently, ''even during boss fights''. He's also a hard line believer in everything that his religion is ''against'', though he's open to discussion about the the differences and ideology between the pirate's religion and his own. [[spoiler:Once he leads the One Concern militia into City One, he becomes a full-tilt DarkMessiah, wishing to remake the world after thinking himself to be "chosen" once he {{No Sell}}s one of Elro's syringes of anti-Ivory material and losing faith in the higher echelons of One Concern. In reality, said syringe was only one of the two parts of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_liquid binary liquid]], and he's killed in the Bastion when Elro hits him with the other component.]]
* FlippingTheBird: Agent Black tells a Bastion trooper that she is going to crush his skull using only her two middle fingers.
* GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere:
** [[spoiler:Interestingly, it's not the enormous worm from the stars that crashes down onto your planet - the worm's pretty well established into the lore of the game, and bears a resemblance to some previously fought bosses. It's the giant, muscular alien bird piloting the worm, who was never hinted at before the fight, and is never properly explained afterward as the game ends. Context allows you to piece together that the bird was using the worm to pose as a deity and exploit the planet for fuel, but he's still an alien bird of an otherwise unknown species, with no dialogue and no connection to any other characters, and he's the final boss.]]
** Similarly, the [[spoiler:blue eye corruption seems to appear out of nowhere after Robin escapes the Tower and it's never explained what exactly it is or what its relation to Ivory is. Computers in the underground area hint it's some sort of biotech, and The Starworm has a cluster of the eyes roughly where another creature would have actual eyes, as well as the ability to manipulate and create more. However, other than that, the game doesn't reveal anything.]]
* GivenNameReveal: Out of all the Agents, we only learn Black's real name: [[spoiler:Madelyn Binoche]].
* GivingSomeoneThePointerFinger: Agent White really likes doing this, even using it as an attack in his boss fight.
* GuideDangIt:
** The last event of The Tower requires Robin to break into Black’s office to [[spoiler:attempt to save Elro]], which manages to be more confusing than intended. In the preceding cutscene, Mina laments that she’s lost her seeds and can’t blow up the office’s gate; Robin picked up the seeds while she was infiltrating the tower, so this seems to hint that Robin must figure out how to use the seeds or hand them over to Mina. Neither option is possible (the seeds don’t come up again until One Concern West), and the actual solution is to [[spoiler:jump up to a hidden ledge that leads to a crawlspace going directly into Black’s room]], which is marked by a small outcropping but is easy to miss in the panic.
** All three key item quests have a confusing trait to them. Laurie’s letter delivery is simply transferring key items back and forth between two people, but the location of the second person is hidden well. The cupcake quest starts simple since you can find its NPC in several areas, but the person you give the item to in Ferrier Shockwood just takes it without giving you anything; you must go back to the original person to get a different item and then backtrack to receive your reward. The Soldier’s RSVP is the trickiest: you can get the letter after Isilugar Labs, but it won’t be relevant until the end of One Concern West (at which point the game encourages to progress to the endgame), and [[spoiler:''you can’t deliver the item'' since the recipient was killed in Black’s rampage, so after examining the body you have to return to the Isilugar jail cell to report your failure and receive the quest reward.]]
** Both {{Bonus Boss}}es are tricky to activate, especially for players who make a habit of exploring past areas as soon as they can.
*** For [[spoiler:Fitzroy]], you first have to meet Leticia in five separate locations; the first time is in Blockrock, which you will likely find when you explore there after leaving Isilugar, but the rest are in out-of-the-way areas around the map, one of which requires the Galvanized Wrench to reach (she places her flag in the room next to where she is, as a slight hint). After the final encounter, you have to [[spoiler:swim to the secret cavern deep within Glass Strait]]; the only hint for this is that Leticia’s flag is on the water’s surface, but it's in an area that has little purpose otherwise.
*** [[spoiler:Mother's Corners]] can only be fought at the ''very'' end of the game after [[spoiler:the Starworm crash-lands in Blockrock]], where it really doesn’t seem like there’s anything else to do (unless you notice a missing space in the tweak collection box). It's at least easier to find the items necessary for the fight, though they are spread out a bit and one is way back in The Tower. The hint the items give is also a bit confusing.
*** There are only slight hints that the Usurper Gun's swapping shot works on [[spoiler:City One's gatekeeper]] and [[spoiler:Mother]], and no hints that it can [[spoiler:remove the blue eyes protecting enemies in the Impact Zone]].
* GroundPound: Robin starts out with the ability to do a midair flip and stomp downwards, which can break red blocks. It’s a surprisingly effective attack as well: many enemies can’t attack Robin while she’s jumping on their heads (such as the Concern soldiers), and the stomp deals good damage even late in the game.
* HarderThanHard: After beating the game, you unlock Challenge Mode, where you are a OneHitPointWonder. Iron Hearts will still soak up a hit, but enemies don't drop Ivory cubes to repair them. Instead, they are repaired at Save Statues.
* TheHeretic: Well, considering the game is called 'The Iconoclasts'...
* HeroicMime: Robin does not speak at all and only communicates through emotes and body language (and a few dialogue choices), but everybody seems to understand her anyways.
* HideYourLesbians: Despite how obvious it is from the get-go, [[spoiler:Mina and Samba]] are never explicitly stated to be a couple ([[spoiler:at least until the ending credits]]). {{Justified|Trope}} in that [[spoiler:Isi culture places an extremely high importance on procreation, which likely means same-sex relationships are not tolerated and they have to keep it secret]].
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:During the third phase against the Starworm, the Birdman reactivates it once he gets low on HP. This comes back to bite him when the Starworm's right hand crushes him before dying itself.]]
* HonorBeforeReason: [[spoiler:Agent Black admits that keeping Royal and Robin from using the rocket to attempt to reason with Him is a poor decision, but her orders to protect the rocket are the only point of stability she has to cling to at that point.]]
* ImplacableMan: Two of the boss fights near the rocket.
** While you are trying to get the elevator working, [[spoiler: Black]] can not be stopped. Defeating the boss is not an option; you must fix the elevator and get out of there.
** A more classic version is [[spoiler:Elro, going up against Lawrence. Lawrence can shoot Elro, throw knives, punch him if he gets too close, but unless he runs out of HP, Elro keeps. On. Coming. Good thing you're playing Elro, and your job is just to NoSell Lawrence's attacks while you keep marching up and stabbing him.]]
* InvincibleMinorMook: There are a lot of enemies that start off invincible (such as the Ghosmo ghosts), but the Usurper Gun can kill a lot of them. Ones that are always invincible include:
** Herculeans are big one-eyed boulders that can't be destroyed, though they can be knocked back by Robin's wrench.
** The Hazard Armor enemies are special Concern troops that can't be hurt or even stunned. The first time you encounter one is in a pseudo-boss fight where you have to play chicken with it while breaking down an ice block, but later ones just have to be avoided.
** Blue-eye possessed Bipedro enemies also can't be damaged... by ''you''. However you need them to break down certain walls for you so it's probably a good thing that you can't accidentally kill them and render the game {{Unwinnable}}. After they are done, there is usually a convenient pit of SpikesOfDoom nearby that you can make them run into which will kill them. They also are the game's only non-respawning enemies.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold:
** Royal. He means well and can be nice when he's not [[ItsAllAboutMe focusing on himself]], but it's clear the One Concern have their claws in him [[spoiler:with the whole thing about him being Mother's heir]].
** Elro is fairly nasty to everyone, but he has the best interests of Robin and her friends at heart, and he’s been broken by the events of the prologue. [[spoiler:In reality, he’s a JerkWithAHeartOfJerk, as the traumatic events of the storyline push him into VillainProtagonist territory.]]
* KnightOfCerebus: Agent Black, who heralds the more serious parts of the story. [[spoiler:Especially once she rips off Elro's arm with her bare hands. That's where the story really takes a turn for the darker.]]
* LikeAnOldMarriedCouple: Mina and Samba have this vibe going on. [[spoiler:In the credits, it's revealed that they are indeed a couple, although they made it pretty obvious throughout the game even outside of this trope.]]
* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: On the one hand, Ivory is revered as sacred and powerful for good reason, as it can cause superpowers in those exposed to high amounts of the stuff, ultimately culminating in psychic powers that border on RealityWarping and an absurdly powerful HealingFactor. [[spoiler:Not to mention removal of it causes things to turn into a purple dust that inhibits said powers.]] On the other hand, [[spoiler:considering how the birdman piloting the Starworm (AKA Him) treats the stuff, it may just be a strange, mutagenic oil]].
* MechaMooks: This is One Concern's primary means of offense aside from their troops, mostly showing up in their late-game facilities.
* MegaNeko: [[spoiler:Mother fights you by using her RealityWarper powers to form a giant cat out of pavement, cars, and other objects in the vicinity, which she rides on.]]
* MindRape: The Starworm is capable of doing this to people, as [[spoiler:Robin and Royal]] find out the hard way. It appears that the Concern is also able to reverse engineer a gun that can replicate the effects.
* MyBelovedSmother: Mina's mother is basically a stereotypical JewishMother in a setting where Jews don't exist, constantly guilt-tripping her daughter with the usual "You never visit! You're leaving me again! You don't love me!", as well as suggesting Mina get together with that [[NiceJewishBoy Nice Isi Boy]] who keeps asking about her. Since she is in a wheelchair this could also cross over into DisabilityAsAnExcuseForJerkassery.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler:Even though Royal had crossed the DespairEventHorizon and [[DeathSeeker asked to be left behind to die]] on the decompressing Midway moonbase, Robin obviously still feels enormously guilty for doing so. As soon as she lands back in Blockrock the first thing she does is sit in the TroubledFetalPosition and cry.]]
* MythologyGag: The Isi lady who's always seen sitting on couches in Isilugar is based on the design for Mina that was used in ''Mina of the Pirates'', one of Konjak's earliest big projects and the origin of Mina's name and base design.
* NewGamePlus: Beating the game allows you to save a completed file. Continuing the file will restart the game, but keep all of your Tweaks.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: It seems that Royal is particularly good at this. First, [[spoiler:he accidentally activates and is forced to destroy a Mega Controller, which throws the planet's ecosystem out of balance. He heads to City One to confront Mother, which basically allows Chrome to start his rebellion, which sparks a vicious civil war. He also attacks the Starworm when it ignores him, only causing it be angered and attack the planet. Though that last one may have been for the best, as the attack left a vulnerable spot on the Starworm, and it's likely a fight would have occurred regardless of Royal's assault]].
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: [[spoiler:Had the Silver Watchman not tackled Robin and ended up pushing her out of the tower in an attempt to kill her, it's very likely Agent Black would have successfully shot and killed Robin then and there.]]
* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: Chrome is a cyborg cowboy general with superpowers.
* NoNameGiven: The ending credits list the name of every character, enemy, and boss in the game. [[spoiler:Except the Birdman, whose name is left blank.]]
* NonIndicativeName: Agent Black is a very pale girl. Agent White is a ScaryBlackMan.
* NoNonsenseNemesis: Agent Black is very much a student of the WhyDontYouJustShootHim school of thought. [[spoiler:Indeed, she almost shoots Robin point blank in The Tower, and is only stopped by the Silver Watchman tackling Robin through the wall and out of room they were in due to wanting to kill her himself.]]
* NotSoStoic: [[spoiler:Agent White's death by Ivory-accelerated Isi Seed growth clearly terrifies Agent Black, while Grey's death at the hands of Elro actually made her break down. And that's not getting into her SanitySlippage in the game's climax.]]
* NotThatKindOfDoctor: Inverted. Dr. Gustavo is a medical doctor who says he's not the right kind of doctor to deal with the craziness of the Tower's pupils.
* ThePigPen: Mina apparently isn't too keen on bathing frequently, since a RunningGag throughout the game is that she smells absolutely awful. [[spoiler:During the fight against Ash, she ''has'' to hide in the pools of water, since he can smell her when she hides in the bushes.]]
* PistolWhipping: Mina's melee attack involves using her shotgun like a club.
* PlayingWithFire: Mendeleev's powerset.
* PoorCommunicationKills: Mother [[spoiler:blames Royal for hastening the end of the world due to him activating and destroying an Omega Controller. However, Mother herself is partially at fault because she didn't tell Royal anything about her plans or the true nature of the planet they were living on, which she was very well aware of]].
* QuirkyMinibossSquad: The Reborns-- Lawrence, Nobel, and Mendeleev-- fought at One Concern East.
* RecurringBoss:
** Two bladed Controllers are fought in the game: one with Robin as a WarmUpBoss in Blockrock, and another with Mina in Ferrier Shockwood.
** The Silver Watchman is fought four times. The first three fights are in The Tower, with one and two being DuelBoss encounters and the third being a gimmick fight inside a tiny elevator. You face him one last time in Dark Cave, where [[spoiler:he’s being used as a puppet by the Possessed Thunk, a Kathunk mecha infested with the blue eyeballs]].
** Agent Black is the boss of both One Concern West and [[spoiler:the Rocket Platform, where she's technically fought three times; once as an invincible enemy while activating the rocket, another time as a true rematch in front of the rocket, and then as the Ivory Beast, which has two forms]].
* RingOutBoss:
** Once reduced to just a head, all the Carver machine in Ferrier Shockwood can do is spin its blades to produce debris. Elro will jam his sword into the blades to lock them up, at which point Robin has to charge up and grab a rail to ram into the head and knock It back; this repeats for a while, with Robin occasionally dislodging Elro’s sword from the ceiling, until the Carver nearly falls off a cliff (it stays balanced, but the Controller that Mina was chasing pops out and wrecks it).
** Mendeleev works somewhat like this. If she's shot while she's outside of her fiery mode or when she's dropping fireballs, she gets knocked back and temporarily stunned. If she falls into an active electric current in this state, she gets zapped and loses a lot more health than she does from individual shotgun blasts.
* RelationshipReveal: Though they made it glaringly obvious throughout the game, [[spoiler:the ending credits show Mina and Samba reuniting for the first time since rescuing her from the Tower... and promptly start passionately making out]].
* RelationshipValues: Say the right things to a few characters and the BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind right before the FinalBoss has one or more phases become easier [[spoiler:by stunning them once you activate a switch)]], and Mina might join you for the FinalBoss itself.
* {{Retraux}}: The ''Ivory Springs'' version was very much so, and the newer version still has elements like square flowers.
* SadBattleMusic: [[spoiler:The final fight against Black]] has this, though it stops being sad once [[spoiler:she goes OneWingedAngel]]. The same sad music returns outside of battle when [[spoiler:you are escaping from Midway, and are forced to leave Royal behind to die]].
* SanitySlippage: Agent Black's sanity doesn't slip away so much as take a running leap off of the deep end after the first time you beat her in One Concern West's detritus pit. [[spoiler:We don't see the actual process, but once she shows up again at One Concern East for her rematch, she's clearly not in the best place, mentally speaking.]]
* ShaggyDogStory: The plight of the [[spoiler:acolytes Mother was grooming in isolation to be the chosen ones to escape to Midway. Mina leaves the entrance to the Tower open, allowing the acolytes to wander into the outside world for the first time. Unfortunately, the result is that many of the die from the elements or are murdered by Mother's Corners, with the few surviving ones devolving into ''Literature/LordOfTheFlies'' level dysfunction]].
* ShieldedCoreBoss: The fight against [[spoiler:Possessed Thunk]] involves damaging [[spoiler:the Silver Watchman (who is being puppeted around on blue eye strings)]] until he falls over, then attacking the main boss while it [[spoiler:repairs the strings]]. Eventually, the boss gives up on this and starts charging at Robin, though fortunately it's WeakenedByTheLight.
* ShockAndAwe: Robin's wrench gets an upgrade that lets her charge it with electricity by spinning it, and a second upgrade that lets her bombs and missiles become charged as well. [[spoiler:The Birdman can do the same thing with his wrench]].
* ShortRangeShotgun: Handily averted by Mina’s pilfered shotgun, which has more range than any of Robin’s gun types, but absolutely no spread.
* SignpostTutorial: By means of signs that you walk past that expand to show how to perform commands. Some inexplicably reappear in [[spoiler:The Tower]] despite said area being long after you've gotten used to the controls.
* SmallGirlBigGun: Robin wields a massive wrench, although her actual ''gun'' is appropriately sized, as is Mina's shotgun. Agent Black, however, shows up for her rematch wielding a large rocket launcher.
* SmugSuper: [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold As polite as he's capable of being]], Royal has pretty clearly let his psionic powers influence how he perceives others. [[spoiler:Mother doesn't display this nearly as openly, [[ImpliedTrope but the fact that she seems pretty comfortable with everyone else being considered lesser than her has to indicate something about her personality]].]]
* SoapOperaDisease: [[spoiler:Dr. Gustavo]] has an unspecified genetic disease, which makes him somewhat of a social outcast among the Isi since their culture highly values procreation and he refuses to have children since they would inherit his disease.
* StealthBasedMission:
** Early in the game, Robin has to escape from jail by crawling through the community center’s attic. The Concern soldiers having a break near the bar will periodically laugh loudly at each other’s crude jokes, allowing Robin to crawl forward unheard until she can get away.
** The fight with [[spoiler:Ash]] is a stealth-based boss. [[spoiler:Ash]] is invisible, and if he sees Robin or Mina out of hiding, he’ll rush to them (regardless of who the player is controlling) and slam them into the ground for unavoidable damage. To hurt [[spoiler:Ash]], the duo has to stay in hiding spots (there are bushes and puddles to hind it, but Mina can only hide in puddles) until he starts wandering around; his location is signaled by sound waves and rustling grass, and he’s vulnerable to attack at this time.
* TheStoic: Agent Black, whose main emotions seem to be apathy and annoyance.
* TechnicalPacifist: All of Robin's attacks only kill [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman the local wildlife]], and destroy [[MechaMooks robotic enemies and machines]]. Human enemies are merely knocked out, with visible [[CirclingBirdies circling stars]] above their heads. [[spoiler:Throughout the entire story, she only ever directly kills one person out of necessity: Agent Black]]. In contrast, Mina's shotgun and Elro's sword actually do kill human enemies.
* TeleportSpam: The Silver Watchman's main ability, which he uses to dodge your attacks as well as close the distance to strike with his sword.
* ThemeNaming:
** The Agents are all named after shades of grey: Black, White, Ash, and, er, [[ShapedLikeItself Grey]].
** Those with the same powers as Agents but other jobs in the Concern are named after metals: The Silver Watchman and General Chrome.
** The Reborns appear to be named after famous scientists: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitri_Mendeleev Mendeleev]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Nobel Nobel]], and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Lawrence Lawrence]].
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Mina and Robin. Mina carries a large shotgun, bashes things with its butt, has enough body odor that a trained hunter can track her by scent, and gets angry a lot. Her chosen profession at the start of the game is wandering the world looking for stuff to take. Robin may be a mechanic with an oversized wrench, but also carries a small stun pistol (see TechnicalPacifist), apparently bathes regularly, gets flustered, embarrassed, or scared far more easily, and even dolls up her hair. Her chosen profession at the start of the game is to fix up and nurture a settlement near where she lives. This distinction is on display in the fight against [[spoiler:Mother]], wherein Robin [[spoiler:counters and dodges Mother's attacks, occasionally stunning Mother and pulling her out from protection]] while Mina [[spoiler:is the one to do the actual damage against her by shoving seeds into her body, after Robin has made her vulnerable]].
* UndyingLoyalty: The basic One Concern {{Mooks}} all have complete loyalty to General Chrome, and refuse to let anyone but Chrome and possibly his NumberTwo Tolo order them around. Not the EliteMooks of the Bastion, not the Agents, not even Mother herself. [[spoiler:They all universally back Chrome when he rebels against Mother.]]
* TheUnfought: [[spoiler:General Chrome is never fought in true combat (he rides on the helicopter at the end of Shard Wastelands, but he doesn’t pilot it or use any attacks himself), and is ultimately killed by Elro’s serum at the end of City One.]]
* UnexpectedlyRealisticGameplay: Swimming of all things follows real-life rules. You can mash the jump button to swim faster, but your OxygenMeter will deplete more quickly. By swimming at your default, agonizingly slow speed, you conserve oxygen much better and can cover far more distance. The game never tells you this, [[spoiler:and knowing it is required to reach Fitzroy. It's impossible even with three Breathlesses equipped if you mash]].
* UngratefulBastard: You'd think [[spoiler:the Silver Watchman]] would be a little more grateful that you [[spoiler:freed him from his blue eye possession]], but no, he still tries to kill you again the next time you see him.
* VillainProtagonist: [[spoiler:Elro, whose stubbornness and selfishness nearly doom the planet to destruction several times over. His controlling nature with Robin and fear for her after losing his wife and child also cause several problems throughout the game and result in a needlessly antagonistic relationship with Mina. His RevengeBeforeReason attitude also results in his arm getting torn off by someone ''much'' stronger than he is, wounding him even further.]]
* WalkingShirtlessScene: Chrome. Some of the Isi men also wear open shirts.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: There are quite a number of [=NPCs=] and side characters that are briefly seen but never mentioned again. For example:
** [[spoiler:Thor and Thandie finally manage to reach City One, right on the same day civil war breaks out between Chrome and Mother's factions. They are never seen or mentioned again.]]
** We never see any sort of resolution regarding [[spoiler:Mina's strained relationship with her mother]].
** The last we see of [[spoiler:Royal, Robin is forced to leave him behind in the decompressing Midway moonbase. It's not clear if he actually died or not, but seeing as he's effectively immortal with the only known methods of permanently dispatching him being the seeds or Elro's serum, it's highly likely he's still stranded up there, dying and regenerating endlessly]].
* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: Agent Black nearly says this word-for-word when Chrome insists on going through an unnecessary execution scene.
* WhereItAllBegan: The entrance to the last stretch of the game before the FinalBoss opens up in the exact same spot where you fought the very ''first'' boss.
* WrenchWench: The heroine, Robin, to the point of having a gigantic wrench that is used for most of the gameplay.
* XRaySparks: Mendeleev gets zapped in this manner if she falls into an electricity bar during her fight.
* YouAreInCommandNow: [[spoiler:Tolo inherits command of what remains of Chrome's forces after Chrome's death.]]
* YouKilledMyFather: Though it's not exactly clear what caused the death of Robin and Elro's father, Elro clearly lays the blame on the Concern. [[spoiler:This is what causes him to create his anti-Ivory chemical which he uses to kill Agent Grey.]]
* ZeroEffortBoss: [[spoiler:The final shadow creature during the final boss's first phase can be shot without any resistance. [[DevelopersForesight If the player lets it crawl to the other side, it ends up exploding anyway.]]]]
----
Robin is a mechanic (complete with [[WrenchWench massive wrench]]) living in a world that's slowly withering away. Her society relies on Ivory, an energy source controlled by a powerful organization called One Concern, which is the center of a religion represented by a figure known as Mother. Robin is not permitted to do mechanical work due to their regulations, but she does it anyway. When she's found out and becomes a sinner in the eyes of the world, she embarks on an adventure with other outcasts in order to stop One Concern once and for all, and find out what's really happening to the planet.
The game's release trailer is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnUN19xGIzU here]]. Links to buy the game, as well as downloads for the 2012 alpha and the ''Ivory Springs'' alpha, can be found [[http://www.konjak.org on Konjak's website]].
----
!!''Iconoclasts'' contains examples of the following tropes:
* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Royal is hated by practically everybody due to him basically being a superpowered spoiled brat. Pretty much the only person that shows him any kindness or respect is Robin, and even then it can be up to the player's dialogue choices.
* ActionGirl: Robin and Mina, as well as Black being a DarkActionGirl.
* AdvancingBossOfDoom:
** [[spoiler:The Omega Controller]], first as a RiseToTheChallenge scenario on an elevator platform and then as a horizontal chase where it takes the form of a buzzsaw. In both cases, Robin has to repel the boss with bombs.
** [[spoiler:Fitzroy]] slowly crawls towards Robin for his first two phases, which only makes it harder to keep dodging attacks from [[spoiler:his ivory-borne golem monster]].
* AGodAmI: Being the physical representative of the Starworm, Mother is prone to this. Royal also shows sign of this since [[spoiler:he's supposed to be Mother's successor]].
* AffablyEvil: Chrome may be a general in the the Concern, but he's a genuinely nice and devout man who prefers to avoid violence.
* AllThereInTheManual: The official names of two late-game bosses ([[spoiler:the cat Mother rides on is named Oedipuss after her pet cat, and Black's OneWingedAngel form is the Ivory Beast]]) can only be found on the game's soundtrack.
* AllTheWorldsAreAStage:
** [[spoiler:The Impact Zone]] consists of several rooms themed after previous locations, each containing enemies from previous areas [[spoiler:infested with the blue eyes]].
** [[spoiler:The Omega Controller]] constantly causes the terrain to cycle through the different area textures as you ascend the elevator shaft.
* AmbiguousGender: Agent Grey's gender is deliberately ambiguous, with Agent Black using "them" when referring to Grey.
* AncientAstronauts: It's heavily implied that [[spoiler:all of the humans are descendants of colonists who migrated from Earth to an alien planet. The Isi found and recovered an ancient colony ship which they revere as a sacred artifact, and their city has paintings of known human landmarks such as the Taj Mahal. The Concern similarly have a colony ship in their possession which they use for research purposes.]]
* AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent:
** One part of Ferrier Shockwood is played entirely as Mina after she gets separated from Robin and Elro, complete with her own boss fight against a Controller. [[spoiler:She gets another unique segment during One Concern East, which ends with the Mendeleev fight.]]
** [[spoiler:Elro gets a segment during One Concern East as well, though most of it is him limping through the hallway with only a few enemies present. He fights Lawrence at the end of it.]]
* AnimeHair:
** Rather than tie her hair into a ponytail, Robin turns her hair into a big "U" stuck to the back of her head, most likely to resemble the head of a wrench. [[https://78.media.tumblr.com/5a220db53df86594ecfc8e0f98c6bf43/tumblr_p0f4zxLRme1rihtq2o1_1280.png Just look at it!]]
** Agent Grey has what can only be described as a big, fluffy mohawk.
* AntiMagic:
** The Isi’s seeds have extremely volatile reactions when exposed to Ivory, making them grow instantaneously; this makes them an excellent tool for wrecking Concern technology, which is reliant on Ivory. [[spoiler:They also work disturbingly well on humans who have been injected with ivory, being used to take out Agent White and Mother (Agent Black [[{{Determinator}} resists their effects]] until the blue eyes mutate her). When Robin jams a seed into the Starworm, the resulting explosion causes a wave of nature to overtake the whole planet.]]
** Detritus is a pinkish-purple powder that is produced whenever an object is drained of its Ivory. It is very much anti-Ivory, negating the HealingFactor of [[spoiler:ivory-infused individuals]] and, in the case of Royal, completely shutting down his powers. [[spoiler:Black kills Royal in a pit of Detritus at the end of One Concern West (she planned to kill Chrome there, but he had other plans), though he revives himself shortly after his body leaves the room. Elro's work with the [=ChemiCo=] Contra led to him inventing a serum that instantly removes Ivory from matter and turns it into Detritus, which is one of the few things that can kill Transcended humans.]]
* AppliedPhlebotinum: Ivory, which is used to power all technology and the Concern's stranglehold on it is the basis for their control of all society.
* ArcWords: "This is bigger than you."
* ArtificialLimbs: The Agents and General Chrome have these [[spoiler:to replace the limbs that they lost during Transcendence]]. Agent Grey appears to have artificial ''ears''.
* AsTheGoodBookSays: Chrome is fond of quoting the One Concern scriptures, even in the middle of boss battles.
* BadGuyBar: The Community Center (more or less a pub, even though alcohol is in short supply) in Settlement 17 is used as a hangout place for the One Concern while they're keeping tabs on the town, much to Black's annoyance.
* BaitAndSwitch: Ash mentions that [[spoiler:his daughter volunteered for Transcendence in order to become like him]]. The player will most likely assume he is referring to [[spoiler:Black]], since [[spoiler:she's the only female Agent they have encountered at this point]], but the credits imply that he was actually referring to [[spoiler:Nobel]]. This was {{foreshadow|ing}}ed by [[spoiler:Nobel's superpower being invisibility, like Ash]].
* BareYourMidriff: A number of Isi men, as well as Samba and that one pink-haired girl sitting on a couch underneath the save point in Isilugar. Agent Black also gets in on it once TheCoatsAreOff.
* BattleInTheCentreOfTheMind: [[spoiler:The first phase of the Starworm has Robin face off against shadow creatures that can only be killed by activating switches. This is symbolic in many regards: the shadows represent her failures (specifically, in order: Elro, Mina, Royal, and Black), and turning the switches represents her desire to “fix” things.]]
* BerserkButton:
** Reminding Agent Black about Agent Grey is a quick way to anger her (more so than usual). [[spoiler:And because of his involvement in Grey's death, Elro's mere existence is enough to set her off.]]
** Royal does not take kindly to being ignored or otherwise treated as lesser than he believes himself to be. [[spoiler:This more or less gets him killed when he attacks Him in anger.]]
* BigBrotherInstinct: Elro takes this ''way'' too far, [[spoiler:nearly dooming the planet several times because of it]]. It's only once Robin [[spoiler:literally ''kills God'']] does he grudgingly admit that ''maybe'' she can actually take care of herself.
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Robin successfully dismantles the One Concern and saves the world from the evil birdman and his EldritchAbomination, the defeat of the Starworm causes nature to repopulate the planet, and it's implied [=ChemiCo=] Contra are making headway into alternative energy research without the One Concern to hold them back, but Royal is dead, Agent Black has become consumed by her grief and rage over the loss of her comrades and can barely be considered human anymore (and that's assuming she survived the combination of Isi Seed overgrowth, blue eye corruption, and being on the outside of a rocket exiting the atmosphere), and Elro has lost an arm, and has been greatly embittered by everything he and Robin have gone through. That said, it's implied that his finally acknowledging Robin's ability to care for herself has granted him some measure of peace.]]
* BlackoutBasement: The Dark Cave area of Darland Ascent is appropriately badly lit. Robin's wrench acts as a small flashlight when charged, and she can activate generators to turn on lampposts.
* BlessedWithSuck:
** [[spoiler:Along with the usual superpowers and immortality, Transcending caused Agent Black to suffer constant, unrelenting headaches which she describes as feeling like knives cutting her, meaning they are most likely [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluster_headache cluster headaches]], known for their extreme intensity. She has been like this for almost 200 years, so it's no wonder she's such a grouch all the time, and why her sanity could take such an abrupt nosedive as it did.]]
** [[spoiler:Agents in general are stuck with this, as the very act of Transcending has caused them to lose limbs or organs which require prosthetic replacement. Chronic pain also seems to be a common symptom as well, since Ash also mentions suffering heavy pains in his gut.]]
* BodyHorror:
** The entire process of [[spoiler:Transcending, which involves injecting Ivory directly into a person's body. A few people will succeed and survive the process with superpowers, though some will lose body parts in the process. And the many that fail basically melt into puddles of white goo. Even if it does work out, Transcended people who live long enough will find themselves consumed by the Ivory; Fitzroy turned into a mindless being made of dripping Ivory, while Leticia kept her sanity but is no longer recognizably human]].
** [[spoiler:Agent Black takes the cake when the blue eyes try to possess her while Isi Seeds sprout from her body. The end result is a giant monstrosity with ivory trees sprouting all over its body and clusters of eyes hidden inside said trees.]]
** The horrors of chemistry are demonstrated when [[spoiler:Elro develops a serum that quickly converts Ivory into Detritus dust. Its real purpose is to be used on Transcended humans, who are practically filled with Ivory. The result? The affected person's skin turns purple as they start deforming and boiling alive, until they explode into a fine purple mist]].
* BonusBoss: There are two, [[spoiler:Mother's Corners and Fitzroy]], both requiring some serious GuideDangIt to find.
* BraggingRightsReward: For the purposes of a single playthrough, the DoubleJump tweak granted after [[spoiler:defeating Mother's Corners]] is useless, since all that's left of the story by the time they're available to fight is [[spoiler:to confront the Starworm]]. It can still be carried over to a NewGamePlus, however. Same goes for [[spoiler:defeating Fitzroy]], since the tweak from his fight is a JokeItem designed for a SelfImposedChallenge.
* ButThouMust: [[spoiler:There's no getting around leaving Royal to die on a decompressing Midway, as one scanner is pulled too far away from the door to work while you're carrying him, and the other is just flat out broken, meaning trying to use the Usurper Shot to position him near it would be pointless even if it did work. The game even twists the knife by giving you way more time than you need to escape, as if to suggest that there is actually a way to save him when there isn't.]]
* ButtMonkey: The Silver Watchman really can't catch a break. He gets his ass kicked by you three times, then [[spoiler:accidentally saves your life while trying to kill you a fourth time]], then [[spoiler:gets possessed by the blue eyes (and gets his ass kicked by you again in his possessed state)]], and finally [[spoiler:is taken out by ''Royal'' of all people, who drops a boulder on top of him, trapping him underwater where his teleportation powers don't work, drowning him]].
* CanonImmigrant: Mina the thief was originally the focus of [[http://www.konjak.org/index.php?folder=9&file=26 another Konjak project]], though she was redesigned significantly for this game (her original design was recycled for an unique NPC in Isilugar).
* CaptainErsatz: Not in terms of what she does, but [[VideoGame/CryptOfTheNecrodancer Robin looks familiar...]]
* CardboardPrison: The trio of Robin, Mina, and Elro find themselves caught by the Concern and locked in The Tower’s jail cells at one point. Mina and Elro are locked up tight, but Robin’s cell includes a floor plate that she can stomp through to easily crawl out of her cell. Admittedly, not many people can GroundPound as well as Robin.
* CerebusSyndrome: The game starts out as a wacky adventure as Robin struggles against cartoonish, LargeHam villains, but as the game goes on, the villains get ''far'' less cartoonish as we see just how depraved and despotic the One Concern is. By the end, [[spoiler:a large number of people have died in a bloody civil war, and the final battle is against an outright EldritchAbomination that threatens to consume the entire world]].
* ChekhovsHobby: Elro's job is a chemist. He's apparently good enough to [[spoiler:create a serum that will forcibly remove all Ivory from any object, which makes it very effective at killing Ivory-infused people such as agents]].
* TheCobblersChildrenHaveNoShoes: [[spoiler:The only doctor in the game has an incurable disease]].
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Quite a few of them.
** [[spoiler:Agent White: killed by an Ivory Tree Isi seed growing out of his back.]]
** [[spoiler:Mother shares Agent White's fate, though her entire body explodes into the tree.]]
** [[spoiler:Agent Grey and General Chrome: exploded into a purple dust thanks to a syringe made by Elro.]]
* CycleOfRevenge: The whole thing starts when [[spoiler:Robin and Elro's father's death is presumably caused by the Concern, causing Elro to kill Agent Grey in revenge, causing Agent Black to pursue Robin and Elro in response, starting Robin's quest to rescue Elro and take down the One Concern for good]].
* DespairEventHorizon: Agent Black went careening past it long ago, according to herself. [[spoiler:She almost came back when Agent Grey started trying (successfully if her dialogue before her final fight is any indication) to woo her, but that ended when Elro killed Grey.]]
* {{Determinator}}: [[spoiler:Black in her final battle is absolutely determined to protect the rocket from you, to the point that she eventually breaks open the rocket's fuel tank and starts drinking the Ivory fuel just so her HealingFactor can keep up with the damage you are dealing. By the end of the fight she is weakly shambling around, with multiple Isi Seeds sprouting out of her back, barely able to form a complete sentence, and vomiting up the fuel she's been guzzling, but still ''refuses'' to stop fighting until she is swarmed with the blue eye parasites and dragged offscreen. [[OneWingedAngel And even then, she's still not done]].]]
* DragonTheirFeet: [[spoiler:Agent Black and General Chrome manage to outlive Mother. Chrome doesn't get far before he's taken care of, but Black lives long enough to fight Robin one last time, long after she has a reason to keep fighting her beyond revenge.]]
* DualBoss: [[spoiler:Mother's Corners]] are an example where both bosses share the same health bar, and either boss can choose to hop into the background temporarily while the other keeps attacking.
* EldritchAbomination: [[spoiler:The final boss, Him, a giant, pale worm-like ''thing'' that destroyed the moon and that Mother secretly intends to unleash upon the world. This is actually subverted when it's revealed the Starworm/Him is really a spaceship piloted by an alien bird-man who just wants his gas tank filled up with Ivory.]]
* EnemyCivilWar: When [[spoiler:Chrome finds out about Mother's plan to flee to the Moon with a select few chosen ones and leave the rest of humanity behind, he stages a revolt to overthrow Mother]].
* EyeBeams: Agent White's main ability. Its properties actually change depending on the colour of sunglasses he is wearing. Red makes him shoot a fiery beam of death, while blue gives him a FreezeRay.
* FauxAffablyEvil:
** [[spoiler:Mother herself, who presents a facade of being a matronly goddess, but really is a glorified One Concern super soldier with a god complex and a hell of a temper.]]
** The Concern officials present themselves as affable to the general public, but each of them [[spoiler:aside from Grey]] is consumed by some sort of emotion that drives them to commit heinous acts. Chrome is a self-important fundamentalist with delusions of grandeur, Black is an emotionally-driven spiteful cynic, and so on.
* FeedItABomb: Both varieties of Croaktus in Shard Wastelands will eat bomb projectiles shot at them, blowing up shortly thereafter.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Quite a few things get hinted at pretty early on.
** The Agents being superhuman is shown by Agent White throwing Robin into the wall in the scene introducing the Agents.
** Agent Black's constant headaches get a small foreshadow by her pinching the bridge of her nose in almost every scene before her fights.
** [[spoiler:Samba and Mina's dialogues drop massive hints towards their relationship.]]
** After beating the first boss, you may notice [[spoiler:some large black feathers attached to the underside of the planet spine you fought the boss on, which obviously came from the Birdman (or at least ''a'' Birdman)]].
* TheFundamentalist: Chrome genuinely believes in the religion he follows, and quotes the One Concern equivalent of Literature/TheBible or Literature/TheQuran frequently, ''even during boss fights''. He's also a hard line believer in everything that his religion is ''against'', though he's open to discussion about the the differences and ideology between the pirate's religion and his own. [[spoiler:Once he leads the One Concern militia into City One, he becomes a full-tilt DarkMessiah, wishing to remake the world after thinking himself to be "chosen" once he {{No Sell}}s one of Elro's syringes of anti-Ivory material and losing faith in the higher echelons of One Concern. In reality, said syringe was only one of the two parts of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_liquid binary liquid]], and he's killed in the Bastion when Elro hits him with the other component.]]
* FlippingTheBird: Agent Black tells a Bastion trooper that she is going to crush his skull using only her two middle fingers.
* GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere:
** [[spoiler:Interestingly, it's not the enormous worm from the stars that crashes down onto your planet - the worm's pretty well established into the lore of the game, and bears a resemblance to some previously fought bosses. It's the giant, muscular alien bird piloting the worm, who was never hinted at before the fight, and is never properly explained afterward as the game ends. Context allows you to piece together that the bird was using the worm to pose as a deity and exploit the planet for fuel, but he's still an alien bird of an otherwise unknown species, with no dialogue and no connection to any other characters, and he's the final boss.]]
** Similarly, the [[spoiler:blue eye corruption seems to appear out of nowhere after Robin escapes the Tower and it's never explained what exactly it is or what its relation to Ivory is. Computers in the underground area hint it's some sort of biotech, and The Starworm has a cluster of the eyes roughly where another creature would have actual eyes, as well as the ability to manipulate and create more. However, other than that, the game doesn't reveal anything.]]
* GivenNameReveal: Out of all the Agents, we only learn Black's real name: [[spoiler:Madelyn Binoche]].
* GivingSomeoneThePointerFinger: Agent White really likes doing this, even using it as an attack in his boss fight.
* GuideDangIt:
** The last event of The Tower requires Robin to break into Black’s office to [[spoiler:attempt to save Elro]], which manages to be more confusing than intended. In the preceding cutscene, Mina laments that she’s lost her seeds and can’t blow up the office’s gate; Robin picked up the seeds while she was infiltrating the tower, so this seems to hint that Robin must figure out how to use the seeds or hand them over to Mina. Neither option is possible (the seeds don’t come up again until One Concern West), and the actual solution is to [[spoiler:jump up to a hidden ledge that leads to a crawlspace going directly into Black’s room]], which is marked by a small outcropping but is easy to miss in the panic.
** All three key item quests have a confusing trait to them. Laurie’s letter delivery is simply transferring key items back and forth between two people, but the location of the second person is hidden well. The cupcake quest starts simple since you can find its NPC in several areas, but the person you give the item to in Ferrier Shockwood just takes it without giving you anything; you must go back to the original person to get a different item and then backtrack to receive your reward. The Soldier’s RSVP is the trickiest: you can get the letter after Isilugar Labs, but it won’t be relevant until the end of One Concern West (at which point the game encourages to progress to the endgame), and [[spoiler:''you can’t deliver the item'' since the recipient was killed in Black’s rampage, so after examining the body you have to return to the Isilugar jail cell to report your failure and receive the quest reward.]]
** Both {{Bonus Boss}}es are tricky to activate, especially for players who make a habit of exploring past areas as soon as they can.
*** For [[spoiler:Fitzroy]], you first have to meet Leticia in five separate locations; the first time is in Blockrock, which you will likely find when you explore there after leaving Isilugar, but the rest are in out-of-the-way areas around the map, one of which requires the Galvanized Wrench to reach (she places her flag in the room next to where she is, as a slight hint). After the final encounter, you have to [[spoiler:swim to the secret cavern deep within Glass Strait]]; the only hint for this is that Leticia’s flag is on the water’s surface, but it's in an area that has little purpose otherwise.
*** [[spoiler:Mother's Corners]] can only be fought at the ''very'' end of the game after [[spoiler:the Starworm crash-lands in Blockrock]], where it really doesn’t seem like there’s anything else to do (unless you notice a missing space in the tweak collection box). It's at least easier to find the items necessary for the fight, though they are spread out a bit and one is way back in The Tower. The hint the items give is also a bit confusing.
*** There are only slight hints that the Usurper Gun's swapping shot works on [[spoiler:City One's gatekeeper]] and [[spoiler:Mother]], and no hints that it can [[spoiler:remove the blue eyes protecting enemies in the Impact Zone]].
* GroundPound: Robin starts out with the ability to do a midair flip and stomp downwards, which can break red blocks. It’s a surprisingly effective attack as well: many enemies can’t attack Robin while she’s jumping on their heads (such as the Concern soldiers), and the stomp deals good damage even late in the game.
* HarderThanHard: After beating the game, you unlock Challenge Mode, where you are a OneHitPointWonder. Iron Hearts will still soak up a hit, but enemies don't drop Ivory cubes to repair them. Instead, they are repaired at Save Statues.
* TheHeretic: Well, considering the game is called 'The Iconoclasts'...
* HeroicMime: Robin does not speak at all and only communicates through emotes and body language (and a few dialogue choices), but everybody seems to understand her anyways.
* HideYourLesbians: Despite how obvious it is from the get-go, [[spoiler:Mina and Samba]] are never explicitly stated to be a couple ([[spoiler:at least until the ending credits]]). {{Justified|Trope}} in that [[spoiler:Isi culture places an extremely high importance on procreation, which likely means same-sex relationships are not tolerated and they have to keep it secret]].
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:During the third phase against the Starworm, the Birdman reactivates it once he gets low on HP. This comes back to bite him when the Starworm's right hand crushes him before dying itself.]]
* HonorBeforeReason: [[spoiler:Agent Black admits that keeping Royal and Robin from using the rocket to attempt to reason with Him is a poor decision, but her orders to protect the rocket are the only point of stability she has to cling to at that point.]]
* ImplacableMan: Two of the boss fights near the rocket.
** While you are trying to get the elevator working, [[spoiler: Black]] can not be stopped. Defeating the boss is not an option; you must fix the elevator and get out of there.
** A more classic version is [[spoiler:Elro, going up against Lawrence. Lawrence can shoot Elro, throw knives, punch him if he gets too close, but unless he runs out of HP, Elro keeps. On. Coming. Good thing you're playing Elro, and your job is just to NoSell Lawrence's attacks while you keep marching up and stabbing him.]]
* InvincibleMinorMook: There are a lot of enemies that start off invincible (such as the Ghosmo ghosts), but the Usurper Gun can kill a lot of them. Ones that are always invincible include:
** Herculeans are big one-eyed boulders that can't be destroyed, though they can be knocked back by Robin's wrench.
** The Hazard Armor enemies are special Concern troops that can't be hurt or even stunned. The first time you encounter one is in a pseudo-boss fight where you have to play chicken with it while breaking down an ice block, but later ones just have to be avoided.
** Blue-eye possessed Bipedro enemies also can't be damaged... by ''you''. However you need them to break down certain walls for you so it's probably a good thing that you can't accidentally kill them and render the game {{Unwinnable}}. After they are done, there is usually a convenient pit of SpikesOfDoom nearby that you can make them run into which will kill them. They also are the game's only non-respawning enemies.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold:
** Royal. He means well and can be nice when he's not [[ItsAllAboutMe focusing on himself]], but it's clear the One Concern have their claws in him [[spoiler:with the whole thing about him being Mother's heir]].
** Elro is fairly nasty to everyone, but he has the best interests of Robin and her friends at heart, and he’s been broken by the events of the prologue. [[spoiler:In reality, he’s a JerkWithAHeartOfJerk, as the traumatic events of the storyline push him into VillainProtagonist territory.]]
* KnightOfCerebus: Agent Black, who heralds the more serious parts of the story. [[spoiler:Especially once she rips off Elro's arm with her bare hands. That's where the story really takes a turn for the darker.]]
* LikeAnOldMarriedCouple: Mina and Samba have this vibe going on. [[spoiler:In the credits, it's revealed that they are indeed a couple, although they made it pretty obvious throughout the game even outside of this trope.]]
* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: On the one hand, Ivory is revered as sacred and powerful for good reason, as it can cause superpowers in those exposed to high amounts of the stuff, ultimately culminating in psychic powers that border on RealityWarping and an absurdly powerful HealingFactor. [[spoiler:Not to mention removal of it causes things to turn into a purple dust that inhibits said powers.]] On the other hand, [[spoiler:considering how the birdman piloting the Starworm (AKA Him) treats the stuff, it may just be a strange, mutagenic oil]].
* MechaMooks: This is One Concern's primary means of offense aside from their troops, mostly showing up in their late-game facilities.
* MegaNeko: [[spoiler:Mother fights you by using her RealityWarper powers to form a giant cat out of pavement, cars, and other objects in the vicinity, which she rides on.]]
* MindRape: The Starworm is capable of doing this to people, as [[spoiler:Robin and Royal]] find out the hard way. It appears that the Concern is also able to reverse engineer a gun that can replicate the effects.
* MyBelovedSmother: Mina's mother is basically a stereotypical JewishMother in a setting where Jews don't exist, constantly guilt-tripping her daughter with the usual "You never visit! You're leaving me again! You don't love me!", as well as suggesting Mina get together with that [[NiceJewishBoy Nice Isi Boy]] who keeps asking about her. Since she is in a wheelchair this could also cross over into DisabilityAsAnExcuseForJerkassery.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler:Even though Royal had crossed the DespairEventHorizon and [[DeathSeeker asked to be left behind to die]] on the decompressing Midway moonbase, Robin obviously still feels enormously guilty for doing so. As soon as she lands back in Blockrock the first thing she does is sit in the TroubledFetalPosition and cry.]]
* MythologyGag: The Isi lady who's always seen sitting on couches in Isilugar is based on the design for Mina that was used in ''Mina of the Pirates'', one of Konjak's earliest big projects and the origin of Mina's name and base design.
* NewGamePlus: Beating the game allows you to save a completed file. Continuing the file will restart the game, but keep all of your Tweaks.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: It seems that Royal is particularly good at this. First, [[spoiler:he accidentally activates and is forced to destroy a Mega Controller, which throws the planet's ecosystem out of balance. He heads to City One to confront Mother, which basically allows Chrome to start his rebellion, which sparks a vicious civil war. He also attacks the Starworm when it ignores him, only causing it be angered and attack the planet. Though that last one may have been for the best, as the attack left a vulnerable spot on the Starworm, and it's likely a fight would have occurred regardless of Royal's assault]].
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: [[spoiler:Had the Silver Watchman not tackled Robin and ended up pushing her out of the tower in an attempt to kill her, it's very likely Agent Black would have successfully shot and killed Robin then and there.]]
* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: Chrome is a cyborg cowboy general with superpowers.
* NoNameGiven: The ending credits list the name of every character, enemy, and boss in the game. [[spoiler:Except the Birdman, whose name is left blank.]]
* NonIndicativeName: Agent Black is a very pale girl. Agent White is a ScaryBlackMan.
* NoNonsenseNemesis: Agent Black is very much a student of the WhyDontYouJustShootHim school of thought. [[spoiler:Indeed, she almost shoots Robin point blank in The Tower, and is only stopped by the Silver Watchman tackling Robin through the wall and out of room they were in due to wanting to kill her himself.]]
* NotSoStoic: [[spoiler:Agent White's death by Ivory-accelerated Isi Seed growth clearly terrifies Agent Black, while Grey's death at the hands of Elro actually made her break down. And that's not getting into her SanitySlippage in the game's climax.]]
* NotThatKindOfDoctor: Inverted. Dr. Gustavo is a medical doctor who says he's not the right kind of doctor to deal with the craziness of the Tower's pupils.
* ThePigPen: Mina apparently isn't too keen on bathing frequently, since a RunningGag throughout the game is that she smells absolutely awful. [[spoiler:During the fight against Ash, she ''has'' to hide in the pools of water, since he can smell her when she hides in the bushes.]]
* PistolWhipping: Mina's melee attack involves using her shotgun like a club.
* PlayingWithFire: Mendeleev's powerset.
* PoorCommunicationKills: Mother [[spoiler:blames Royal for hastening the end of the world due to him activating and destroying an Omega Controller. However, Mother herself is partially at fault because she didn't tell Royal anything about her plans or the true nature of the planet they were living on, which she was very well aware of]].
* QuirkyMinibossSquad: The Reborns-- Lawrence, Nobel, and Mendeleev-- fought at One Concern East.
* RecurringBoss:
** Two bladed Controllers are fought in the game: one with Robin as a WarmUpBoss in Blockrock, and another with Mina in Ferrier Shockwood.
** The Silver Watchman is fought four times. The first three fights are in The Tower, with one and two being DuelBoss encounters and the third being a gimmick fight inside a tiny elevator. You face him one last time in Dark Cave, where [[spoiler:he’s being used as a puppet by the Possessed Thunk, a Kathunk mecha infested with the blue eyeballs]].
** Agent Black is the boss of both One Concern West and [[spoiler:the Rocket Platform, where she's technically fought three times; once as an invincible enemy while activating the rocket, another time as a true rematch in front of the rocket, and then as the Ivory Beast, which has two forms]].
* RingOutBoss:
** Once reduced to just a head, all the Carver machine in Ferrier Shockwood can do is spin its blades to produce debris. Elro will jam his sword into the blades to lock them up, at which point Robin has to charge up and grab a rail to ram into the head and knock It back; this repeats for a while, with Robin occasionally dislodging Elro’s sword from the ceiling, until the Carver nearly falls off a cliff (it stays balanced, but the Controller that Mina was chasing pops out and wrecks it).
** Mendeleev works somewhat like this. If she's shot while she's outside of her fiery mode or when she's dropping fireballs, she gets knocked back and temporarily stunned. If she falls into an active electric current in this state, she gets zapped and loses a lot more health than she does from individual shotgun blasts.
* RelationshipReveal: Though they made it glaringly obvious throughout the game, [[spoiler:the ending credits show Mina and Samba reuniting for the first time since rescuing her from the Tower... and promptly start passionately making out]].
* RelationshipValues: Say the right things to a few characters and the BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind right before the FinalBoss has one or more phases become easier [[spoiler:by stunning them once you activate a switch)]], and Mina might join you for the FinalBoss itself.
* {{Retraux}}: The ''Ivory Springs'' version was very much so, and the newer version still has elements like square flowers.
* SadBattleMusic: [[spoiler:The final fight against Black]] has this, though it stops being sad once [[spoiler:she goes OneWingedAngel]]. The same sad music returns outside of battle when [[spoiler:you are escaping from Midway, and are forced to leave Royal behind to die]].
* SanitySlippage: Agent Black's sanity doesn't slip away so much as take a running leap off of the deep end after the first time you beat her in One Concern West's detritus pit. [[spoiler:We don't see the actual process, but once she shows up again at One Concern East for her rematch, she's clearly not in the best place, mentally speaking.]]
* ShaggyDogStory: The plight of the [[spoiler:acolytes Mother was grooming in isolation to be the chosen ones to escape to Midway. Mina leaves the entrance to the Tower open, allowing the acolytes to wander into the outside world for the first time. Unfortunately, the result is that many of the die from the elements or are murdered by Mother's Corners, with the few surviving ones devolving into ''Literature/LordOfTheFlies'' level dysfunction]].
* ShieldedCoreBoss: The fight against [[spoiler:Possessed Thunk]] involves damaging [[spoiler:the Silver Watchman (who is being puppeted around on blue eye strings)]] until he falls over, then attacking the main boss while it [[spoiler:repairs the strings]]. Eventually, the boss gives up on this and starts charging at Robin, though fortunately it's WeakenedByTheLight.
* ShockAndAwe: Robin's wrench gets an upgrade that lets her charge it with electricity by spinning it, and a second upgrade that lets her bombs and missiles become charged as well. [[spoiler:The Birdman can do the same thing with his wrench]].
* ShortRangeShotgun: Handily averted by Mina’s pilfered shotgun, which has more range than any of Robin’s gun types, but absolutely no spread.
* SignpostTutorial: By means of signs that you walk past that expand to show how to perform commands. Some inexplicably reappear in [[spoiler:The Tower]] despite said area being long after you've gotten used to the controls.
* SmallGirlBigGun: Robin wields a massive wrench, although her actual ''gun'' is appropriately sized, as is Mina's shotgun. Agent Black, however, shows up for her rematch wielding a large rocket launcher.
* SmugSuper: [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold As polite as he's capable of being]], Royal has pretty clearly let his psionic powers influence how he perceives others. [[spoiler:Mother doesn't display this nearly as openly, [[ImpliedTrope but the fact that she seems pretty comfortable with everyone else being considered lesser than her has to indicate something about her personality]].]]
* SoapOperaDisease: [[spoiler:Dr. Gustavo]] has an unspecified genetic disease, which makes him somewhat of a social outcast among the Isi since their culture highly values procreation and he refuses to have children since they would inherit his disease.
* StealthBasedMission:
** Early in the game, Robin has to escape from jail by crawling through the community center’s attic. The Concern soldiers having a break near the bar will periodically laugh loudly at each other’s crude jokes, allowing Robin to crawl forward unheard until she can get away.
** The fight with [[spoiler:Ash]] is a stealth-based boss. [[spoiler:Ash]] is invisible, and if he sees Robin or Mina out of hiding, he’ll rush to them (regardless of who the player is controlling) and slam them into the ground for unavoidable damage. To hurt [[spoiler:Ash]], the duo has to stay in hiding spots (there are bushes and puddles to hind it, but Mina can only hide in puddles) until he starts wandering around; his location is signaled by sound waves and rustling grass, and he’s vulnerable to attack at this time.
* TheStoic: Agent Black, whose main emotions seem to be apathy and annoyance.
* TechnicalPacifist: All of Robin's attacks only kill [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman the local wildlife]], and destroy [[MechaMooks robotic enemies and machines]]. Human enemies are merely knocked out, with visible [[CirclingBirdies circling stars]] above their heads. [[spoiler:Throughout the entire story, she only ever directly kills one person out of necessity: Agent Black]]. In contrast, Mina's shotgun and Elro's sword actually do kill human enemies.
* TeleportSpam: The Silver Watchman's main ability, which he uses to dodge your attacks as well as close the distance to strike with his sword.
* ThemeNaming:
** The Agents are all named after shades of grey: Black, White, Ash, and, er, [[ShapedLikeItself Grey]].
** Those with the same powers as Agents but other jobs in the Concern are named after metals: The Silver Watchman and General Chrome.
** The Reborns appear to be named after famous scientists: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitri_Mendeleev Mendeleev]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Nobel Nobel]], and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Lawrence Lawrence]].
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Mina and Robin. Mina carries a large shotgun, bashes things with its butt, has enough body odor that a trained hunter can track her by scent, and gets angry a lot. Her chosen profession at the start of the game is wandering the world looking for stuff to take. Robin may be a mechanic with an oversized wrench, but also carries a small stun pistol (see TechnicalPacifist), apparently bathes regularly, gets flustered, embarrassed, or scared far more easily, and even dolls up her hair. Her chosen profession at the start of the game is to fix up and nurture a settlement near where she lives. This distinction is on display in the fight against [[spoiler:Mother]], wherein Robin [[spoiler:counters and dodges Mother's attacks, occasionally stunning Mother and pulling her out from protection]] while Mina [[spoiler:is the one to do the actual damage against her by shoving seeds into her body, after Robin has made her vulnerable]].
* UndyingLoyalty: The basic One Concern {{Mooks}} all have complete loyalty to General Chrome, and refuse to let anyone but Chrome and possibly his NumberTwo Tolo order them around. Not the EliteMooks of the Bastion, not the Agents, not even Mother herself. [[spoiler:They all universally back Chrome when he rebels against Mother.]]
* TheUnfought: [[spoiler:General Chrome is never fought in true combat (he rides on the helicopter at the end of Shard Wastelands, but he doesn’t pilot it or use any attacks himself), and is ultimately killed by Elro’s serum at the end of City One.]]
* UnexpectedlyRealisticGameplay: Swimming of all things follows real-life rules. You can mash the jump button to swim faster, but your OxygenMeter will deplete more quickly. By swimming at your default, agonizingly slow speed, you conserve oxygen much better and can cover far more distance. The game never tells you this, [[spoiler:and knowing it is required to reach Fitzroy. It's impossible even with three Breathlesses equipped if you mash]].
* UngratefulBastard: You'd think [[spoiler:the Silver Watchman]] would be a little more grateful that you [[spoiler:freed him from his blue eye possession]], but no, he still tries to kill you again the next time you see him.
* VillainProtagonist: [[spoiler:Elro, whose stubbornness and selfishness nearly doom the planet to destruction several times over. His controlling nature with Robin and fear for her after losing his wife and child also cause several problems throughout the game and result in a needlessly antagonistic relationship with Mina. His RevengeBeforeReason attitude also results in his arm getting torn off by someone ''much'' stronger than he is, wounding him even further.]]
* WalkingShirtlessScene: Chrome. Some of the Isi men also wear open shirts.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: There are quite a number of [=NPCs=] and side characters that are briefly seen but never mentioned again. For example:
** [[spoiler:Thor and Thandie finally manage to reach City One, right on the same day civil war breaks out between Chrome and Mother's factions. They are never seen or mentioned again.]]
** We never see any sort of resolution regarding [[spoiler:Mina's strained relationship with her mother]].
** The last we see of [[spoiler:Royal, Robin is forced to leave him behind in the decompressing Midway moonbase. It's not clear if he actually died or not, but seeing as he's effectively immortal with the only known methods of permanently dispatching him being the seeds or Elro's serum, it's highly likely he's still stranded up there, dying and regenerating endlessly]].
* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: Agent Black nearly says this word-for-word when Chrome insists on going through an unnecessary execution scene.
* WhereItAllBegan: The entrance to the last stretch of the game before the FinalBoss opens up in the exact same spot where you fought the very ''first'' boss.
* WrenchWench: The heroine, Robin, to the point of having a gigantic wrench that is used for most of the gameplay.
* XRaySparks: Mendeleev gets zapped in this manner if she falls into an electricity bar during her fight.
* YouAreInCommandNow: [[spoiler:Tolo inherits command of what remains of Chrome's forces after Chrome's death.]]
* YouKilledMyFather: Though it's not exactly clear what caused the death of Robin and Elro's father, Elro clearly lays the blame on the Concern. [[spoiler:This is what causes him to create his anti-Ivory chemical which he uses to kill Agent Grey.]]
* ZeroEffortBoss: [[spoiler:The final shadow creature during the final boss's first phase can be shot without any resistance. [[DevelopersForesight If the player lets it crawl to the other side, it ends up exploding anyway.]]]]
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