Fanfic / SOSchip

Language learning on a cruise ship — as Pokemon? What a taal order.

— Tagline

FIVE AND THIRTY YEARS AGO... a ship called the S.S. Tex-Kofschip was scheduled to have its maiden voyage from Texas to the Netherlands in as little as two days. Of course, the builders didn’t suspect that the ship would wind up at Farleigh-Dickinson University 35 years later. They also didn’t suspect that it would be found by five girls with a strong passion for the Dutch language.

...all of whom were mysteriously turned into Pokémon.

Pokemon: SOSchip (pronounced "sauce-skip,"), is a semi-educational fanfic series based on the real-life friendships and linguistic obsession of the author, oghond, who also is the author of Pokémon × Nimja: Play the Game. The series revolves around oghond and her six friends, all but two of whom are foreigners. Two of them, HP and LonelyFox, are German, and another two, hypedgirl and Yuunari, are from the Netherlands. The fifth friend, Absent, is from California, while the sixth, Ian, hails from New York (the state, not the city). After the five girls are turned into Pokémon under mysterious circumstances, they rediscover the S.S. Tex-Kofschip, a talking, transforming ship who has the ability to travel to other dimensions. They soon decide to travel through dimensions - and across the world - in order to teach Dutch and French to everyone. Picking up Absent (and, in Chapter 21, Ian) along the way, they soon discover that there is a society of so-called "lingual purists" known as the Aleph-Null Task Force who want to establish English as the one spoken language in the world.

Besides teaching the 't kofschip mnemonic device, the series also dives into other aspects of the Dutch language, including grammar, pronunciation, stams, and a lot more. It also educates people about the French language - most notably by making the French mnemonic of "Dr. and Mrs. P. Vandertramp" into actual characters - and explains the relationships between the two languages.

In short: this is the only other series besides PTG that makes learning Dutch fun.

Note here that this canonically takes place in an altverse to the real world— one with every single real life person on the planet, but with some fictitious elements added in.

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SOSchip provides examples of:

• 20 Minutes into the Future: The series was written in 2019; the first chapter takes place in 2020 during oghond’s freshman year of college at Farleigh-Dickinson University.
• Accidental Misnaming: Whenever Aleph-Null is introduced to a character, they always call it "Alpha-Null" before someone corrects them.
• Acrophobic Bird: HP is canonically, in Real Life, afraid of heights. She’s turned into a Butterfree, which is a Flying-type Pokemon. Oddly enough, though, her fear of heights is only observed in the second chapter onwards.
  • Absent, despite having been turned into an Oshawott (and later on, a Rockruff), is paranoid about falling off the side of the S.S. Tex-Kofschip. Justified, however, given that he almost died by falling off of another, unrelated cruise ship in-universe, and in Real Life he had an irrational fear of falling off the side of a cruise ship.
• all lowercase letters: oghond and hypedgirl’s screen names.
• Anthropomorphic Personification: Sierra, a teal-and-black Talonflame, serves as the spirit of Folsom Lake College and the guardian of Cypress Hall. All of the colleges mentioned in the story have one, actually.
• Apologizes a Lot: Go on, count the number of times LF says “I apologize” in the fanfic. It’s a lot.
  • The same is true of Absent, and it’s justified: in both Real Life and in the fanfic he has something of a Guilt Complex. It’s first shown in "A Coder on Board" when he apologizes to Parti for making him run away, but gets expanded upon come "Hostile California" and “Family Matters.” Interestingly it seems to have gone away somewhat as of "Calm Before the Torrent Comes", given how he decides to take his own advice and refuses to “apologize for what isn’t [his] fault”.
  • oghond and HP, given that both are Prone to Tears, are prone to doing this a lot as well, though the former is far more apologetic than the latter is. She is especially so whenever she does anything that would constitute Open Mouth, Insert Foot, and will often tend to repeatedly apologize for these types of things.
• Arc Number: Absent has a bit of a penchant for the number 13 - in Chapter 3, for example, in the montage he manages to get out questions to thirteen of the Vandertramps. Later on, the number 13 continues appearing in regards to Absent. Similarly, multiples of 13 are also rather common for him- he even evolved, in-universe, on what would have been February 26th on Earth.
  • oghond's Arc Number, similarly, is 11, which according to the real oghond is actually her mother's Arc Number in real life. 23 and 2112 also come up as arc numbers for her, as do multiples of 11. Similarly, her evolution occurs in-universe on February 22nd.
  • As for a series-wide arc number, while none has come up yet, it's planned to be the number 912, a reference to the day in which the S.S. Tex-Kofschip was discovered in-universe.
• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: hypedgirl, in spades. In the very first chapter, she gets distracted by everything in the S.S. Tex-Kofschip, and is the one to press the button leading to the Wereldian dimension.
• Author Appeal: Dutch? Tropes? Character breaks? Lampshades? Self-congratulatory narration? Lyric and pop culture references out the wazoo? All present.
• Author Avatar: oghond.
• Back from the Dead: Mort, in Chapter 3. Sort of - he's still dead, but at least his family can interact with him via the plushie he possesses.
• Battle Rapping: “13 Km,” the anti Aleph-Null rap battle number in “Hostile California.”
• Big "SHUT UP!": To Johnathon Case, by Absent, in "Unlucky Seven and Lucky Thirteen". Complete with him absolutely demolishing Case into dust.
  Absent: And stay down this time!
• Bilingual Bonus: The fanfic opens up its prologue with the words "Five-and-thirty years ago". This may seem like a convoluted way of writing 35, but as is pointed out later in the narrative, this is in fact how the Dutch number system works: instead of saying 35, for example, the Dutch would say vijfendertig, which literally translates to five-and-thirty.
  • The name of the ship also counts as a Bilingual Bonus. It’s a reference to the mnemonic device of ’t kofschip/’t ex-kofschip, used for conjugating verbs in the past tense. Incidentally, it’s also a pun— tex, as in Texas, the original starting place for the ship’s maiden voyage.
  • The pun of going “door a door,” - “door” in Dutch means “through”— and you go through a door in English.
  • "Your arm?" "Ja, ik ben arm." ^note  "Arm," in Dutch, means both the part of the body and "poor." "Your arm?" (i.e. "You're poor?") "Yes, I'm poor."
  • Also doubling as a Shout-Out, the line that Absent sings before falling into unconsciousness in Chapter 3 is in Creole French and translates to "Nothing can stop me now."
  • Absent’s Gratuitous Japanese, which is usually translated in author's notes or within the story itself.
  • In "Turning Japanese, Part 2" the Vandertramps translate multiple sentences into Japanese. The eight sentences they come up with were all written in by Absent- since the real oghond cannot translate English sentences into Japanese yet- and translate to "the cat is cute," "English class is boring," "this is my favorite song," "she forgot the homework," "I don't work on Sunday," "let's walk in the forest," "I'd rather die than have a conversation," and "someone stole my mail" respectively.
  • The Japanese conversation between Ian and Absent in "Unlucky Seven and Lucky Thirteen" translates to:
  Absent: Where do you stay on your travels?
  Ian: Oh, I do travel, but not that frequently.
• BFS: Mech Drie's seamitar sword, which according to Word of God is named "Suianesa".
• BSoD Song: "The Desire to Be Nowhere" starts off like this, as Absent has a panic attack and laments his fears about returning home to California after his apparent death and his transformation into a Pokemon. It's replaced by determination come the bridge, when he realizes that he can face his fears with the rest of the Koffiehuis by his side.
• Busby Berkeley Number: "Kofschip!", which is a Broadway-esque explanation on how 't kofschip works, complete with an epic jazz band, choreographed dance routines, and a kickline.
• By the Power of Grayskull!: Hollering "Het-Kofschip— Mech Veranderd!" is the final step to Mechination.
• Characterization Marches On: Yuunarii was always relatively quiet compared to the rest of the Koffiehuis , but it's not until Chapter 5, "Hostile California," that she is firmly established as not talking at all, except for the occasional one-liner or when she's behind a mic in a recording studio, and usually having her bunnies do all the talking for her. This is a result of a decision made during the production of the web series: Yuunarii herself declined to voice herself in the show, and the creator couldn't find a suitable voice actress to do her voice. As such, she decided to make Yuunarii be The Quiet One come the first episode of the web series. In the fanfic, it's not until Chapter 5 that she does this, as this was when the decision was firmly established.
• Character Tic: Absent facepalms rather often, but not for no reason. He also has a tendency to sigh with remorse whenever he inadvertantly makes oghond cry (or at least, makes her sad enough to the point where she otherwise would). If you see Absent sighing in frustration at all, and the person he's talking to is someone who A) he doesn't hate with a passion and B) is sad or crying because of brusqueness on his part, prepare yourself for one of his Pet the Dog moments.
  • On the opposite end, whenever Absent is unapologetically frustrated or angry about something, or otherwise desperately wants a point to be made, expect to see the red eyes of Talbain in all of his forms.
  • oghond has plenty of these herself as well. She tends to pump her vines in the air whenever she's particularly excited or happy about something, and will often retract them back into her bulb in embarrassment whenever she's particularly saddened. She often tends to use her vines akin to hands, and will often gesture with them as though she still has them. If she's feeling a bit cocky, or whenever someone correctly guesses or assumes something she's been hinting at, she will click her tongue and crack her vines at them, the equivalent of her making finger guns. If she has a plan in mind, or is feeling confident about something, she gives a smirk, and if she wants to let someone know they're going down, she will give them a Slasher Smile. A very unnerving Slasher Smile, which, when combined with a wide-eyed Kubrick Stare, makes her look exceptionally manic.
  • If HP is particularly startled by something, she will let out a squeak that, according to oghond, sounds partially akin to a Butterfree's in-game cry.
  • If LF is angered, frustrated, or determined about something, her eyes will narrow.
• Cool Boat: The S.S. Tex-Kofschip, naturally. It’s a boat that can not only talk through telepathy, but also travel to other dimensions. It gets better following “Lingual Mechination”, as now it can turn into six different mechas, and a seventh is added on when Ian joins in "Unlucky Seven and Lucky Thirteen".
• Courtroom Episode: “A Few Crude Stams.” Half of it takes place within a courtroom, and the entire plot revolves around oghond trying to prove the innocence of a crude stam in court.
• Crowd Chant: GO HOME SOUTH CATS! (clap clap clap clap clap) GO HOME SOUTH CATS! (clap clap clap clap clap)
• Deadpan Snarker: Absent. When he is recounted the story of what happened to oghond and her foreign friends in the previous two chapters, his response is "That's so stupid I have no choice but to believe you." The rest of the series features many, many hilarious lines of snarky dialogue from him, very often used either as commentary on the situation around him or at someone else's expense.
  • LonelyFox also tends to be this at times, in an eloquently blunt sort of way.
  • Yuunarii as well, as demonstrated by her YouTube channel, as well as her Silent Snarker tendencies from Chapter 5 onwards.
• Disapproving Look: Absent can't help but wear such a look all the time, but he can look more disapproving when he wants to— often accompanied by bright glowing red eyes.
• Do Not Call Me "Paul": The number of people who Absent has allowed, either explicitly or implicitly, to refer to him as "Corbin" is very, very short, to the point where when HP tries to invoke You Called Me "X"; It Must Be Serious in "Came Back Haunted", he goes over to tell her off. So far, it's been restricted to: his family members, Sierra, the demons in Hell (and Charon and Baphomet specifically), Bewaken (albiet out of spite), Groeien (once he finally stops calling him "Corbinwesttheabsentcoder"), and oghond herself. While Dr. Vandertramp does refer to Absent by his first name, he uses the French pronunciation rather than the English one, and the same thing applies with Freeman, who pronounces it the Japanese way. For everyone else? Call him Absent, unless you're explicitly allowed otherwise.
  • Madelief and Ian, on the other hand, avert this.
• Dynamic Entry: In "Hostile California", Absent picks off the guards to free his family from being their hostages.
  Absent: 'Sup, losers?
  • As a matter of fact, Absent has a bit of a penchant for these, especially towards Aleph-Null and even more so towards Johnathon Case. Arguably his most dynamic entry, beating out the above in just about every regard, was in "Unlucky Seven and Lucky Thirteen", in which (after Ian used Mech Zefen for the first time), he dove out of the ground and proceeded to beat Case to a pulp by emulating Profound Revenance, complete with Gratuitous Japanese, a Big "SHUT UP!", and evolutionary foreshadowing.
• Eloquent in My Native Tongue: HP and Madelief (AKA hypedgirl), but less so with the latter. HP doesn't really talk much in English, and her vocabulary is somewhat limited by her own admission. When she's speaking in German, though, she is extremely fluent. The same thing goes with Madelief, albiet to a lesser extent, as she is an English Motor Mouth. It's averted, though, with LF and Yuunarii, both of whom are fluent in English despite being German and Dutch, respectively. Even if Yuunarii doesn't show it in public often.
  • On the opposite side of the coin, oghond is English-fluent, but sometimes slips up when trying to speak French and especially Dutch. She's taken the former for four years; the latter she has only learned online. The entire point of the series, in fact, is for her to learn and then teach Dutch so she can avert this.
  • Absent is also English-fluent, yet tends to slip up if he's trying to speak Japanese.
• Establishing Character Moment: Every single one of the main characters (bar Yuunarii and Absent) get their moments in the first episode - before they even get turned into Pokemon. oghond is first seen asleep at her desk, having suffered a severe case of writer's block, before being awoken by a knock at the door (who turns out to be HP). There's also her entire opening monologue, in which she self-deprecates her lack of social skills repeatedly, and goes on a long and informative (albeit gushy) tangent. HP's first scene has her asking oghond if she is there, before simply smiling at her friend when she opens the door - a perfect display of her friendly, yet shy personality. Madelief, meanwhile, jumps from behind oghond and screams "SURPRISE!" at the top of her lungs, before giggling and apologizing for inadvertently scaring her. LF is first introduced, after oghond doesn't recognize her, asking her bluntly what she means about not recognizing her.
  • Later on, all five of them get a second moment when they're turned into a Pokemon: oghond panics before Madelief comes in to allow her some time to think about the situation. She eventually decides that it's pretty dang cool. Madelief is ecstatic, HP is slightly confused and terrified, LF asks if their transformation is even real, and Yuunarii is initially confused, then slightly dismayed, then ecstatic.
  • As for Absent, the first thing we see him do in the entire series is enter the bathroom of a cruise ship, get a cup of water, and drink it - before immediately spitting it out in disgust and tossing the cup into a recycle bin. He turns on a playlist mere moments later and soon wakes up to find his phone being blown away from him, sending him into a panic.
  • When he actually falls in the water, and realizes he's going to die, it's very telling that the first people he thinks of are his family. And just like the rest of the main characters, he has one upon his realization into a Pokemon- his first reaction is subdued shock, and a second later, he laments the loss of his jacket and then panics about his phone being missing. Arguably his biggest moment of this, though, occurs with one line after oghond explains to him the crazy events of the last two chapters, which helps to show both his Deadpan Snarker tendencies and his desire to take himself and everything around him as seriously as possible:
  Absent: That's so stupid I have no choice but to believe you.
  • Every single Vandertramp child gets this in "I'm Not a Doctor, I'm a Tramp", but the Entre-Reentre brothers get theirs first. When Reentre hears the word "guests", he charges into the room, glomps oghond, and happily greets her - only to stop the instant his brother Entre enters the room, scolding him for doing so. The rest of the Vandertramps are only mentioned in passing minus Ne - who acts like a typical newborn - and Tombe, who trips right over her own tail.
    • "A Coder on Board" establishes the other Vandertramps further, solely through their responses to Absent's psychoanalyses.
  • "Unlucky Seven and Lucky Thirteen" gives us our first proper introduction to Ian Salberg, who is on a plane ride home from Japan after having seen the latest Godzilla movie. When he gets the news of the mecha fights at Folsom Lake and Sac City college, he is absolutely ecstatic, and later on expresses optimism at the thought of going onto the S.S. Tex-Kofschip. He is also not in the least bit fazed by his transformation into a Pokemon, and in fact thinks that him becoming a Ralts is the coolest thing in the world— much to the dismay of literally everyone else on board, who have had to deal with the exact opposite thanks to the West family's dilemmas on Rachimas Eve. All of this serves to help establish Ian as The Pollyanna of the main group, as well as a massive nerd.
• Face Palm: Absent has developed facepalms to an art form, with all sorts of variants. Most common is the Picard, where both hands are raised to the facepalmer's face.
• Fantastic Racism: Crude stams aren't thought of very highly in Wereldia. In fact, the mistreatment of them is so terrible that when Ian sees the footage of Pols being mistreated and taken away by cops in Yuunarii's video in "Unlucky Seven and Lucky Thirteen", he is extremely disturbed. After the court trial, the treatment of crude stams has been getting marginally better, but this trope is still very much present.
• First-Person Smartass: Absent, when he narrates, is very snarky— more than half of his dialogue/narration consists of him making jabs at everything around him.
• Five Temperament Ensemble: oghond, hypedgirl, and Ian are sanguine, Absent is melancholic, LonelyFox is choleric, HP is phlegmatic, and Yuunarii is leukine.
  • Among the first four Spirit Mons mentioned in the series:
    • Sierra is melancholic, being the stern and measured, if kindhearted and somewhat playful, leader who recruited the Koffiehuis in the first place.
    • Freeman is choleric, being the harsh, Hair-Trigger Temper-prone Brooklyn rager from California who believes his college to be the superior one to Sierra's due to it being in the capital.
    • Madison is sanguine, being the fun-loving, slightly egotistical yet very much good-hearted and doting Knight in Shining Armor who will stand up to any bully.
    • Florham is phlegmatic, being the Cuckoolanders Minder to Madison while also being a somewhat shy ditz who loves to eat and sing and values his relationship with Madison very intensely.
• Forced Transformation: Subverted. While everyone who was initially human reacts with some mixture of confusion and excitement at no point do they express anger over being transformed. Except for Absent, but that's more over his jacket than his form. The same cannot be said, however, for Absent's family members, who are all livid at Sierra for leaving them in their Pokemon forms, as their lives have only gotten worse because of it.
• Freudian Trio: oghond, Madelief, and Ian serve as ids, HP and Yuunarii as egos, and Absent and LonelyFox as superegos.
  • Between the three main members of Aleph-Null, Mancia is the id, Case is the superego, and Williamson is the ego.
• Friendship Moment: These are very prevalent, given the nature and backstory behind the fic.
• "Gaining Confidence" Song: Both of Absent's main solo songs, "The Desire to Be Nowhere" and "Pride Yourself", are this. The former starts out as a BSoD Song, with Absent lamenting his fears of returning home to Camp Arrowkin and facing his family as a Pokemon. By the end of the song, he realizes he can do it with his friends by his side, and boldly declares that this is what he wants to do and that he is willing to face his family. The latter song, meanwhile, has him in another BSOD state, initially lamenting his situation (he's been trapped by Aleph-Null and likely won't see his family again) and telling himself to pride himself on who he is. As the song continues, he gains more confidence in himself, claiming that he shouldn't feel any shame in defending the place he calls home, and makes his escape.
• Geek: oghond. In the first chapter she’s revealed to have a love of the Canadian band Rush, and her musical project Freewill in 2112 is mentioned. Not to mention her extreme adoration of the Dutch language and of the Netherlands as a whole. In the narration, she often goes on long-winded tangents, gushing repeatedly about her love for musicals, Rush, and O.O.C. Is Serious Business as a trope. To such an extent that the series’ episodic Couch Gag is oghond going on a tangent about the themes of the episode itself.
  • Ian also counts, thanks to his love of superhero and kaiju films, magical girl shows, and MOTHER— among tons and tons of other things.
• Genki Girl: Madelief "hypedgirl" Cornelisse. While oghond can also be this to an extent, Madelief is much more so.
• Genius Bonus: From "13 Km":
  The language barrier is constantly rising
  While you guys are a slope that's eight times been deriving ^note  Derivatives in math, if applied to polynomial functions, only ever level out.
• Given Name Reveal: RIP CORBIN WAYNE WEST: 2001-2020
  • "Name-Words and Work-Words" also reveals the author's real name.
  • It's [[Averted]], though, with Ian, whose full name (Ian Salberg) is given to the audience from the start.
• Gratuitous Japanese: Absent tends to use this sometimes.
• Humongous Mecha: Koffie can transform into one of seven mechas depending on the held Mechinator. In order:
  • Mechinator 1 (oghond’s Mechinator) -> Mech Een, a dinosaur-like creature covered in plated armor.
  • Mechinator 2 (Madelief’s Mechinator) -> Mech Twee, a giant mecha Wigglytuff that can steamroll its opponents to the ground.
  • Mechinator 3 (Absent’s Mechinator) -> Mech Drie, the classic “giant robot” mecha associated with shows such as Gundam. It has teal-and-black wings that it can use for flight and it is Koffie’s main mecha form.
  • Mechinator 4 (HP’s Mechinator) -> Mech Vier, a giant, Mothra-sized Volcarona with Koffie’s head.
  • Mechinator 5 (LonelyFox’s Mechinator) -> Mech Vijf, a robot Ninetails.
  • Mechinator 6 (Yuunarii’s Mechinator) -> Mech Zes, a mecha Scorbunny that shoots rockets from its ears.
  • Mechinator 7 (Ian's Mechinator) -> Mech Zefen, a mecha Hydreigon with hypnotic powers and spirals for eyes.
• "I Am Becoming" Song: "Pride Yourself".
• I'm a Doctor, Not a Placeholder: The inverse of this trope is the source of Chapter 2's title, "I'm Not a Doctor, I'm a Tramp."
• Image Song / Bootstrapped Theme: All seven members of the main cast (barring Ian) have themes that fit their respective characters, and six respective EPs with five songs each. In order of EP, they are as follows:
  • oghond´s character album: "Broken and Beautiful", "New Perspective", "It's Time, "Bicycle Race", and "Caravan". ^note  In order, here's what they deal with: "Broken and Beautiful" revolves around oghond's flaws in communication and how she has slowly become more open with accepting them; both "New Perspective" and "It's Time" involve her desire to learn more about the Dutch language and more about herself; "Bicycle Race," naturally, is about oghond's obsession with The Netherlands as a whole, and "Caravan" is about oghond's great imagination, ambition, and desire to travel the world on Koffie.
  • hypedgirl/Madelief's character album: "High Hopes," "Nine In the Afternoon," "Ready to Go (Get Me Out of My Mind)", "Upside Down," and her own song "Mess in My Brain" (see above). ^note  In order, here's what they deal with: "High Hopes" revolves around Madelief's boundless optimism and dreams for her career; "Nine In the Afternoon" deals- more subtly than others- with her ADHD, as does "Ready to Go (Get Me Out of My Mind)"; "Upside Down" solely deals with her optimistic viewpoint on life ("High Hopes" mainly focused on her optimistic goals); and "Mess in My Brain" was, of course, written by Madelief about her ADHD.
  • Absent's character album: "21st Century Breakdown", "Duality", "Starlight", "Hard To See", and "Solitary Shell". ^note  Absent's character album is probably the most straightforward out of all of them: "21st Century Breakdown" deals with his work ethic and desire for relative anonymity, especially how college forced him to mature; "Duality" touches on the tensions and frustration brought on by the mission and how daunting it all is; “Starlight” deals with his loyalty to the cause despite his separation from his life; “Hard To See” makes note of the growing divide and tension between him and the gang; and "Solitary Shell” is much the same as “Hard To See” while acknowledging his fights with Talbain. Although Absent has considered a number of other songs like "Bat Country" and "H."
  • HP's character album: "Breakaway", "Perfect", "Pocketful of Sunshine," "Still Alive", and "Paradise". ^note  In order, here's what they deal with: "Breakaway" revolves around HP's desire to grow a spine; "Perfect" is about her strained relationship with her mother; "Pocketful of Sunshine" is, according to the author, "all of HP's feelings towards Nimja and what she would say to him if they met"; "Still Alive" is, of course, a manifestation of HP's Portal fandom; and "Paradise" represents HP's desire to escape her world through creativity.
  • LF's character album: "Natural", "Roll the Bones," "Entre Nous", "Deep Water," and "This Is Gospel". ^note  In order, here's what they deal with: "Natural" is about LF's fierce determination; "Roll the Bones" deals with her philosophical waxing and- due to the lyrics of Neil Peart- a manifestation of her Sesquipidalian Loquaciousness; "Entre Nous" is about her friendships with all the other members of the Koffiehuis; "Deep Water" specifically deals with her friendship with HP and how she feels as though she needs HP to help her survive in life; and "This Is Gospel" deals with her belief, outlined in later chapters, that she is falling apart and feels that she can't survive in life without HP.
  • Yuunarii's character album: "Bubbly," "Complicated", all fifteen verses of "Het Wilhelmus", "We Like to Party," and "Iris". ^note  In order, here's what they deal with: "Bubbly" is a manifestation of Yuunarii's awkwardness and her love of all things cute (according to the author, she's singing it to her bunnies— d'awwwww!); "Complicated" deals with her snarkiness; "Het Wilhelmus" is obvious; "We Like to Party" is Dutch Eurobeat pop; and "Iris" revolves around her desire to keep an anonymous profile online and keep her IRL and YouTube lives seperate.
• Immune to Mind Control: Double Subverted by Absent in "Jeetje!". At first he seems to fall swiftly to the rainbow plug's mind control, but after beating back Aleph-Null says that he wasn't brainwashed for a moment.
• Innocently Insensitive: Absent; see Prone to Tears below.
• In the Style of: All nine songs in “Hostile California” are meant to be pastiches of certain genres/singers/songs. In order:
  • “95630 (Distinctive By Nature)” is in part based on “Put On Your Sunday Clothes” from Hello, Dolly!, but the overall tone and speed of the song is more reminiscent of 1920's big band jazz numbers, such as "We Both Reached For the Gun" from Chicago.
  • “Kofschip!” is based on “All That Jazz” from Chicago as well as 1920’s jazz in general.
  • “The Purist Anthem” is based on Celtic rock music, specifically the songs of Flogging Molly.
  • “Little Bird” (which can be found here) was originally written and performed by the real Madelief Cornelisse, whose style is reminiscent of artists such as Colbie Calliat.
  • “The Desire to Be Nowhere” was initially meant to be based on soft rock and more specifically on the music of Matchbox Twenty; however, by the time the readings started, the tone of the song had changed drastically. The final version, according to Word of God, is based on the music of My Chemical Romance, particularly songs from their album "Welcome to the Black Parade" and most notably the title track.
  • “Hostile California” is based on the music of '70’s-'80’s rock and prog rock bands; specifically, the music of Rush and Dream Theater.
  • “Pride Yourself” is based on “Defying Gravity” from Wicked, as well as, again, the music of Dream Theater.
  • “13 Km” is based primarily on 8 Mile's rap numbers.
  • Finally, the finale number- the reprise of "95630 (Distinctive By Nature)" is just your standard Broadway finale reprise.
• "I Want" Song: "Little Bird." In an interesting twist, however, the song is sung by Madelief Cornelisse herself (the original artist of the song) in the background of a flashback, detailing Absent's thoughts and his desire to seclude himself in the wake of the events of said flashback:
  Little bird, I can see you in the distance
  Little bird, you're soaring so high
  Little bird, so far away from me
  I'm sitting down here and you're in the sky
  You're flying through the clouds with nothing to worry about...
• Kindness Ball: Absent. He's not the most friendly of the Koffiehuis, but he doesn't have it in him to hate anyone without reason. This is most on display in "Name-Words and Work-Words", where after his Rage Breaking Point he attempts to save the one he endangered and ultimately delivers a written apology to the Koffiehuis and Taalstadian citizens. Later on, he gets it again in "Came Back Haunted" not once, but twice (see Pet the Dog below).
• Last Chorus Slow-Down: "SO... BOARD... THE... KOFSCHIP! IT DON'T MATTAH..." Given that "Kofschip!" is inspired by big band Broadway numbers, and includes a kickline, this was pretty much expected.
• Lazy Bum: Passé. He's introduced in Chapter 2 simply laying there and letting life pass him by, not doing a single thing. That being said, though, his laziness is only surface-level, as he not only is a master procrastinator who can fool everyone into thinking that he put work into things, he also is one of the most fleshed-out of the Vandertramps as of Chapter 19, with only Monte beating him in terms of screentime and character development.
• Life Embellished: As one of the taglines for the fanfic states: "The main characters, places, and flashbacks in this story are all real. The whole turning into Pokémon thing? Not so much."
• Literal-Minded: Oh, Koffie...
  • To clarify further, in the episode "North Cats vs. South Cats," it misunderstands the term "grounded", believing that term is only used in the context of forced airplane landings.
  • And if you thought Koffie was bad, it gets worse when the Wereldian Court comes in. While their court proceedings are mostly accurate, the courtroom itself is a tennis court, its benches are park benches, the bailiff is a Bayleef... it's just a mess.
  • One word: Taalstad. Its entire existence, in fact, involves it being a celebration of the literal eccentricities of the Dutch language, including literal translations from Dutch to English of animals, items, and parts of speech. It's so literal, in fact, that Absent gets a headache from it the moment he first visits it— and it only grows stronger from there.
• Meaningful Name: Every single one of Dr. and Mrs. P Vandertramp’s children:
  • Arrivé (from arriver- “to arrive”): The traveling partner of Venu who always arrives late to everything.
  • Allé (from aller- “to go”): A lightening-fast, quick-talking Greninja who is always in a rush to go places and get things done.
  • Venu (from venir: “to come”): A Chesnaught who has visited tons of countries and is always eager to visit new places.
  • Passé (from passer: “to pass by”): Lazy, unmotivated, a major procrastinator, lets life simply pass him by.
  • Revenu (from revenir: “to come back”): Has No Social Skills and always keeps coming back to the Netherlands in conversation.
  • Devenu (from devenir: “to become”): Works as a psychiatrist and helps to reform ex-convicts.
  • Entré (from entrer: “to enter”): The butler of the children who always greets new guests at the door with a respectful air. His name also doubles as a pun on “entreé.”
  • Reentré (from reentrer: “to re-enter”): Entré’s twin brother; he tries to greet people at the door as his brother would and miserably fails at it.
  • Descendu (from descendre: “to go down”): Eternally pessimistic.
  • Retourné (from retourner: “to return”): Immensely loyal to his home and family; serves as The Heart of the kids and is overly affectionate.
  • Resté (from rester: “to stay”): A deadpan Floette who stays upstairs in her bedroom all day.
  • Monté (from monter: “to climb”): Eternally optimistic and eternally persistent.
  • Sorti (from sortir: “to go out”): Flirts and goes on dates with practically every guy she sees.
  • Parti (from partir: “to leave”): Extremely shy, runs away from everything, dislikes conflict; Sorti’s twin brother.
  • Tombeé (from tomber: “to fall”): Extremely clumsy; trips over her own tail.
  • Neé (from naître: “to be born”): A newborn baby Pichu and the youngest of the children.
  • Mort (from mourir: “to die”): Died in a car crash; gained a Ghost typing as a result.
• Additionally, Pols, Tillen, Gesloopt, and Vernietigd have this. In order:
  • "Pols" is "slop" (the crude stam of the Dutch word "slopen", meaning to demolish) backwards, signifying Pols' innocence, but also doubles as a pun: the word "pols" means "wrist" in Dutch. This is made light of extensively during the court trial, and explains why Pols wears a wristband the whole chapter.
  • "Tillen" is the Dutch word for "to lift," as in weight-lifting, which makes sense for a Machamp. Like Pols' name, it also has a double meaning: Tillen is also the one who gives the Koffiehuis a lift to the court.
  • "Gesloopt" is the past tense conjugated form of "slopen," which makes sense for a Gyarados who has destroyed multiple monuments in the past.
  • Finally, "vernietigd" is the past tense form of "vernietig," which means "to destroy" in Dutch. Makes sense for a ruthless Shiny Salamence and the one who really demolished half the Wereldian Stadium.
• Other citizens of the Wereldian Dimension have these too. To wit:
  • "Verzamelen" is the Dutch word for "to gather" or "to collect", which is fitting for a hoarder Santa Claus who collects items people leave for him at a shrine in the Berglijdend mountain (at least, until he is given an intervention). As of said intervention, the name has a double meaning, with him effectively serving to gather together the populace in celebration at the new Rachimas historical festivals.
• Every single member of the Irregularity Council has a name that befits their personality. In order:
  • Zijn ("to be") is the group's leader and the one that is the most accepting of the Council's quirks to the point of wanting them to be a part of the Wereldian Congress.
  • Hebben ("to have") is, according to oghond, somewhat of a victim of greed. He is also the most envious of the rest of the Wereldian Congress and desperately wishes to have a position on it.
  • Doen ("to do") is said to be a hard-working individual and the one that has come up with arguably the most law ideas.
  • Gaan ("to go") is reportedly the council's ambassador, who travels to thousands of places in Wereldia on behalf of the entire Congress. He also has a bit of a love of travel in general, much like Venu.
  • Zullen ("will") is arguably the most forceful of the group in trying to oust Verafschuwen from his position, and the most forceful about wanting to join the Congress along with Alle. He also, according to Zijn, has a lot of willpower.
  • Slaan ("to hit") is The Glomp, who has a tendency to playfully but forcefully slap mons on the back when greeting them. He is also one of the Council's hardest hitters in battle.
  • Zien ("to see") is prone to giving Thousand Yard Stares and can see through people's skeletons.
  • Staan ("to stand") does basically nothing but stand there and take hits, and also tends to look off into the distance and stand idly.
  • Kunnen ("can") works with Zullen on a nigh-daily basis, and is perpetually optimistic and forceful about the idea of getting a spot in the Congress.
  • Mogen ("may" or "to be allowed") are perpetually polite, constantly asking others for permission to do just about anything.
  • Finally, Komen ("to come") gleefully serves as a tagalong in just about everything the Council do.
• Wettenmaken is derived from wetten maken, "to make laws", which fits his role as the head of the Wereldian Congress and WALP. His actual name, Verafschuwen, references his hateful, repressive laws and personality.
• Middle Child Syndrome: Absent. But he still loves his family.
• Motor Mouth: Again, Absent. Particularly when his anxiety gets the better of him mid-dialogue, he describes that it's really hard for him to slow down when he talks, much less stop.
  • Allé, who is a quick-talking, quick-moving Greninja who is extremely busy and panicky, always bustling around the ship trying to go places, do things, and get things done.
• Mundane Made Awesome: The chapter "A Few Crude Stams" does this to the concept of Dutch conjugation and stams, by presenting a Courtroom Episode in which an innocent crude stam is accused of a crime he didn’t commit, forcing the Koffiehuis to go to trial to prove his innocence.
• Musical Episode: “Hostile California,” which boasts nine songs each in a variety of different styles.
• Musical Theme Naming: Mech Drie's attacks are named after albums - Vulgar Display of Power and Undertow, for example.
  • Word of God is that the missiles Absent had Mech Drie fire in "Jeetje!" is an attack named Dark Shines.
• My Favorite Shirt: “Dang it, I liked that jacket.”
• Mythology Gag: Absent musing about how his family jabs pins in him when he’s pain-free may seem like a strange metaphor, but it references the song “Fixxxer”, which the real Absent tried for a while to get put on his character album.
• No Hugging, No Kissing: "Don’t ship me and Absent. Because... ew.”
• Non-Appearing Title: Four of the songs in “Hostile California”- “The Purist Anthem,” “The Desire to Be Nowhere”, the title track, and “13 Km.”
• No Social Skills: In the very first chapter, oghond mentions that she has a very hard time talking to people in Real Life. Online, however, it's a much different story, and has a lot to do with how fluently she interacts with just the four foreigners. When she speaks to Dr. Vandertramp in Chapter 2, it's a lot more awkward. Arguably, the person she is able to interact with the most fluently is Absent- and even then, it can sometimes get awkward.
• Nothing Exciting Ever Happens Here: The most exciting thing to happen to Absent’s hometown? The initial landing of Aleph-Null. And even then, the real battle happens not at the Camp, but in Folsom at Folsom Lake College.
• Oh, My Gods!: "Arceus’ unholy flank...", muttered by Absent on more than a few occasions.
• On Three: Done three times, naturally, by Absent in “Lingual Mechination” shortly after his above realization that HP is so terrified of Mechinating Koffie that he has to be the one to help her. He promptly decides on going around to the back of her wing and pushing it forward so that she will know what it feels like; if it hurts, he’ll do it softer. The first time it happens, he slaps her on accident and bruises her wing due to how fragile butterfly (and therefore Butterfree) wings are. The second time, he does it softer, but it still hurts, and the third time, he just pats her wing hard enough to push it forward; HP is startled, but it doesn’t seem to have hurt her.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Given that the author of this fanfic is also the author of Pokémon × Nimja: Play the Game, it's practically a given that there are a lot of these moments in this series:
  • The entire climax of "North Cats vs. South Cats" contains several of these moments, but by far the biggest is the ending of the game, which combines this trope with Cue the Flying Pigs. While the North Cats and South Cats tying for the first time in their history is not this trope (that's the Cue the Flying Pigs part), them settling aside their differences and attaining peace after 20 years of being at each other's throats is. Atepen and Nojiel are completely stunned.
  • Speaking of the North Cats breaking character, the moment wherein all the North Cat fans and North Cats standing up for the South after a terrible call by the referee catches the entire Koffiehuis off-guard.
  • The trope is flat-out mentioned by name and discussed in the middle of the game. oghond mentions that if the normally peaceful South Cats invoke this trope by using more aggressive measures on the North, it could very well cause the North Cats to be caught off-guard and fumble the ball. Madelief then asks what OOCISB is, to which oghond dryly replies:
  oghond: Me swearing.
  • By the climax of “Family Matters,” the normally soft-spoken, cowardly HP manages to stand up to her mother with a "The Reason You Suck" Speech to keep her from striking Absent with a pan.
    • HP is the resident Acrophobic Bird of the group. She’s afraid of heights and doesn’t like using her wings often unless she needs to. One of the first signs that she’s that fed up with her mother isn’t even the screaming- it’s the fact that she flies up into the air and uses her wings at ground level without a moment’s hesitation.
  • The trope is once again mentioned by oghond at the start of “Lingual Mechination,” this time in reference to a Real Life moment of this from Rush’s notoriously shy drummer, Neil Peart (see the Rush page for more context).
  • "Jeetje!" justifies, subverts, and zigzags this trope. The entire plot of this chapter involves oghond freaking out over the fact that all of the foreigners on board the ship gradually begin to exhibit behaviors contrary to how they usually act. By the climax of it all, HP has become hostile and violent, Madelief has holed herself up in her room and is depressed, LF has began speaking more succinctly, and Yuunarii is loud, cheerful, and entergetic. As it turns out, this was caused by Aleph-Null mind-controlling them with rainbow plugs, so none of it was of their own volition and was completely involuntary. Once the mind-control devices are destroyed and Aleph-Null is pushed back, everyone goes back to their usual selves and initially believe their mind-control state to have been a dream.
  • As a result of an Armor-Piercing Question and a massive reality check from the Absent Coder in "Turning Japanese, Part 1", the eternally optimistic Monte falls into a bit of a depressive state at the end of the chapter, as he begins to ruminate on what his real purpose in life is and whether or not his pursuit of teaching Japanese to the entirety of Wereldia is worth it. It's further emphasized by the fact that, according to Word of God, the song that plays in the background of this scene is Supertramp's "The Logical Song", which revolves around a loss of innocence and optimism along with a plea to "please tell me who I am".
  • "Came Back Haunted" gives us three moments of this, and all of them occur upon a member of the Koffiehuis seeing a possessed oghond for the first time. The first moment occurs when both Bailey and Fudge shake and run under the table after seeing a bloodied, writhing, possessed oghond shaking on her bed and screaming. While Bailey running under the table is normal, given that he's been scared of a ton of things before and has been described as having been jumpy and scaredy by the real-life Yuunarii on her website, Fudge- who is far more calm, snarky, and brave compared to Bailey- running under the table in fear is decidedly not. In correspondence with this, the normally composed and stoic LF also looks on with a look of complete terror upon seeing oghond's possessed form. The third and final moment of this, however, occurs when Absent enters the room— and upon seeing oghond possessed, he is so horrified that the only word he can manage to say is a subdued "...oh." While not necessarily his first moment of Sarcasm Failure in the series, it's definitely among his most notable.
• Pet the Dog: Somewhat surprisingly, Absent has had a lot of these moments. The most notable one, however, occurs at the very end of "Came Back Haunted"— twice. The first moment is when he gives a freezing oghond his warm soft jacket to sleep under after her bedsheets and blankets get covered in blood after she is possessed by Baphomet, and the second moment is his heart-to-heart with oghond at the end of the chapter, in which he assures her that even though he's no longer the same Absent that oghond first became friends with, for all his snark and vitriol he's still a friend and doesn't want to see her go through as drastic a change as he did. This later on gets reinforced at the end of "Calm Before the Torrent Comes," in which Absent tells oghond that he "can't hate her" despite her egoism and intense hyperactivity.
• Prone to Tears: The S.S. Tex-Kofschip, being a ship stranded under dust for 35 years, has caused it to have difficulty in parsing human emotions such as anger. More specifically, it believes that if anyone is angry at it, that must mean it's a horrible ship. Therefore, if anyone even slightly raises their voice, for any reason, and Koffie is in earshot, it will start tearing up the minute it hears.
  • In the aforementioned "Family Matters," Koffie is absolutely horrified when it translates HP's mother's German and realizes she's screaming at her and demanding she never talk to her friends again. Koffie starts sniffling in front of the entire Koffiehuis right then and there, and when questioned why, it responds with I don't like hearing people yell at people... it'll just make them think they're bad people... It is heartwrenching.
  • Also very much prone to tears are HP and oghond: the former is terrified of practically everything and the latter is hopelessly naive to the point of annoyance, but is sweet towards just about everybody, including Absent. Unfortunately, she doesn't quite realize that Absent wants to be alone, so any time the Coder calls her out for forcibly dragging her into everything, she sinks and usually starts crying. Even Absent admits towards Charon in "Came Back Haunted" that it's hard to not feel at least a bit sad for her in these kinds of moments. As of "Calm Before the Torrent Comes," however, she's getting better. Hopefully.
• Pronoun Trouble: Nobody knows what pronoun to use for Koffie. oghond initially calls Koffie “it,” as does hypedgirl. They both switch to "they" later on. As for Absent, he starts out calling Koffie "it," then switches to "she," then "they." However, he eventually switches firmly into calling Koffie "she" due to maritime tradition, and by the time of "Exile on Mainstream" everyone else has followed suit, with oghond being the last one to switch over.
• The Quiet One: Yuunarii. She's shyer than HP in real life, and her bunnies Bailey and Fudge often have to talk for her due to the fact that she barely says anything.
• Quirky Household: The Vandertramps, natch. The father of the household is an eccentric and cheerful doctor with a love of mnemonics, but their children are equally as quirky: a couple of devout travelers, a fast-talking Frogadier, an overly-optimistic Phantump, an overly-pessimistic Pumpkaboo, a Skiddo who is obsessed with the Netherlands... the list goes on and on and on. They’re so quirky Absent psychoanalyzes them all in “A Coder on Board”, to his ever-increasing frustration.
• Rage Breaking Point: A great many of these have occurred throughout the course of the series. The most prominent one, however, occurs in "Family Matters", after HP's overprotective and education-obsessed mother accuses oghond of scaring her daughter. Absent isn't having it one bit, and promptly lets loose with the memorable "bloody hell, I bet you only had her out of wedlock" rant... which doesn't do a thing but enrage HP's mother more, to the point where she nearly hits Absent with a frying pan. This turns out to be the Rage Breaking Point for her daughter, who furiously lets loose with a rant of her own— entirely in German, and it's that speech that shocks her mother.
  • In "Name-Words and Work-Words," Absent gets one again, this time towards Groeien. After the stoic Flapple annoys him one too many times by getting his name wrong, despite repeated corrections, Absent snaps in horrifying fashion, brutalizing him with an Ice Beam and a Bubble Beam combined to replicate Carmine's Infinite Worth EXS. In doing so, however, he almost kills Groeien, which leaves him absolutely horrified by what he's done.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Frau Potter is given three in rapid succession in "Family Matters": One from Absent, the longest one of the three; one from HP, which is entirely in German, and one from Sierra, who calmly tears into her while painfully transforming her into a Volcarona. The first one— containing the memorable "bloody hell, I bet you only had her out of wedlock" line— was reportedly nailed by the real Absent Coder in one take.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Felix Atepen and Leonidas Nojiel, respectively. The former is a dramatic Large Ham announcer; the latter is much more methodical and matter-of-fact in regards to his commentary.
  • oghond is red to Absent’s blue. The former is easily excited while the latter is easily frustrated, for starters.
• Rhetorical Question Blunder: From Chapter 11, "Name-Words and Work-Words":

Absent: Is the Pope Catholic?

Groeien: Yes, he is indeed Catholic.

Rennen: Everyone knows that!

• Say My Name: "CORBIN?!?!?!" Twice, both times by members of Absent's family, upon finding out he's Not Quite Dead in "Hostile California."
  • Of course, though, it's Absent's last name that is far more commonly screamed out, courtesy of Johnathon Case himself: "WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEST---!!"
• Seinfeldian Conversation: One of the main features of the fic, with most of them taking place between oghond and Absent. Most notably, "A Coder on Board" has one of these, in which the two talk about, among other things that take place off-screen, pi mnemonics and how to do a fart noise. "Lingual Mechination" also opens with one of these, about bands that wear masks or otherwise hide themselves on stage.
• Self-Insert Fic: Not only is SOSchip a self-insert fanfiction, it’s so much of a self-insert fanfiction that the real names of both the Absent Coder and oghond were used in the story - in “Hostile California” and “Name-Words and Work-Words,” respectively. Both real names have since been used in the story repeatedly, though Absent's is only used by other people and is almost never used to directly refer to him by oghond except when she is talking to his family. Though, all main characters - save the author herself - were all asked for permission by oghond to be in the story, and they all said yes. Real-life events that serve as plot points in some chapters were all put in with the permission of the person who the event had happened to, and if the person did not want an event or name mentioned, it was not mentioned.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: LF, though it's slightly downplayed in that it's only Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness for a German speaking English- which is to say, very sophisticated use of the English language to such an extent that she doesn't even use contractions. For comparison, HP, who is also German, is English-fluent, but much more casual. LF's very first line of dialogue says it all:
  LF: I would like to inquire what you mean by that. Surely, you recognize me?
• "Setting Off" Song: "95630 (Distinctive By Nature)," the opening number of “Hostile California,” sung by the entire Koffiehuis (excluding Yuunarii and Absent, who hasn't gotten up yet), is an upbeat number about the group's plans to visit... well, Folsom ^note  95630 is Folsom's area code, and “Distinctive by nature” is its motto and start to teach languages to the world. At the very end of the number, when Absent comes in and finds out where they're going (after initially lampshading the fact that this is a Musical Episode), he bargains.
• Shapeshifting Excludes Clothing: Averted; all clothing dissappears because Pokemon are naturally naked.
• Shotgun Wedding: Absent accuses Frau Potter of only having HP because of this, although oghond calls the claim into question, but doesn't dwell on the thought.
• Something Only They Would Say: The very first chapter of the series has an example of this: In-Universe, oghond has never seen LF’s face or heard her voice, so upon seeing her for the first time, she doesn’t recognize her. That is, until she opens her mouth and speaks using words that would be Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness for a German speaking English. This is what convinces oghond it’s LF, as only LF talks using words like that.
  • Two chapters later, in “A Coder on Board,” it’s used again, this time with oghond and Absent. Shortly after Absent is turned into an Oshawott, oghond doesn’t recognize him, though he does think he sounds slightly familiar. While the "Arceus' unholy flank" nearly gets her, the real kicker is when, upon hearing that HP saved his life, Absent turns to HP and remarks "Pride yourself". From that line, oghond recognizes him immediately, as that line is Absent's catchphrase, and is extremely delighted to see him again.
  • A variant appears in "Hostile California"— in order to prove his identity to his family, Absent calls out "Come here, stupid!" to his dog when she glomps his brother Nathan. The dog hears, glomping him. As Absent points out, that line is something his brother says to the family dog - since only a member of the West family knows that the dog answers to both her real name and "stupid." Absent's mother and brother are able to figure out who is speaking accordingly:
  Absent's mother (shocked): CORBIN?!
  • It happens again, this time towards Aleph-Null, in "The Mutt in the Mirror." At the end of the previous chapter, Absent is turned from an Oshawott into a Rockruff at his request— but Johnathon Case has no idea, and assumes that he is still a "musky water rat." When Case initially sees Absent's new form, he assumes that he has been replaced by an impostor, only for Absent to counter with a deadpan:
  Absent: Slave screams.
  • Seconds later: "WEST--?!"
• Speaks in Shout-Outs: You can tell if a line was written by Absent if it contains song lyrics.
  Talbain: Shift blame onto your dark half, but whose back is casting the shadow he let stretch up and over him?
  Absent: I am not going to be convinced to inherit your empire of dirt.
• The Song Before the Storm: The titular number in "Hostile California" serves as this, with everyone singing about their goal to fight and defeat the lingual purists of Alelph-Null when they attack Absent's home state of California:
  We're living in a hostile situation
  And the time's come to bring them down
  It's a hostile situation
  What do we gotta do to save this town?
  Folsom is burning and Babel's going to fall
  So for the sake of linguistics, we've gotta save them all
• Thematic Theme Tune: Every "arc" in the fic has one of these, though only two have been canonically confirmed for an English dub of SOSchip.
  • For Arc 1 (episodes 1-14): Far away/This ship is taking me far away/Far away from the memories/Of the people who care if I live or die...
  • For Arc 2 (episodes 15-24): One more depending on a prayer, and we all look away...
• Tower of Babel: Mentioned in the title number of "Hostile California": Folsom is burning/And Babel's gonna fall...
• Transforming Mecha: Koffie, courtesy of the Mechinators.
• Transformation Name Announcement: "Het Kofschip- Mech Veranderd! Mech Een/Twee/Drie/Vier/Vijf/Zes/Zeven!"
• Transformation Sequence: Koffie’s seven Mechinations, which are described in great detail in the fanfic and are accompanied by Koffie’s parts splitting and rearranging themselves into the mecha in question while other parts simply form into existence. The sequence is almost always accompanied by a cover of Rush’s “YYZ” instrumental- save for Absent’s, which is instead accompanied by an instrumental cover of “Ahead of Ourselves”, and Ian's, which is accompanied by the Smash Ultimate version of "Pollyanna (I Believe in You)".
• Transformation Trinket: The seven Mechinators, one for each member of the Koffiehuis.
• True Companions: The Koffiehuis, and if “Family Matters” and “Lingual Mechination” don’t show it...
• Unaccustomed as I Am to Public Speaking...: The first thing LF says to oghond when they meet is "Please excuse me for my horrible English." Her English is good enough that you wouldn't know she was German unless you were told.
• Undying Loyalty: Absent. To his friends; to his family; to every member of the Koffiehuis, but most notably oghond.
• What Does This Button Do?: This is what leads to the first appearance of the Wereldian dimension in the series.
• You Are Grounded!: One of many, many English slang terms that Koffie misunderstands- for perspective on how literal-minded it is, it thinks this term only applies to airplanes and not to people. It does get the concept of being stuck at home — but thinks this is called being homestuck.
• You Called Me "X"; It Must Be Serious: Subverted in "Came Back Haunted". HP tries to invoke this trope by referring to Absent as "Corbin" in order to alert him of oghond's Demonic Possession. Unfortunately, however, First-Name Basis for Absent is treated the way it is in Japanese (read, it has to be earned), so rather than be alerted, Absent instead goes over to tell her off. It's the smell of blood coming from oghond's room that actually leads Absent to discover that oghond has been possessed by Baphomet.
• "You!" Exclamation: Just after Absent's Dynamic Entry in "Hostile California"; said by Case.

Absent: Missed me?

• Your Other Left: Used in "Lingual Mechination", when oghond is being taught the difference between clockwise and counterclockwise by Absent:
  Absent: Turn [the Mechinator] so that it faces you, first of all.
  (oghond does)
  Absent: Good. Now put your vine at the top of the dial.
  (oghond does)
  Absent: Now turn it to the left.
  oghond: (starts to turn it to the right)
  Absent: (stops her) Your left, not my left.

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