Literature / The Atomic Time of Monsters

The Atomic Time of Monsters (A.T.O.M) is a series of books written by William David Cope. These include:

Volume 1: Tyrantis Walks Among Us!

Volume 2: Tyrantis Roams the Earth!

In an Alternate History Earth, in which outdated depictions of dinosaurs were indeed real, huge monsters known as kaiju are unleashed after a 1954 earthquake. It's up to young paleontologist Mina Lerna, reporter Henry Robertson, actress-turned-researcher Gwen Valentine, and a crew of friendly "monsters" (most prominently, Tyrantis) to save the day. The only thing standing in their way are both malicious and/or deadly kaiju and people who would rather see these amazing beasts either destroyed or exploited.

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Tropes:

• The '50s: Everything starts during the early '50s. Quite fitting for a series mostly based on the giant monster movies that were in abundance back then. And even more so is how the year of the Superquake that kick-starts the plot is 1954. Unfortunately, this also means that there is a large amount of casual misogyny going on, as well as the typical racism and prejudice at the time.
• Abhorrent Admirer: Before Tyrantis showed up, Tyranta had to put up with the Terror constantly making unsuccessful advances on her.
• Action Girl: All of the female kaiju count as this, especially Tyranta and Minerva.
• Action Survivor: Almost every human, barring mech pilots, can count as this if they manage to get out of the kaiju mayhem alive. The main trio count especially, but so do Eric and Laura, who are just a couple of teens when they get caught up in the mess with Mothmanud.
• Aerith and Bob: Most of the kaiju have some pretty majestic and powerful-sounding names...and then there's Bobo, a friendly Giant Spider named by Gwen. Even Lerna feels that this sort of breaks the pattern.
• Affably Evil: Both Dr. Murnau and Dr. Praetorius are this, though to differing degrees. One owes to his Wild Card nature that way, while the other is genuine in his reluctance to be evil.
• Affectionate Parody: The series is inspired by Atomic Age monster movies such as Godzilla, The Black Scorpion, Them!, and Gamera. But as a whole, it's a love letter to the entire giant monster movie genre. At the same time, it turns several tropes typical of the genre on their heads, such as making most of the monsters sympathetic and even friendly, and having the main characters be women and minorities (two types of people whom had little to no representation in American monster movies back then).
• Alien Abduction: Dr. Murnau was taken at a very young age by the Beyonders and returned when he was 16. It's the only explanation for why he ends up helping the evil aliens' plan, as it's later stated that he was altered somehow.
• Alien Invasion: Volume 2 concerns the rise of alien kaiju coming to Earth, starting with Karamtor, then the Martian kaiju, and then the Beyonder Alliance, a cabal of galactic conquerors that view our race as too advanced to not be a concern. The invasion in the final chapter is quite destructive with an entire swarm of Mothmanud larva being summoned to wreck major cities while a lot of them and the Beyonder kaiju attack Typhon Island. Thankfully, it's all thwarted in the end.
• Alien Kudzu: Ullawdra is a massive plant-like Martian kaiju that immediately begins to spread her vines across a body of water in Typhon Island, ensnaring Metringar in the process. She's beaten back and forced to be more careful while drinking.
• Aliens Are Bastards: The Beyonders are supremely arrogant and callous towards the planets they wish to conquer, including ours. They make sure to gain humanity's trust for a brief moment before letting it all go to Hell for us, for one thing.
• All-Loving Hero: Tyrantis is the most unquestionably heroic of the kaiju, risking his own life to protect the smaller defenseless humans on more than one occasion, and brokering peace between his fellow monsters.
• All There in the Manual: Cope's personal website, Horror Flora, contains bios and illustrations for each and every kaiju, divulging into their powers and personalities.
• Alternate History: The most striking difference between this world and ours is the prehistory. Here, the now-outdated depictions of prehistoric life, fittingly called Retrosaurs, are what they indeed looked like for the most part, having come from the same evolutionary pathway as crocodiles instead of birds.
• And I Must Scream: The Terror is still alive when he's converted into MechaTyrantis, and not only does he feel the pain of having most of his parts replaced by machinery, but sharing a conscious with a pilot throws him into a nightmarish mental Hell where voices and needs clash. Though every time he gets a pilot, he regains control, ending the horror.
• Angry White Man: Most of the human villains are ultimately this, wanting to claim glory and getting in a big fuss because the real heroes are minorities.
• Applied Phlebotinum: Yamaneon. It's a green mineral-like material that produces life-giving and slightly radioactive light, can defy gravity, has major healing properties, and is in fact integrated into the bodies of kaiju. It is what has supported the underground ecosystem for so long, and is heavily implied in the second volume to be extraterrestrial in origin, seeing how space kaiju have it in their bones too. Also, it's alive, encouraging kaiju to fight to get stronger, but at the same time respecting their free will. This becomes pivotal in the final chapter.
  • All mechas seen are made of Xeno-Titanium, a nigh-indestructable metal that only the spooks Organization seems to have access to.
• Area 51: The main base of operations for the Spooks Organization. It looks like an unimpressive office building at first, but the inside is a pristine fortress filled with state of the art technology. In Volume 2, it ends up housed by some imprisoned kaiju as well, though three of them (Kraydi, Minerva, Promythigor) were made here. It ends up all completely destroyed by Promythigor's fire storm.
• Attack the Tail: How Tyrantis defeats Girtabane, by tearing off her tail with his teeth.
• Ax-Crazy: Promythigor is one of the few kaiju that's lost his mind, mainly due to all the experimentation.
• Back from the Dead: The Terror is brought back as MechaTyrantis to bring down his rival.
• Badass Driver: Local greaser Eric demonstrates amazing skill with getting through a kaiju battlefield in a car.
• Behemoth Battle: There is at least one kaiju battle per part throughout the books. It gets taken to the Logical Extreme at the end of the second volume, which has a battle on Typhon Island with all 50 kaiju involved. It's fittingly called the Monster War.
• Benevolent A.I.: Automoton's AI, P.A.P.I, is very considerate of its pilot and even the kaiju that aren't a threat.
• Berserk Button: Lerna hates it when men try to get flirty and/or arrogant around her. Suffice to say, that happens a lot.
  • Tyrantis cannot stand bullies or anyone who dares to bring harm to his friends.
• Beware My Stinger Tail: Both Girtabane and Chlorespa have massive stingers at the end of their tails.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Even a Gentle Giant like Tyrantis or Gorgalisk or even Bobo can mess you up, them being kaiju and all.
• Beware the Silly Ones: The Martian kaiju and even the ones used by the Beyonders can look a little ridiculous at times, but they can still pack a punch.
  • Gorale looks pitiful and weird, but he's one of the most powerful kaiju around with his Combo Platter Powers.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: Monsters in this series include huge irradiated arthropods, such the Myridants, Girtabane, Bobo, and many more.
• Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti: Promythigor is a mutated Sasquatch, which are normally timid and gentle creatures. Not him. Not him at all.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: The Spooks Organization as a whole is this. At first, they're an enigmatic sort that nonetheless seems to have humanity's best interests in handling the kaiju crisis. Then it's slowly revealed that their methods are dubious at best and outright cruel and impulsive at worst. Not helping is Clark's eventual vendetta against Lerna and the fact that Dr. Murnau is on their side (to an extent).
• Bizarre Alien Biology: Almost every alien is certainly out there in terms of design and power. Karamtor for example is an organic being, yet she has arms that function almost exactly like chainsaws, and she craves extreme heat. And that's not even getting to some of the Beyonder kaiju.
• Blithe Spirit: Tyrantis has gotten almost every kaiju he's met to his side just by being his usual fun fight-loving and kindhearted self. Likewise, humans go from fearing to loving him rather quickly most of the time. By the first volume's end, a lot of the public sees him as more hero than monster.
• Blood Knight: Almost kaiju love to fight, for reasons including genuine bloodlust, a desire to get stronger, and sometimes even just for the fun of it. This is mainly because the Yamaneon in their bones is encouraging them to get stronger in order to fight the Beyonders.
• Body Horror: The Writhing Flesh. You need only look at this malformed thing to know how awful both its conception and mere existence must be. It's the result of several kaiju getting caught in a nuclear blast, and it shows.
  • Pathogen is a slightly more bearable case to look at, but he's FAR more malicious.
• Born in the Wrong Century: Many of the main characters would have been lauded as revolutionaries in their field instantly...if they weren't stuck in the ridiculous patriarchal society that is 50s America. Lerna in particular suffers from this. As for Captain MacCready, he's basically an old-age seafarer in 50s society.
• Brainless Beauty: Averted with Gwen Valentine, who knows that most of America sees her as a Dumb Blonde, and leaps at the opportunity to prove them all wrong. By the last part of Volume 2, she's nowhere even close to the ditz everyone thought she was.
• Brawn Hilda: Minerva the giant human woman warrior.
• Breath Weapon: Tyrantis and any Paleo Tyrant like him can breathe fire.
• But Now I Must Go: Henry leaves Lerna and Gwen before the Time Skip in order to pursue his career as a reporter. He reunites with them afterwards.
  • The Terror, after Tyrantis restores his organic body, goes back to the underground, ending their rivalry and sending him off as a Graceful Loser for once.
• Came from the Sky: The Martian kaiju come to Earth via large metal canisters launched from Mars and right to here. They streak across the night sky leaving behind a trail of green Yamaneon-rich energy.
• Captured Super-Entity: Volume 2 reveals that the Spooks Organization managed to capture all of the arthropod kaiju, as well as Kraydi, on top of creating Minerva and Promythigor. All of them get free thanks to Tyrantis and especially Kraydi.
• Chainsaw Good: Karamtor has a pair of arms that function exactly like chainsaws, though they can't penetrate heavy armor.
  • Frightron has one as its left arm.
• Cheerful Child: Tyrantis' son, Tyrantor, is a very excitable and eager soul who often wanders off to explore the island. He has to be saved a couple times because of it.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Mothmanud isn't just an enemy kaiju Tyrantis and Gorgolisk fight. He's one of many in a Horde of Alien Locusts meant to destroy humanity for the Beyonders. Sure enough, he comes back for the final battle to join his brothers.
  • Kraydi is introduced briefly during the raid on Area 51, and returns just in time to teleport every kaiju to Typhon Island.
• Clone Angst: Much to Lerna's horror, Clark used some of her DNA to create Asset Athena, AKA Minerva, AKA a direct clone of her that he could control. Minerva for her part becomes much more independent, and is not affected by the circumstances of her creation. She and Lerna manage to make peace with each other.
• Control Freak: Clark has an unhealthy obsession with keeping Lerna in line as her employer, to the point of making a giant clone of her so that he can not only control her, but own her.
• Compelling Voice: Lerna's greatest invention might be the Orpheus Lyre, a machine that can emit soundwaves at different frequencies that can slightly influence the behavior of kaiju. It's mostly used for finding them or preventing fights. Dr. Murnau's original version was almost explicitly for control.
• Cowardly Lion: On the humans' side, Henry the meek but loyal reporter. For the kaiju, there's Bobo and Glypton.
• Darkest Hour: The last part of Volume 2 has, in spite of the Beyonder kaiju being easily beaten, Pathogen curbstomping every last kaiju and pretty much beating Tyrantis to death. It takes a Heroic Second Wind and a Super Mode to undo that.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Lerna understandably starts out rather anti-social and bitter at most of society. However, Gwen and Henry manage to quickly brighten her spirits, as does Tyrantis.
  • Tricerak gets less and less tempermental as he spends time on Typhon Island, especially thanks to his interactions with Tyrantor.
• Disc-One Final Boss: As it turns out, the Spooks Organization isn't the worst thing out there for the kaiju, especially since they get taken out halfway through Volume 2. That would be the Beyonder Alliance.
• Disney Death: Tyrantis suffers a few. One at the end of Volume 1, a part of Volume 2, and of course, the climax of the final battle.
• Dirty Coward: The one kind of fighter that tyrantis cannot stand, such as Ahuul and the Terror.
• Distaff Counterpart: Tyranta is this for Tyrantis, being a part of his clade and of similar ability.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Tricerak goes berserk on Tyrantis after he attempts to console him after the Terror kills his kid.
• The Dreaded: The Beyonder Alliance is such a menace to our world that even the Spooks Organization is desperate to try and keep them away in secret. Had Clark been willing to actually explain that, the invasion probably wouldn't have been so severe.
  • On Earth, every kaiju's blood practically goes white whenever Pathogen shows up, even Tyrantis.
• Drowning My Sorrows: Tricerak is constantly eating giant soma berries to cope with his crippling loneliness and the loss of his child. It results in a rather uncoordinated fighter.
• Drunk with Power: MechaTyrantis' first pilot, John Ludlow, finds himself reveling in beating up Typhon Island's kaiju, losing sight of his sole objective being to kill just Tyrantis.
• Dumb Dinos: Averted, despite what most people think in the story. The only Retrosaur kaiju that plays it even remotely straight is Bronton.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Volume 2 has the Beyonders being beaten, Earth being saved, Mina and Gwen successfully getting their kaiju sanctuary off the ground, and Tyrantis living on Typhon Island with all of the kaiju, alien ones included, in peace. And all it took was the world nearly ending and a ton of near-death experiences.
• Eating Optional: Kaiju, due to Yamaneon and radiation providing all the nutrients they need, do not need to eat or drink, but most do because they can.
• 11th-Hour Superpower: During the final battle Gorale reveals that he can fly and shoot laser beams, to everyone's complete astonishment.
  • A more dramatic and heroic case is with Tyrantis himself. By tapping into the Yamaneon in his body, he comes back from death's door and becomes strong enough to emit white flame and heal all kaiju around him with Yamaneon-powered pulses.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Dr. Praetorius is clearly not on board with Clark's actions, as made especially evident in Volume 2. It proves enough for him to defy him in our heroes' favor.
• Father Neptune: Captain MacCready is pretty much the poster child for a semi modern-day sea dog, looking like a pirate with his hook for a hand, peg leg, big beard, and terrible teeth. That, and his amazing ability with steering his ship, the Ahab.
• Fiery Redhead: Wilhelmina Lerna is this, being quite passionate about her work when she wants to be.
• First Contact Faux Pas: When the four Martian kaiju come to Earth, the remnants of the Spooks Organization shoot three out of the sky, causing them to fall into San Francisco. The Earth kaiju show up to fight them all, but thankfully it turns into a friendly sparring match, and peace is brokered between them all. Just in time for when the Beyonders show up.
• Flying Saucer: Clark uses one as a lethally unsuccessful escape vehicle when he rigs Area 51 to self-destruct in order to escape Lerna. It's stated to be alien in origin, and sure enough, the Beyonder Alliance shows up with a whole army of them.
• Four-Star Badass: General Sherman may be a difficult man with the temper of a bull elephant in musth, but he puts the well-being of his country first, and wastes no time supporting everything Lerna and Tyrantis do after the latter saves his men in Nevada.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Ahuul becomes a resident of Typhon Island, and just about everyone despises him for how much of a sadistic and petty creature he is. They're still hesitant to accept him after the Time Skip, but he does eventually at least try to be a team player.
  • Dr. Rockwell is seen as a blowhard by almost every character, except for more gullible crowds. Even his employers only really hired him because he could distract the people from the truth.
• Friend to All Living Things: Tyrantis loves his fellow kaiju, and even the humans he has a supreme fascination of.
  • Bobo meanwhile shares a similar disposition, and even allows Gwen to pet her when they first meet.
• Furry Reminder: Tyrantis' favorite method of communicating peace is in the form of waving his arms in a circular motion. A lot of the friendly kaiju he meets end up doing the same thing.
• Gem Tissue: kaiju anatomy is comprised of Yamaneon, which makes their bones rock solid and gives them a massive Healing Factor.
• Genki Girl: Gwen Valentine.
• Gentle Giant: Most of the kaiju turn out to be this, with Tyrantis in particular being the biggest example. Others include his family, Gorgalisk, and Bobo.
• Gentle Giant Sauropod: Bronton the sauropod kaiju is the biggest kaiju of them all, but he's mostly apathetic to everything around him, and therefore not a threat at all.
• Giant Squid: Kutulusca is a monstrous amphibious squid that treats everything it sees with a careless curiosity.
• Giant Spider: Bobo, an abnomally large and friendly mutant pink tarantula.
• Going for the Big Scoop: Pretty much every reporter, including Henry and Hilda, is going for this as the kaiju situation worsens. Henry develops an impressive career out of this.
• The Great Serpent: Gorgolisk is a massive frilled serpent that has a couple limbs and a rather cunning intelligence. She's one of the major good kaiju.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Many kaiju tend to think with their fists. On the humans side, General Sherman is almost always in a state of anger.
• Healing Factor: Due to the Yamaneon in their bodies, kaiju can heal at an incredible rate. This ensures that conventional weaponry is useless against them, though they aren't totally invincible.
• Heel–Face Turn: Many kaiju switch from dangerous/malicious to fighting by Tyrantis' side after he either gets through to them or even saves them. These include Ahuul, the arthropod kaiju, and even the Beyonder kaiju and MechaTyrantis.
• He-Man Woman Hater: The worst human villains seem to have a really hard time comprehending the fact that women can be more than just pretty faces. Rockwell and Clark are the worst, the former feeling like Lerna bruises his ego, and the latter because she keeps getting in the way, to the point where he had Area 51 make a clone from her to serve him (and that didn't even work).
• Heroic BSoD: Tyrantis suffers a big one when the cave in which he found Tyranta caves in, sealing his means of getting to her away. He just stares at where the cave mouth was for the longest time.
• Heroic Second Wind: After Tyrantis is beaten to near-death by Pathogen during the final battle, he manages to come back through his sheer will and the Yamaneon in him, and gain a Super Mode in the process.
• Herr Doktor: Dr. Fritz Murnau is a Mad Scientist of German descent.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Chlorespa and Mantiresia have been living on Green Hell together for an untold amount of time, and almost every time we see them they're working and living as a compatible team.
• Hollow World: There are several underground cave systems that, thanks to the stores of Yamaneon within, house complex ecosystems full of giant trees and bodies of water. This is where most of the Retrosaurs retreated during their extinction, and it's the Superquake that causes them to be exposed to humanity.
• Horde of Alien Locusts: The Beyonders summon a whole army of Mothmanud larva to rise from the Earth to destroy all life. They're thankfully beaten back by the kaiju, but many parts of the world are ravaged in the process.
• Humans Are Flawed: The consensus that the Reptodites have agreed upon. We as a species have developed horrible weapons of destruction we use on each other and the world, but we're also capable of great feats that benefit all species. Hence, our destruction is not on the priority list of either most of the kaiju or the Reptodites.
• Humans Are the Real Monsters: Almost every real antagonist is a regular human being out to either destroy or control the kaiju. And besides, it was our folly that brought them out in the first place. Then again, this trope is not the lesson to take.
• Humongous Mecha: Volume 2 introduces three different giant robots, two of which are piloted by people. There's the Russian Herakoschei, the American Atomoton, and Dr. Murnau's Frighton. All of which had involvement from the Spooks Organization. Despite this, the first two are stalwart allies of our heroes, especially those piloting them.
• Hungry Menace: Ahuul spends his first time on the surface eating most of the people in Generiton.
• Ignored Expert: This is ultimately what Lerna is trying to avoid being as the kaiju crisis continues. Due to her being a woman in a male-dominated field, she's often rebuked in favor of people like local blowhard Dr. Rockwell. As time goes by though, this becomes a non-issue with the public, as she keeps being proven right.
• Immortal Procreation Clause: Due to how radioactive Yamaneon is, kaiju have a hard time breeding. It makes Tyrantis achieving it all the more notable.
• Interspecies Friendship: The Earth kaiju are remarkably open to one another at times, despite being vastly different. A prominent example is Tyrantis and...just about everyone he encounters that isn't actively dangerous and/or malicious.
• Intrepid Reporter: The kaiju crisis brings them out of the woodwork significantly, all of them from UNNO. They include Henry, Hilda, and Perry.
• Intrigued by Humanity: A lot of kaiju are fascinated by the little things crawling beneath them, and the huge nests (cities) they've built for themselves. Tyrantis certainly thinks so, to the point of letting one (Lerna) follow him.
• Isle of Giant Horrors: The first volume introduces two of them. Green Hell is a south American island occupied briefly by Dr. Murnau, and Typhon Island is where pretty much every kaiju ends up calling home.
• It Can Think: A major plot point throughout the story is Lerna and everyone else slowly realizing that the kaiju aren't just dumb animals. Most are surprisingly intelligent, having the ability to use battle strategies, form social bonds, and some even interact with humans with nary a fuss. Tyrantis is the biggest case in point, as many parts are from his point of view.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Some more mean characters aren't entirely wrong when they state how dangerous the kaiju are, and that some of them need to be taken down. The problem is that they see no other solution than the most violent ones.
• Kaiju: The series is primarily a homage to this genre, and its story centers around a variety of gigantic monsters, based on both "classic" Kaiju and giant monster movies, clashing and interacting.
• Karmic Death: The Spooks Organization, Clark included, is destroyed by kaiju. Clark in particular dies at the absent-minded hand of Promythigor, a kaiju he had a hand in creating.
  • Rockwell dies being at the center of attention and getting eaten by one of the kaiju he condemned.
• Kicked Upstairs: Henry was put into the job of documenting paranormal activity for UNNO, obviously as a means of keeping a black person out of anything major, much to his anger. However, as irony would have it, the kaiju crisis turns his career into a hit as he travels with Lerna and Gwen.
• Killer Gorilla: Promythigor is a Sasquatch mutated into a kaiju by the Spooks Organization. It's turned him into an Ax-Crazy pyromaniac.
• Klaatu Barada Nikto: Dr. Rockwell amusingly recites this word-for-word while trying to communicate with Liutenant Gray. The alien immediately shuts him up by stating that he can speak english.
• Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Dr. Rockwell acts like a professional in his field, but he mostly spends his time stating the near-obvious and glorifying his own ego. Even his employers have a hard time taking him seriously, but the public eats it all up...for a time.
• Lethal Joke Character: Gorale.
• Lightning Bruiser: Almost all kaiju are this, as the Yamaneon allows them to defy the laws of physics and move faster than any creatures of their size have any right to.
• Lizard Folk: The Reptodites, an underground civilization of Retrosaur-like beings that may have not developed much tech more advanced than the Bronze Age, but they've also managed to find ways to communicate with humans and even the Martians. It is them that made sure there were kaiju on Earth to begin with.
• Love at First Punch: Tyrantis falls for Tyranta hard after she thrashes him for intruding upon her turf.
• Made of Iron: The kaiju can take a lot of pain (including but not limited to getting chunks of flesh taken out of them) and still keep going, no doubt helped by their inherent Healing Factor.
• Mad Scientist: The Spooks Organization seems to only be able to hire these. Dr. Murnau is of the more stereotypical persuasion, having messy white hair and a Wild Card personality. Dr. Praetorius on the other hand has made some questionable things, but he's reluctant to do any real villainy.
• Make My Monster Grow: Kaiju are born from thousands of years of exposure to Yamaneon when they're still regular-sized. However, something as powerfully radioactive as a nuclear bomb can accelerate that process to the point where it only takes minutes. Hence, the Superquake of 54 gave rise to many.
• Mama Bear: Tyranta is such a powerfully protective mother that it caused Ahuul to develop an instant fear of her in the time Tyrantis was gone.
• Martial Pacifist: Bobo hates to fight, but she won't hesitate to subdue rowdy kaiju when the moment is needed.
• Martians: They play a major role in Volume 2, for they were one of the victims of the Beyonder Alliance, which swooped down during a period of environmental unrest to put them out of their misery. They fought back, but after heavy casualties on both sides, the Martians were forced to relocate to Venus with their surviving kaiju. Since then, they've kept in contact with the Reptodites on the nearby "paradise planet", Earth.
• Mass Teleportation: Kraydi ends up doing this to every kaiju on Area 51, bringing them to Typhon Island...'s skyline. Oops.
• Mech vs. Beast: Volume 2 has a few fights involving giant robots and kaiju. Of note is Herakoschei vs. Pathogen, Atomoton vs. Kemlasulla, and Frightron vs. Tyranta and Tricerak.
• The Medic: Bobo constantly fusses over Tyrantis' wounds, and patches them up with her silk.
• The Men in Black: The Spooks Organization. They've been looking into the kaiju situation for a long time now, and even have their main base located in Area 51. Under J.C. Clark's leadership, they're determined to keep things away from the public, but this naturally falls apart. Either way, the organization is a major antagonist for how it wishes to either kill or control the kaiju. They are also very aware of the Beyonders and the threat they possess, but Clark is too prideful to admit it.
• Mind over Matter: Both Kraydi and Kemlasulla have psychic powers.
• Monster Is a Mommy: Tyranta is revealed to have had a son when Tyrantis sees her again. His son, no less.
  • Karamtor is revealed to have been pregnant when she came to Earth, and her child is put in peril during the final battle.
• Monster-Shaped Mountain: Snake Rock looks a lot like a snake coiling around something, its mouth the main entrance. Fitting for a place dedicated to Gorgolisk.
  • The entrance to Typhon Island looks like the giant maw of a monster, complete with jagged rocks for teeth.
• More Deadly Than the Male: Tyranta is ten times as temperamental and combat-ready than Tyrantis is.
• Mother Russia Makes You Strong: Ludmilla Portnova is a woman of a most towering and powerful frame, and is also the only successful pilot of the Herakoschei mecha.
• The Mothman: Mothmanud is a direct homage to this cryptid, looking almost exactly like the regular "furry red-eyed humanoid with wings" look. It's also one in an army of alien foot soldiers.
• Mythical Motifs: The Spooks Organization practically thrive on naming conventions based around Greek mythology. For example, they've named the kaiju things like Asset Arachne (Bobo) and Asset Prometheus (Promythigor), they named Typhon Island (after the father of most Greek monsters), and some agents are separated into Achilles and Odysseus classes.
• Never Smile at a Crocodile: Unlike our dinosaurs, Retrosaurs are the ancestors of crocodiles in this world, hence why they're far more reptilian in appearence and attitude. A more literal case of this trope is Crocogon, who looks the part, but is actually one of the more affable monsters on Typhon Island.
• The Nicknamer: It's Henry that provides the catchier names for most of the kaiju, to the point where he's disappointed on more than one occasion when someone else steals his thunder.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Gwen Valentine is a carbon copy of Marilyn Monroe. The only real difference is that one actress interacted with giant monsters and the other didn't.
• Non-Human Undead: Pathogen is in fact the mutated corpse of the Terror being paraded around by the Omega strain of the Langsuir, a virus with a will of its own.
• Non-Malicious Monster: The crux of the story's overall plot is getting humanity to realize that kaiju aren't all malevolent or overtly violent, and often just want to live as most animals do. That's not to say there aren't exceptions.
• No Social Skills: Lerna cannot stand being in crowded areas, and nearly dies of stage fright when reporters flood to her after the Party Beach incident. Gwen helps her overcome it.
• Not So Stoic: Clark's cold demeanor falls to pieces as things just keep going Lerna's way and not his. By the time Area 51 is being destroyed, he's in tears over killing his partner and trying to escape.
• Not Zilla: Tyrantis, natch. Of all the Godzilla incarnations, he's a lot more like the late Showa version.
• Nuclear Weapons Taboo: It becomes increasingly clear that the usage of atomic bombs have not only caused the Superquake, but resulted in the kaiju crisis as a whole. The Reptodites even call it the devil's fire, and view it as a monument to mankind's destructive arrogance.
• Odd Friendship: Lerna ends up forming one with Tyrantis. Although she tries to professionally deny it at first, she eventually realizes that she and him share a genuine connection born from her fascination with his kind and his own affinity for small creatures.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Tyrantis has nothing but absolute scorn for the Terror after the malicious paleo tyrant robs him of a chance to settle down with Tyranta at first.
• Opposites Attract: It's subtle, but it's clear that the introverted scientist Lerna and the excitable actress Gwen form something more than just a partnership by the end of the story.
  • Tyrantis, a somewhat goofy All-Loving Hero, falls for Tyranta, a viciously temperamental Blood Knight.
• Outliving One's Offspring: The Terror killed Tricerak's kid, resulting in a very sad and drunk kaiju.
• Papa Wolf: Tyrantis is extremely protective of his child, Tyrantor. Ahuul learned this the hard way.
• Planimal: Ullawdra is a Martian kaiju that combines elements of animals and plants, but mostly the latter.
• Playing with Fire: Promythigor was granted pyrokenisis by his mutations. But he doesn't just utilize fire, he loves' it.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Clark and Rockwell, especially the latter, find many ways to demean Lerna for being a woman and doing the things she does.
• The Prankster: Colossaraptor frequently heckles Allotor and Cerator in her spare time.
• Primate Versus Reptile: The big battle in Area 51 is between Tyrantis and Promythigor, a psychotic pyrokinetic Sasquatch. In a nice twist on this trope, it's the reptile who's the clear good guy instead of the other way around.
• Punny Name: Henry tends to make portmanteaus for the kaiju he gets to name, including most of the insect kaiju and some of the ones housed at Area 51.
• Pyromaniac: Promythigor. By the end of the battle at Area 51, everything's been blown up and/or set aflame, himself included, and he still can't get enough of it.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Lerna gives Clark a big one in Volume 2 after he refuses to tell her exactly what the war he's been desperatly preparing for is:
  Lerna: Have you considered that maybe that's the real problem? You've compartmentalized all this information, kept it from others, and made yourself the sole person to decide how to act on it. You take no feedback, no peer review! You're incapable of listening to voices other than your own! How can you be certain you've got the right answer when you won't even analyze a single dissenting thought?
• Reasonable Authority Figure: General Sherman, in spite of his eccentricities, wholeheartedly accepts Tyrantis as a protector after the battle against the Myrmidants and Girtabane. He's also quick to take guys like Rockwell down a peg.
• Redemption Equals Death: Dr. Praetorius turns on Clark when he goes too far to preserve the Spooks Reputation. He gets shot in the chest for his troubles.
• Redemption Rejection: Clark tosses aside a second chance that Lerna provides at the last minute, instead opting to escape and start anew when Area 51 is set to self-destruct by him. He dies as a result.
• The Remnant: Four years since they were disbanded, the Spooks Organization has splintered into small groups desperate to reclaim the power they once had. Judging by what little we see of them, they're not getting very far.
• The Right of a Superior Species: Some characters oppose the kaiju because they go against the notion that the human race is the dominant species on Earth. Some even invoke religion to prove their point. Of course, this is depicted as heavily irrational.
• The Rival: Initially, Tyrantis and Ahuul share this dynamic, before the Terror usurps that position.
• Running Gag: Eric freaking out about the Reptodites being aliens.
  • Bobo trying and failing to block Tyrantis away from danger.
  • General Sherman pronouncing robot as ro-bit.
  • A dark one, but all of MechaTyrantis' pilots get blown up when the Terror inevitably takes over.
• Sea Monster: A few kaiju spend most of their time in the sea. These include monster crustacean Crustakra, the mosasaur Tyloton, the armored shark beast Old Meg, and giant amphibious squid Kutulusca.
• Ship Tease: A metric ton with Lerna and Gwen. By the second volume's end, it's all but stated that they've become a couple.
  • A minor case with Tyrantis and Bobo. While Tyrantis is most definitely in love with his mate Tyranta, he's just as intimate with the kind giant spider.
• Shout-Out: Because this series is Reference Overdosed, it needed its own page.
• Showing Up Chauvinists: Aside from the whole "discover all the secrets of kaiju" thing she has going for her, one of the biggest achievements Lerna has is taking the "only men get to do great things" mindset the 50s were known for, and tossing it into an incinerator. It leaves the villains very VERY steamed, to say the least.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Tyranta chooses Tyrantis over the Terror mainly because the former has much more honor, as demonstrated when he spares Tricerak after beating him. Compare that to the Terror, who resorts to killing the ceratopsian's child for an easy win.
• Slaying Mantis: Mantiresia is a stealthy and very slash-happy giant praying mantis who lives with Chlorespa and eventually Girtabane.
• Sore Loser: The Terror pretty much dedicates his entire life to tormenting and trying to kill Tyrantis because he got together with Tyranta and he didn't.
  • Clark is arguably worse, with him being so enraged by Lerna's antics that he tries to make a more subservient clone out of her, and even that fails.
• Stay in the Kitchen: Many characters scoff at Lerna's job and abilities due to the values of the time decreeing that men are superior. Some even think that she should find a hubby soon. Naturally, she proves them all wrong.
• Stock Ness Monster: Metringar is based off of this cryptid, looking almost exactly like old depictions of the elusive plesiosaur.
• Suddenly Voiced: Two words from MechaTyrantis when he regains control from his pilot; "GET. OUT."
• Super Mode: Nastadyne has his Burning Justice form, in which he superheats himself to the point where his punches hit harder and his speed increases drastically. It burns him out significantly, though.
  • Tyrantis has one that shows up as an 11th-Hour Superpower and a Heroic Second Wind at the same time during the final battle. His horns turn into pure Yamaneon crystal, his flames turn white-hot, and he emits healing pulses for his fellow kaiju.
• The Swarm: The colony of Myrmidants that terrorizes Nevada for a time.
  • The Beyonders summon an army of Mothmanud larvae from beneath the ground to destroy major cities.
• Take That!: One character in Volume 1 is named Roger Gordon, and is a not particularly great film director known for constantly cutting corners. He's more than obviously both a homage and a jab at b-movie directors Roger Corman and Bert I. Gordon.
  • In Volume 2, Gwen confesses to Lerna that she was worried that she wasn't a useful teammate to her, and how she doesn't feel "worthy of her grace". Both end up laughing at how stupid that sounds. That phrase is in fact taken word-for-word from the infamous Netflix bowdlerisation of Neon Genesis Evangelion. For doubled irony, the line was meant to negate the homoerotic undertones of the show, while Lerna and Gwen are all but stated to be the Official Couple of the story.
• Taking You with Me: MechaTyrantis carries Tyrantis off over the sea, and when the kaiju destroys his flight capabilities, the cyborg lets the both of them sink just so his rival can suffer. Neither end up dead, though.
• Temper-Ceratops: Tricerak is a large mutant ceratopsian that initially attacks any and all Paleo Tyrants on instinct alone. His rage doubles when his kid is killed, but so too is his grief. He eventually softens ever so slightly enough to allow other kaiju near him.
• Tempting Fate: After their close-encounter with Gorgolisk, Laura declares that nothing will harm them now. Cue a group of Reptodites taking the group prisoner.
  • Right before the first trip on the Ahab, Captain Old Man MacCready declares that it'll be smooth sailing. One transition later, and they're stuck in a storm.
• Terror at Make-Out Point: The first deaths occur when Ahuul eats a couple alone together in their car in Generiton. One of his nicknames is even the Menace of Makeout Point.
• That's No Moon: In the temple within Snake Rock, our heroes encounter a large statue of a serpentine creature in the center of a chamber. It's in fact the object of the temple's worship, Gorgolisk, her having slept there for some time. Cue Eye Awaken.
• This Means War!: After Dr. Murnau triggers an earthquake in Siberia that buries Tyrantis, Lerna tells him with boiling fury that she will ruin him and, if she has to, take down the entire Spooks Organization. She succeeds in the last one.
• Threatening Shark: Old Meg acts and even looks the part, though her design and acutal classification bears more resemblence to a placoderm like Dunkleosteus.
• Time Skip: After the Spooks Organization is defeated and disbanded, the second volume flashes forward four years to 1958. By that point, Lerna and her closest associates are in the process of making a kaiju sanctuary out of Typhon Island, Henry is out doing his dream job as a reporter...and the space kaiju start showing up.
• Token Evil Teammate: Ahuul is the only monster on Typhon Island at first that actively does bad things. It takes years of Tyrantis and Tyranta bringing him down to Earth to placate this.
• Token Good Teammate: Dr. Praetorius is the only high-ranking Spooks Organization member who seems to have any reservations about what they're doing. Sure enough, he turns full heel in Volume 2, and is killed as a result.
• Tragic Monster: Some kaiju didn't ask to be turned into the monsters they are. Just look at the Writhing Flesh and Promythigor.
• T. Rexpy: The Paleo Tyrants, a clade of Retrosaurs that include the likes of Tyrantis, Tyranta, and the Terror.
• True Companions: Over the course of the story, Lerna and her friends become a very tight-knit group, especially in regards to her and Gwen.
• Tunnel King: Burodon, the resident burrowing kaiju of Japan.
• Unnecessarily Creepy Robot: Frightron looks like an overdesigned metal madman full of sharp objects. Judging by how quickly it goes down, it was probably not built to last.
• Unwilling Roboticisation: The Terror is in a state of perpetual pain and suffering when he's converted into MechaTyrantis by the Spooks Organization.
• Villainous Breakdown: Clark's sanity pretty much evaporates after so many losses, culminating with Minerva defying him with Lerna's encouragement. Shooting Praetorius cements this, and he tries and fails to escape Area 51 when he rigs it to self-destruct.
  • The Beyonders start to get desperate as their kaiju are defeated by the Earth monsters, culminating with the releasing Pathogen against their better judgement. It costs them the entire invasion.
• War Is Hell: General Sherman, despite being as patriotic as they come, acknowledges that war is a grim affair that turns good men into killers and is more times than not an excuse for countries to let loose with their new destructive inventions. He doesn't want any more wars, but he's steeled himself for more to come.
  • The Beyonder kaiju, as demonstrated mostly by Cope's website, hate the situation they've been put into, especially Torkenrak and Dorazor.
• We Can Rebuild Him: The Spooks Organization salvage the Terror's near-dead body in order to turn him into the cyborg MechaTyrantis. Not that the kaiju has a say in the matter.
• Wicked Wasps: Sort of with Chlorespa. She's highly aggressive, but she's hardly malicious.
• Wild Card: Dr. Murnau pinballs between directly opposing Lerna and giving her helpful advice.
• World of Ham: Many human characters take their roles and go to town with them. In particular are short-tempered Four-Star Badass General Sherman, and the delightfully kooky Mad Scientist Dr. Murnau.
• World-Wrecking Wave: The Superquake of 54, triggered by too many atomic tests, ravages several parts of the world, though it takes a surprisingly minimal amount of lives. It also triggers the rise of the kaiju...
• Xenofiction: Several parts of the story are written from the points of few of kaiju, especially Tyrantis.

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