Trope-a-Day: Emotion Bomb

Emotion Bomb: Played straight with, essentially, the “glamor” that comes along with the (see Can’t Argue With Elves) whole engineered-over-millennia impossibly beautiful immortal genius demigod thing.

Somewhat subverted because it’s an entirely – well, mostly – unintentional effect of the eldrae trying to live up to their incredibly high opinion of themselves; they were going down this road well before they’d ever met any other species.

Completely subverted in that they really wish you’d pick yourself up off the floor, look them in the eye, remember that there probably is something to be said for you/your species, and ideally, if it bothers you that much, try to be less ugly, stupid, and ephemeral.  Here’s a catalog.  First product’s free.

And while it’s not as blatant as most examples of this trope, it’s amazing what the subtle deployment of memetics in dress, architecture, body language, etc., can do, given time to work its magic…