History Characters / XCOM2TheResistance

* TheAlliance: The Resistance consists of countless rebel movements across the globe, unified only in their support of XCOM. In fact, prior to XCOM going around and making contact with local cells, the Resistance is confined only to the starter region.

** The terribleness of their rookies aside, XCOM squads are certifiable six-man armies who frequently take on ADVENT armies thrice their size and emerge victorious using guerrilla tactics.

* DavidVersusGoliath: The David to ADVENT's Goliath. On one side of the ring, we have ADVENT, consisting not only of the alien invaders but also a global regime of well-funded human and hybrid collaborators. On the other, we have a bunch of loosely-aligned CrazySurvivalist, ShellShockedVeteran, and dissidents that quarrel with each other nearly as much as they do the aliens at the start of the game. Somehow, the Resistance wins.

* SuperiorSuccessor: Considering that the original XCOM failed with the total support of Earth governments while the new one succeeds with far less, it certainly qualifies as this.

* TheAlliance: The Resistance consists of countless rebel movements across the globe, unified only in their support of XCOM. In fact, prior to XCOM going around and making contact with local cells, the Resistance is confined only to only the starter region.
* AlternateUniverseReedRichardsIsAwesome: In an alternate timeline where it wins, humanity has genetically-modified super soldiers, psionic troopers, unmanned tanks and hulking cyborgs. In this timeline where it loses, the only thing it still has is psi-troopers and a more rudimentary AI-controlled version of MEC.
* BadassArmy: Despite lacking the technology that XCOM brandishes, resistance militias found during Haven Assault missions can still hold their own in a fight, capable of inflicting a good deal of damage on the aliens. What's more, due to the wonky way pod activation in this game works (enemy groups only take action when they see your squad, while militias have no such restriction), militias can end up wiping out entire pods by themselves if you take too long to reach them. Offscreen, resistance operatives are also responsible for intercepting and stopping ADVENT convoys for XCOM to capture.
* DavidVersusGoliath: The David to ADVENT's Goliath. On one side of the ring, we have ADVENT, consisting not only of the alien invaders but also a global regime of human and half-human collaborators. On the other, we have a bunch of loosely-alligned crazy survivalists and dissidents that barely even work together at the start of the game.

* GondorCallsForAid: Every now and then, the aliens will assault a Resistance cell to weaken XCOM's support base, forcing them call XCOM for aid. When this happens, some of the stronger havens will shelter their civilians inside a secured building and fight back with everything they have, while the weaker ones will be in total chaos and full of scattered civilians getting picked off.

* LaResistance: The Resistance represents what's left of mankind still willing to fight against the aliens. In typical fashion, they are hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned, barely ekeing out an existence on the edge of civilization.

* TheRemnant:
** The current XCOM is a mix of what little remained of the original incarnation and various independent rebel groups that have joined forces with it. Of the old leadership, only the Commander, Central and the Spokesman remain.
** It's implied that there are other rebel groups formed from the remains of XCOM as well, such as the Templars.

* GondorCallsForAid: Every now and then, the aliens will assault a Resistance cell to weaken XCOM's support base. When this happens, all the rebels could do is call XCOM for help and hunker down. Some of the stronger rebel bases will bring of their civilians into a shelter and fight back with their own soldiers, while the weaker bases will be in total chaos and full of scattered civilians getting picked off.

* TheRemnant: The current XCOM is a mix of what little remained of the original incarnations and various independent rebel groups that had since joined forces with it. Of the old leadership, only the Commander, Central and the Spokesman remain.

* BadassArmy: Despite lacking the technology XCOM brandishes, resistance militias found during Haven Assault missions can still hold their own in a fight, capable of inflicting a good deal of damage on the aliens. What's more, due to the wonky way pod activation in this game works (enemy groups only take action when they see your squad, while militias have no such restriction), militias can end up wiping out entire pods by themselves if you take too long to reach them. Offscreen, resistance operatives are also responsible for intercepting and stopping ADVENT convoys for XCOM to capture.

* ADayInTheLimeLight: The 'Tactical Legacy Pack' DLC sheds greater detail on the disparate rebel groups that eventually joined together to rebuild XCOM. ''WOTC'' also shows that XCOM is not the only major group in the resistance, with the Reapers, Skirmishers and Templars matching it in size.

[[folder:General Tropes]]

* GraffitiOfTheResistance: You won't find any in ADVENT's city centers, but the slums around them have plenty of graffiti, which can include XCOM's logo. Actual Resistance havens are covered in XCOM SigilSpam.
* HeroicSacrifice: If you play with the tutorial on, your second mission is securing an ADVENT convoy that local resistance fighters ambushed and disabled. They stopped the transports in their tracks, but died to the last fighting its escorts.
* HufflepuffHouse: The ''Tactical Legacy Pack'' mentions a few other resistance groups who've fought ADVENT in the past, including the Wrecking Crew and the Children of the Earth.
* MenOfSherwood: The Resistance defenders in the ''War of the Chosen'''s Haven Assault missions are susprisingly competent, and on lower difficulties are capable of defeating even Chosen without XCOM's assistance. Just don't let one of your soldiers get Mind-Controlled within their sight...
* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome:
** Your forces tend to show up when after everyone else has either fled or died, but it's clear that the other resistance cells have been quite active, whether it be setting up data taps to spy on ADVENT, pinpointing strategic targets for XCOM to follow up on, halting enemy convoys, and tipping XCOM off to VIP locations.
** Somehow the Resistance, which usually only shows up as a ragtag bunch of lightly armed {{Red Shirt}}s, manages to bring down heavily armed and armored [=UFOs=] on a regular basis, leaving the things sitting ducks for you to scavenge for high-level loot. They do often end up dead for their troubles if the mission flavor text is anything to go by, but it remains a quite impressive feat regardless.
** In ''War of the Chosen'', any op you run from the Resistance Ring certainly counts, seeing how you send a maximum of three operatives to help one of the three resistance factions in kicking some serious alien ass. The missions that reduce the Avatar Project counter are also heavily implied to play out similar to the repeatable Alien Facility ops you can run yourself, and those can get quite tough in the mid-to-late game. Best of all, there's a good chance your soldiers return from the ordeal completely unharmed.

!XCOM And The Resistance

!XCOM and the Resistance

!XCOM

* TheRemnant: The current XCOM is a mixed of what little remained of the original XCOM and various independent resistance groups that joined forces with it. Of the old commanding chain, only the Commander, Central and the Spokesman remain.

* FormerRegimePersonnel:
** Technically all of them that had any military experience from before the invasion.
** Some soldiers play this straighter by being bodyguards of Advent personnel prior to joining.

* ElitesAreMoreGlamorous: While not all of their recruits are top-shelf material, XCOM as a whole represents the elite core of the global resistance. It's the only rebel group that actively hits back against Advent where it hurts, while the other groups mostly feed intel, support, personnel and supplies to it.

* PropagandaHero: XCOM is implied to have a propaganda department that makes and distributes motivational posters to Resistance cells all over the world. Many of these posters consist of photos taken at victory sites or of high-ranking XCOM soldiers.