History Webcomic / BrokenTelephone

* MeanBoss: After Manisha overhears a murder on a customer service call, her boss forces her to ''take another call'' before attempting to report it to police.

* OperatorFromIndia: The story opens in an Indian call center.

* BeleagueredBureaucrat: Rick Rogers' reveals his job was this in a speech, and how he was ultimately powerless in the entire situation of American citizens being imprisoned by the East Rhutan government, while everyone just assumed he could have snapped his fingers and freed everyone. He couldn't get them transferred to America because what they did was not a crime due to the First Amendment, nor could he even recommend a lawyer, so they all picked the lawyer with a Western-sounding name who bungled their cases. He wasn't even able to see them in prison without approval by a low ranking guard.

The story is ''sort of'' a Main/RashomonStyle exploration of six events that happen simultaneously, yet all affect each other. Unlike ''Film/{{Rashomon}}'' itself, the actual events which occur are clearly known; what is different is everybody's interpretations of these events. For example, Rick Rogers, the American ambassador to East Rhutan, is trying to get the East Rhutanian government to release a number of Americans they're keeping prisoner. To this end, he's been trying to befriend the East Rhutan Minister of Justice, Krushik, by going to parties with him and buying him lots of drinks. However, other characters in the story believe that Rogers isn't doing his job, he's just going to lots of parties and having fun. Other characters' motives are similarly misinterpreted, leading to a pile-up of misunderstandings that spirals hideously out of control.

* CerebusRetcon: Early on, Manisha tells off a rude caller who keeps shouting "I am an American", telling him to go to hell before taking her break. [[spoiler:It turns out the caller was Lao, who was being pursued by government forces and was trying to call a contact who would get him out the country. He's shot and killed just as Manisha tells him to go to hell]]
* CyanidePill: [[spoiler: The Minister of Justice takes one when Rick hints that secrets are out.]]

* INeedAFreakingDrink: When Rick Rogers finds out he's been stripped of his credentials as consular general (he was previously demoted from ambassador when East Rhutan was downgraded as a diplomatic mission and deemed to not require an ambassador) and the plane was heading back to East Rhutan, where, without his diplomatic immunity he would be interned in a military prison, he asks what happened to the drink he ordered.

* TooDumbToLive: An Air Marshall tries to give mouth-to-mouth resuscitation -- against a doctor's warning -- on the East Rhutan Minister of Justice, who has taken a CyanidePill. He ends up ingesting the cyanide.

* TheAssInAmbassador: What everyone ''thinks'' Rick Rogers is like. He gives a speech on how he was ultimately powerless over the situation in East Rhutan and the "parties" he attended were actually him trying to get the Minister of Justice to release everyone.

* INeedAFreakingDrink: When Rick Rogers finds out he's been stripped of his credentials as consular general (he was previously demoted from ambassador when East Rhutan was deemed to not require an ambassador) and the plane was heading back to East Rhutan, where, without his diplomatic immunity he would be interned in a military prison, he asks what happened to the drink he ordered.

* SurroundedByIdiots: Rick Rogers, with just about everyone on the plane. The passenger next to him mistakes his bluff for an attempted hijacking, the air marshall gives mouth-to-mouth to someone who took a CyanidePill and ingests the cyanide, multiple passengers give out of context information to news outlets, one passenger films his impassioned speech on what his job is ''really'' like and why he couldn't get the American citizens freed so easily... but it was a Vine so only the first six seconds, him sarcastically claiming to be a terrorist, is uploaded and seen by media.

* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: The bonus story 'Unbroken' is one of these.

* HeroicBystander: CJ, who for most of the comic [[NoNameGiven is simply known as "Little Boy",]] overhears some men in the rest room talking about killing people. He gets on his cell phone to report it, and later follows the men into the food court so he can keep reporting on them.

* CyanidePill: [[spoiler: The Prime Minister takes one when Rick hints that secrets are out.]]

The podcast ''Podcast/BigData'' is a sequel starring some of the same characters.

The podcast Podcast/BigData is a sequel starring some of the same characters.

-->"A globe-crossing crime story where everyone's the hero of their own story, and the villain of someone else's."

* KillMeNowOrForeverStayYourHand: Even though Peter and Gerald are assassins carrying weapons, Emel (another assassin) is positive that they're noobs and therefore not a threat to them. He proves this by turning his back on them long enough to [[spoiler:urinate (they're in a men's room).]]

The story is ''sort of'' a Main/RashomonStyle exploration of six events that happen simultaneously, yet all affect each other. Unlike ''Film/{{Rashomon}}'' itself, the actual events which occur are clearly known; what is different is everybody's interpretations of these events. For example, Rick Rogers, the American ambassador to East Rhutan, is trying to get the East Rhutanian government to release a number of Americans they're keeping prisoner. According to some of the characters, Rogers isn't doing his job, he's just "partying" with the East Rhutan Minister of Justice, Krushik. The reality is that Rogers is trying to get on Krushik's good side in order to convince him to release the prisoners. Other characters' motives are similarly misinterpreted, leading to a pile-up of misunderstandings that spirals hideously out of control.

Read it [[http://www.broken-telephone.com/comic/cover here.]] ''(Link goes to first page to avoid spoilers.)''

-->"A globe-crossing crime story where everyone's the hero of their own story, and the villain of someone else's."

The story is ''sort of'' a Main/RashomonStyle exploration of six events that happen simultaneously, yet all affect each other. Unlike ''Film/{{Rashomon}}'' itself, the actual events which occur are clearly known; what is different is everybody's interpretations of these events. For example, Rick Rogers, the American ambassador to East Rhutan, is trying to get the East Rhutanian government to release a number of Americans they're keeping prisoner. According to some of the characters, Rogers isn't doing his job, he's just "partying" with the East Rhutan Minister of Justice, Krushik. The reality is that Rogers is trying to get on Krushik's good side in order to convince him to release the prisoners. Other characters' motives are similarly misinterpreted, leading to a pile-up of misunderstandings that spiral hideously out of control.

The story is ''sort of'' a Main/RashomonStyle exploration of six events that happen simultaneously, yet all affect each other. Unlike ''Film/{{Rashomon}}'' itself, the actual events which occur are clearly known; what is different is everybody's interpretations of these events. For example, Rick Rogers, the American ambassador to East Rhutan, is trying to get the East Rhutanian government to release a number of Americans they're keeping prisoner. According to some of the characters, Rogers isn't doing his job, he's just "partying" with the East Rhutan Minister of Justice, Krushik. The reality is that Rogers is trying to get on Krushik's good side in order to convince him to release the prisoners.

The story is ''sort of'' a Main/RashomonStyle exploration of six events that happen simultaneously, yet all affect each other. Unlike ''Film/{{Rashomon}}'' itself, the actual events which occur are clearly known; what is different is everybody's interpretations of these events. For example, Lao and several other Americans are being held in a prison in the tiny island country of East Rhutan. Lao's grandmother Khin says that Rick Rogers, the American ambassador who should be trying to get them out of jail, is actually partying with the East Rhutan Minister of Justice, Krushik. The reality is that Rogers is trying to get on Krushik's good side in order to convince him to release the prisoners. Meanwhile, Krushik's point of view is that these prisoners are dangerous, and he genuinely believes that if he releases them, his government will topple.

* AnachronicOrder / SimultaneousArcs: The chapters are not arranged in linear sequence, and many of them cover the same time periods as other chapters. (A detailed chart provided by the author can be found [[https://twitter.com/ryanestrada/status/647589711796568064/photo/1 here]].)

%%When launched, namespace should be "Webcomic"