Line #47 WebVideo/TheMinervaAlliance


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/minerva.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Minerva's profile picture]]
3
4	->''"Our world contains objects, phenomena, and entities that are unexplainable by science and logic, and the world's governments are hiding this information from you, claiming them to be "unusual" cases of "ordinary" phenomena."''
5	-->--[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3eaec1NJWQ Minerva Alliance Mission Statement]]
6
7	The Minerva Alliance is a WebOriginal AnalogHorror [[GenreAnthology anthology series]] by Quarks and Rec. The videos are presented in the form of found footage and emergency alerts from various places in the United States, with other places hinted to be explored later. They present themselves as a non-profit organization dedicated to [[ToUnmasqueTheWorld revealing the existence of various anomalies around the world]] because the world governments are trying to hide them. All the footage is recovered from VHS tapes (except for "Quakin' and Shakin'!", a film reel)
8	----
9	!!This show provides examples of:
10	* OneDimensionalThinking: {{Averted\|Trope}} in "Unusual EAS Alert". The storm is headed east, and it asks people who are driving to evacuate north or south.
11	* TheThirties: "Madame Claire" is a sound cartoon from 1932
12	* TheSixties: "Quakin' and Shakin'!" was made 1969 InUniverse.
13	* TheEighties:
14	** "Madame Claire" was released on VHS in this timeframe, exact year unknown.
15	** Tommy Parson's audio logs were made from March 12 to March 22, 1989.
16	* TheNineties: The most popular time period for these videos.
17	** "[=PegaSys=] Neurolink" was made August 6, 1996.
18	** "Unusual EAS" was recorded June 25, 1999.
19	** It's not known when "Tau Omicron Xi" was made, but the description suspects it was the mid-90s.
20	** "Unusual PSA" was recorded June 3, 1998.
21	** "Community's Choice" was recorded December 13, 1997.
22	** "Boyd's Pest Control Employee Training Video" was recorded April 12, 1996.
23	* [[TurnOfTheMillennium The 2000's]]: "Game Show Spectacular" was released in the year 2000.
24	* TheAgeless: Heavily implied that [[spoiler:the members of Tau Omicron Xi]] are this.
25	* AllThereInTheManual: Additional information about each clip is in the description of each video.
26	** "Game Show Spectacular" says that a boy died after watching it.
27	** "Tau Omicron Xi" says that the titular sorority disappeared shortly before the tape was found.
28	** "Madame Claire" says rumors of a video fitting the description were already present around a redacted area. The description calls the video a "Monarch-class temporal anomaly" and talks about procedures surrounding it.
29	** "Quakin' and Shakin'!" says that a Minerva agent found the film reel when investigating mysterious large holes around a ghost town.
30	** "Community's Choice" says that a woman who used to live in New Comstock provided the tape to The Minerva Alliance.
31	* AmbiguousGender: The personnel of the Alliance are always referred to by either their gender-neutral bird-themed codenames or by they/them pronouns, likely to keep their identities under wraps.
32	* AnimalMotifs: The Alliance itself has birds. Its logo is a [[TheOwlKnowingOne barn owl representing knowledge]], its base of operations is referred to as "Eyrie Command" ("eyrie" being the nest of a bird of prey) and its personnel have codenames like "Sparrow", "Peregrine", "Harrier", "Great Horn", etc.
33	* ApocalypseHow: The last two predictions of "Madame Claire" [[spoiler:show a Class 4 scenario with much of marine life dying, promptly followed by a Class 6 scenario with "all life on Earth perishes"]]
34	* ArtisticLicenseEngineering:
35	** The [[OminousVisualGlitch ominous visual glitches]] in "[=PegaSys=] Neurolink" show the video does not have a vertical blanking interval. These are used to make sure that the TV knows where the start of a new field is so the image is stable and not bisected.
36	** While "Community's Choice" shows a vertical blanking interval, at the same time, the video distorts vertically. This is highly unlikely for an analog television signal, as it draws images in horizontal lines. However, it is possible that the [[https://youtu.be/nxUDHcZl1uo CCD sensors]], which use "bucket brigade" methods of serializing the image, are messing up, this causing the vertical distortions.
37	* ArtisticLicenseSpace: In "Community's Choice", it is shown to be daylight (but overcast) in the Tennessee Valley approaching 8pm on December 13, 1997. It should be nighttime.
38	* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: In "Neurolink", [[spoiler:this is what the Digital Messiah offers to Neurolink owners]].
39	* BlackBeadEyes:
40	** The Minerva Alliance's barn owl mascot has these.
41	** At the end of "Game Show Spectacular", [[spoiler:the clown's eyes become these as its mouth opens wider]].
42	** In "Madame Claire", [[spoiler:her eyes switch from [[PieEyed pie eyes]] to this.]]
43	** The virus victim in "Unusual PSA" has these as well as a network of black veins on his hands and face (the only skin visible).
44	* BrownNote: The description of "Game Show Spectacular" claims a boy died after watching it, with adults experiencing no ailments from doing so.
45	* ButForMeItWasTuesday: Some of the videos have pretty mundane endings for their subject matter.
46	%%* ChameleonCamouflage: The Shadowmanders from "Boyd's Pest Control Employee Training Video".
47	* DeliberatelyMonochrome: All of "Madame Claire" except the "Little Sisters Legacy Collection" logo in the beginning. {{Justified\|Trope}} as it's a sound cartoon from [[TheThirties 1932]].
48	* DeliberateVHSQuality: The series is FoundFootage, mostly with VHS tapes. So far, the only exception is "Quakin' and Shakin'", which is a film reel.
49	* DemocracyIsBad: In "Community's Choice", [[spoiler:people vote on who to sacrifice to Alazareth.]] What's worse is that the questions about [[spoiler:human sacrifice]] get higher voter turnout than mundane ones.
50	* DevelopmentHell: An InUniverse example happened with the [=PegaSys=] Neurolink technology. It was supposed to be released in 1996, but wasn't. According to the video's description, "[=PegaSys=]" would become slang for "hyping a product and not releasing it".
51	* DoNotAdjustYourSet: In "[=PegaSys=] Neurolink", [[spoiler:The Digital Messiah interrupts a product demo tape.]]
52	* DontGoInTheWoods: Tommy Parson goes hiking in the woods [[spoiler:and gets lost in another dimension]].
53	* EldritchLocation: In Tommy Parson's audio logs, [[spoiler:he ends up in one of these. It appears to be like Earth but with no evidence of human settlement, and some strange creatures as well.]]
54	* ElectromagneticGhosts: When [[spoiler:Alazareth]] appears at the end of "Community's Choice", he causes {{ominous visual glitch}}es. Only with the camera looking right at him, not with the other camera shown.
55	** In "Boyd’s Pest Control Employee Training Video" [[spoiler:the Ectomold's influence disrupts the video tape.]]
56	* ElectronicTelepathy: This is what Neurolink claims to be [[spoiler:until it's revealed that it's actually a HiveMind device]].
57	* EmergencyBroadcast: TheNamesake of "Unusual EAS Alert"
58	* EverybodyDiesEnding: The ending of [[spoiler:"Madame Claire"]] says that [[spoiler:all life on Earth will perish at once]].
59	* FacialHorror: Always combined with BlackBeadEyes.
60	** At the end of "Game Show Spectacular", [[spoiler:the clown's eyes turning black and his mouth stretching.]]
61	** At the end of "Madame Claire", [[spoiler:her eyes go from PieEyed to black bead eyes, and her mouth now reassembles a marionette's mouth.]]
62	** In "Unusual PSA", a person who died from the virus has black "veins" going over his hands and face (the only skin visible), with his eyes and the surrounding area being completely black.
63	* FoundFootage: most of the footage comes from VHS tapes, both broadcasts and home video. So far, the only exception is "Quakin' and Shakin'", which is a film reel.
64	* FreezeFrameBonus: Happens pretty frequently, most often in the form of UnreadablyFastText.
65	** "Game Show Spectacular" has a series of messages in rapid succession at the end.
66	** "[=PegaSys=] Neurolink" has glitches that slowly reveal [[spoiler:the real reason that Neurolink is being made.]]
67	** "Tau Omicron Xi" has an unreadably fast poem at the end.
68	** The end of "Madame Claire" [[spoiler:predicts several disasters]].
69	** "Unusual PSA" shows the virus' "kill" stage for only a few frames.
70	** "Quakin' and Shakin'" has "[[spoiler:Subterranean Creatures]]" as a cause of earthquakes. Later, it appears for only a few frames, annihilating a small shack.
71	** Near the end of "Boyd’s Pest Control Employee Training Video", [[spoiler: one of the instructions for dealing with Ectomold is to make sure all the occupants are charred beyond recognition.]]
72	* HiveMind: "[=PegaSys=] Neurolink" appears to be [[spoiler:creating one of these out of users of the Neurolink]].
73	* ItCanThink: This is ''strongly'' implied to be the case with [[spoiler:the ectomold. And considering what has to be done to people contaminated/possessed by it...]]
74	* ItCameFromTheSink: The "Disposal Maws" from ''Boyd's Pest Control Employee Training Video.''
75	* NoodleIncident: The weather event in "Unusual EAS". It is said to be a thunderstorm, but it recommends that you hide in a storm drain, which would be suicide in a thunderstorm. It is possibly an anomalous weather event that the EAS doesn't want you to see.
76	* NothingIsScarier: Many of these videos will rarely (if ever) show the horror they are referring to. If they are shown, there is still some information about them withheld.
77	** The "thunderstorm" from "Unusual EAS" doesn't seem to be a thunderstorm, based on the odd orders from the emergency broadcast.
78	** The virus in "Unusual PSA" has no transmission vectors or symptoms shown. And when it attacks, death comes pretty quickly.
79	** In "Quakin' and Shakin'", [[spoiler:the burrower worms]] [[FreezeFrameBonus only get a few frames of screen time]].
80	** In "Community's Choice", [[spoiler:Alazareth]] appears as a [[spoiler:mass of yellowish-green light]].
81	* OminousVisualGlitch:
82	** "Game Show Spectacular" has a low-contrast grey spiral[[note]]which technically isn't a spiral, but rather the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraser_spiral_illusion Fraser Spiral Illusion]][[/note]] as interruptions.
83	** The Neurolink video shows VHS glitches such as vertical hold problems. [[spoiler:When it does, it slowly reveals that Neurolink is made to create a HiveMind.]]
84	** In "Community's Choice", [[spoiler:the camera and video start glitching when Alazareth appears.]]
85	** In "Boyd’s Pest Control Employee Training Video", [[spoiler:the video glitches out when the demon from the Ectomold gets closer.]]
86	* OurGodsAreDifferent:
87	** "Neurolink" features a message from "The Digital Messiah", who promises a utopia for joining a HiveMind.
88	** "Community's Choice" has Alazareth, a deity who provides prosperity in exchange for human sacrifices.
89	* TheOwlKnowingOne: The Minerva Alliance has a barn owl as its mascot, being a symbol of knowledge.
90	* MayContainEvil: [[spoiler:The Neurolink.]]
91	* PieEyed: Madame Claire has these [[spoiler:until her appearance changes at the end]].
92	* RealTime: "Community's Choice" shows the time to be 7:54pm at the beginning and 7:59pm at the end. Presumably, all the other videos follow this rule.
93	* SandWorm: In "Quakin' and Shakin'", [[spoiler:the Burrower Worms are massive worms that have super hearing ability, and cause earthquakes when they come.]]
94	* SubvertedKidsShow:
95	** "Game Show Spectacular" appears to be a children's quiz tape until [[spoiler:it unleashes a scary BrownNote that kills children]].
96	** "Unusual EAS" interrupts an airing of ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}''.
97	* ToUnmasqueTheWorld: This is the overall goal of The Minerva Alliance, because the governments of the world are trying to hide the various anomalies it shows.
98	* UnreadablyFastText: Often saved for the end of a video.
99	** At the end of "Mr. Know-It-All's Game Show Spectacular!", [[spoiler:the questions get shown faster, and their subject matter becomes more disturbing, before the clown's mouth opens wide and the text now says YouCantFightFate.]]
100	** In the Tau Omicron Xi video, a poem is shown on screen, too fast to read.
101	** At the end of "Madame Claire, The Psychic Savant", [[spoiler:predictions of the future become too fast to read, before a prediction of the world ending is shown with enough time to read it.]]
102	** "Quakin' and Shakin'" says that earthquakes can be caused by seismic activity, landslides, mining blasts, nuclear tests, and [[spoiler:subterranean creatures]].
103	* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: In "Boyd's Pest Control", the Shadowmander is clearly anomalous, but the video treats it as no big deal and one of the easier pests to take care of.
104	* YouCantFightFate: At the end of "Game Show Spectacular", [[spoiler:there is UnreadablyFastText saying that you are going to "a better place", and "Try to run, Try to hide" "It won't make a difference".]]
105	----

Context WebVideo / TheMinervaAlliance