WE 3 - Television Tropes & Idioms

RUN.

WE3 is a 2004 Vertigo Comics miniseries by writer Grant Morrison and artist Frank Quitely. It has been described as a combination of The Terminator and Homeward Bound The Incredible Journey, and it was well-received for being dynamic and innovative in both art and story.

The story follows a trio of animals—a dog ("Bandit" or "1"), a cat ("Tinker" or "2"), and a bunny ("Pirate" or "3")—that were cybernetically enhanced by The Government to work on covert military operations. When the project is scrapped, the animals—who have escaped from their military handlers—have to fend for themselves and escape the soldiers sent to destroy them.

The writing is notable for the innovative way the animals speak: their suits electronically translate their thoughts, and rather than sounding like human speech, the animals can only articulate on a very simple level. Each one even has its own speech patterns, determined by their intelligence; the dog has the closest thing to "normal" human speech, while the rabbit is only able to manage single-word concepts.

The story is unusual for Morrison, in that despite the originality of the concept, it does not devolve into his usual habits of Breaking the Fourth Wall, Author Filibuster, and other Writer on Board eccentricities. The story's emotional impact is full of Morrison's belief in animal rights, though.

Featured Tropes:

Big Fat Future: Even if it is only Twenty Minutes into the Future, every human character with the exception of the homeless guy, the little boy and some of the soldiers ranges from slightly overweight to disgustingly obese.
Bittersweet Ending
Cats Are Mean: 2 dispatches birds and humans with the same disinterested aplomb.
- A general with a force sent out to eliminate the robotic pets loudly hopes the cat gets killed during a small, ultra-violent skirmish.
- "SSSSSTT!!!!NNNKK BOSS!"
The Chick: The rabbit, 3.
Cyborg
Deadpan Snarker: 2 manages this with only the most basic vocabulary.
"1 KNOW 0"
Development Hell: The movie adaptation.
Double Meaning Title: It's supposed to stand for Animal Weapon Three. The animals decide it means We Three.
Eye Scream: Bullets, fragments, claws...
Flechette Storm: 2's weapons.
The Government: The government.
Hellhound: 4 more or less resembles a mechanical version of the Hound of the Baskervilles
The Hero: The dog, 1.
Heroic BSOD: 1 reflexively kills a man with a rifle after the man takes a shot at 3, and spends quite a while afterwards sitting on the side of the road, saying "Bad dog. Bad dog."
Heroic Dog: 1 certainly wants to be, or maybe just a "gud" dog.
Homeless Pigeon Person
Intercontinuity Crossover: The animals are the first three iterations of Weapon Plus from Morrison's run on X-Men.
Killer Rabbit: 3.
The Lancer: The cat, 2.
Mature Animal Story
The Movie: In 2010, Morrison discussed making a We3 movie — http://splashpage.mtv.com/2010/04/21/grant-morrison-we3-screenplay-violence-comic/ here is the interview — but so far, no other information has surfaced about the project.
Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Or, specifically, a cyborg canine Rambo, a cyborg cat ninja, and a cyborg bunny demolitionist.
Not Good with People: Dr. Roseanne Berry very much prefers the company of the animals she works with to that of the other researchers.
Phlebotinum Rebel: All of the animals, who don't really know what to do with themselves after their escape.
Screw the Money, I Have Rules!:
"There's a big reward — sorta money you could use. Guy like you."
"Yeah. Yeah. I sure could. But...nah..."
Secret Project Refugee Family
Self-Destruct Mechanism: How 4 is eventually killed. The general in control of it self-destructs it when it nearly attacks a policeman.
Shout Out: In the opening scene of issue #2, the three animals (probably unintentionally on their part) yell out the lyrics to the song Run Rabbit Run while fleeing through a field with a number of wild rabbits.
Shown Their Work: Grant Morrison did a lot of research on animal behavior and psychology, the result of which is that the protagonists are definitively non-human.
Speech Impaired Animal: The team speak only in broken English that is more akin to Leet Speak than anything else; this is because the animals only think in short, simple concepts.
Taking You with Me: 3 detonating his bombs just as 4 tries to eat him. Somewhat subverted due to the villain being the only one who survives, as 4 is virtually unstoppable.
The Voiceless: One character's only speech is an entirely black word balloon with nothing in it.
Weaponized Animals
What Measure Is a Non-Human?: The central question, made much more interesting because the animals aren't written like people in tiny furry suits. All three have distinctly non-human thoughts and emotions.
Xenofiction