"The fountain of youth is real, and it's in the blood of dozens of girls across the world. Their secret is known by few, yet desired by all. They are pawns in the most dangerous of games. We are the Resistance. Our mission is to find these girls, and protect them from those who want to use them and destroy them, and we document what happens to them,
so that their stories live on. This is the story of one of those girls.
We are the Resistance. We will not be stopped."
— Opening Monologue of each Chapter
LG15: the resistance is a Web Original Vlog Series and a From the Ashes Spin-Off of Lonelygirl15. It features the efforts of Jonas, Sarah, Reed, and the mysterious Hymn of None as they attempt to fight against the sinister LifesBlood Labs.
Stylistically, it is quite different from lonelygirl15, with the overall tone of the program being somewhat darker and more action-based. Also unlike its predecessor series, it features weekly recap episodes in the form of "Chapters". Due to some episodes being permanently lost, these are the only way to watch every video of the series proper.
the resistance may be watched on its official website, beginning with Chapter 1
. A list of blogs in the series with links, including some not available on the official website, may be found here.
The series proper began on September 20th, 2008, but prior to that the series existed in the form of various prologue videos and an Alternate Reality Game. The series concluded on December 12th, 2008. Due to the economy, the second season has been suspended until further notice. To compensate, EQAL launched a contest to integrate a fan series into canon, which produced LG 15 The Last.
This series provides examples of:
- Apologetic Attacker: In Chapter 5, Maggie apologizes to a LifesBlood Labs security guard, who thinks she is saying sorry for running away, before kicking him to the floor.
- The Bad Guy Wins: The finale has Sarah delivers Maggie and Jonas to the Order, giving them the means of breeding trait-positive babies. Sarah herself proudly announces that she's about to brought into the ranks of the Elders for her accomplishment, giving her the immortality she's been seeking. The only saving grace for the Resistance is found in The Stinger.
- Breeding Slave: Sarah reveals in the finale that the Order intends to use the newly-captured Jonas and Maggie to breed a new "crop" of trait-positive babies.
- Cats Are Mean: In "Feline Feariousness", Reed rants about how cats are evil, manipulative, and steal souls, and finishes by urging viewers to "Get rid of your cat, before your cat gets rid of you!"
- Card-Carrying Villain: Sarah Genatiempo is revealed to have been this all along in the finale. "Hello? McFly? I'm evil! Totally, completely, and utterly evil."
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Dr. Leonard J Alderman, who doesn't hesitate to steal, kidnap, or torture providing it furthers the company's aims.
- Deadpan Snarker: Sarah.
- Distressed Dude: Jonas gets captured by LifesBlood Lab goons in "Abduction!", then rescued by Sarah in "Mace In Yo Face!"
- Dumb Blonde Subverted with Sarah. While she can be pretty ditzy (e.g., holding maps the wrong way up), she also repeatedly shows herself to be competent, manipulative, and prone to being a Deadpan Snarker. She also frequently plays up the "dumb blonde" stereotype to her advantage.
- Engineered Heroics: The finale reveals that Sarah's rescue of Jonas in "Mace In Yo Face!" was this, as she arranged his kidnapping and rescue herself to gain his trust.
- Evil All Along: Sarah has been working for the Order the whole time.
- Evil Gloating: The finale features a memorable instance of this: "Hello? McFly? I'm EVIL!"
- Eviler than Thou: LifesBlood Labs along with the good old Order of Denderah, the Ancient Conspiracy from lonelygirl15 who don't take kindly to their new rivals. LBL don't exactly do anything to endear themselves to the Order either, as Sarah notes:
- Sarah: They're so bad that they're stealing from the bad guys! That's like taking candy from a baby. Who is totally evil!
- Evil Versus Evil: LifesBlood Labs and the Order of Denderah are enemies, and both of them are built around exploiting trait-positive girls for selfish gains in different ways - LBL to manufacture highly-profitable medicines, the Order to give their Elders immortality.
- Fate Worse than Death: The finale ends with Jonas and Maggie both being captured by the Order, followed by Sarah gleefully explaining to Maggie that the two of them are going to be used as breeding slaves (with all that entails) to give birth to a "new crop" of trait-positives for the Order to kill. The Stinger takes a tiny amount of the punch out of this, but the two of them are still left facing a brutal imprisonment with a very slim chance of ever being rescued.
- Flash Back: The show makes frequent use of these to show Maggie's past.
- From the Ashes: It's set just over a month after the end of lonelygirl15, and features two of the same main characters plus one. Jonas, Sarah, Reed, and the mysterious Hymn of None as they attempt to fight against the sinister LifesBlood Labs.
- Gratuitous Spanish: Played straight with "Fun Things to Do in Hiding - Volume Dos!"
- The Guards Must Be Crazy: The LifesBlood Labs goons are pretty incompetent. The "Mace in Yo Face!" and "Done Dirt Cheap" incidents are particularly shameful. Although the "Mace in Yo Face" incident is justified because those weren't real LBL henchmen.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: Jonas in the beginning, due to everything that's happened to him in he previous series.
- Immortality Seeker: In the season finale, Sarah Genatiempo reveals this to be their goal.
- Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: LifesBlood Labs, especially in chapter 12.
- Improvised Weapon: The Chapter 3 video "Done Dirt Cheap" includes a sequence in which Jonas and Sarah fight off security guards using the camera and the Samsaran Doctrine.
- In-Universe Camera: Like its predecessor series, this show has a camera that the characters are perfectly aware of and frequently carrying around with them.
- Live Episode: "Signal Lost" was originally recorded live. It appears in an edited form as a scene in Chapter 6.
- Mad Scientist Laboratory: LifesBlood Labs, and specifically Maggie's "magical place filled with wonders"
- The Mole: The finale revealed that Sarah Genatiempo was in the Order all along.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
- In "Split", Hymn Of None / Maggie tells Jonas that the FBI is showing up at his door to arrest him for the events of the lonelygirl15 series finale, forcing him on the run and to rejoin the fight against the Order. As it turns out, that was a lie, and the FBI agents really did just want to talk to Jonas about the Order, as they're trying to fight it too. As a result of that lie, Jonas and Maggie both end up imprisoned by the Order, doomed to suffer for who-knows-how-long.
- The audience helps the Resistance out, helping them out with several tasks across the series. All of which helped Sarah and the Order succeed in their evil plan. The Mole even calls the viewers out for this in the finale.
- No Fourth Wall: Part of the premise of lonelygirl15 and this show, as stated by Word Of God, is that there is no fourth wall. The characters are always aware that there is an audience, and often address them directly. However, the characters do not know that they are fictional, so perhaps it would be more accurate to say that the fourth wall exists — it's just transparent.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: A favourite trick of Sarah, carried over from lonelygirl15. The Chapter 3 video "Done Dirt Cheap" is a good example. Furthermore, while she appears to be The Ditz a lot of the time, she's arguably the smartest member of the Resistance.
- Opening Monologue: "The fountain of youth is real, and it's in the blood of dozens of girls across the world..." This is shown over a montage of all the natural trait positive characters to appear in lonelygirl15 and KateModern.
- Peace & Love Incorporated: LifesBlood Labs. They're not nearly so friendly when the cameras are off.
- The Power of Blood: Infusions of Trait Positive blood can extend the human lifespan considerably, but Maggie's blood grants total immortality.
- "Ray of Hope" Ending: After the brutal Downer Ending featuring Jonas and Maggie being captured by the Order and Sarah about to ascend to the rank of Elder, The Stinger shows Reed meeting up with Daniel, implying the two of them will keep the Resistance going.
- Recap Episode: Released every week once the series proper started, right up through the finale.
- Retcon: The finale applied a couple of these to lonelygirl15, such as the revelation that Sarah was evil all along or that Jonas is a trait positive male.
- Refusal of the Call: This is how Jonas Wharton reacts when the Hymn of None attempts to persuade him to lead the Resistance in the first chapter, "A Call To Arms". In the end, the FBI turn up investigating claims that Jonas has committed acts of terrorism and murder, which forces him into action.
- Rule of Cool: Sarah invokes this to explain why she put the camera in the trunk at the start of "3:00 PM".
- Shirtless Scene: Jonas. He didn't manage to go four episodes without taking his shirt off.
- Shout-Out:
- Sarah mentions The Return of the Jedi and The Return of the King in "Fun Things to Do in Hiding — Volume Three!"
- Jonas snarks in "Ticket To Ride" (the Chapter 2 opener) that the Samsaran Doctrine "sounds like something out of a Dungeons & Dragons game."
- The title of "Done Dirt Cheap" is a reference to the AC/DC song "Dirty Deeds (Done Dirt Cheap)".
- The first two chapters contain several allusions to The Matrix, both direct and indirect.
- In Chapter 12 episode "Going Down", Jonas whistles part of the theme from The Great Escape before rescuing Reed.
- In "3:00 PM - The Meet-Up" (listed as "4:00 PM" in its recap episode), Sarah says she put the camera in the trunk "because it'll be cool, like Pulp Fiction."
- The finale has this line, referencing Back to the Future: "Hello? McFly? I'm evil!"
- Slipknot Ponytail: Sarah does this in the Chapter 2 video "Sexy Librarian Strikes Again", when she takes her hair out of her "Research Nerd" bun.
- Something Else Also Rises: Happens to Reed in the Chapter 6 video "Road Head Butting":
- Sarah: What? Do you always do what you're told?Reed: Depends on who's telling.Sarah: (beat) What if I'm telling you?(Reed smiles and thinks for a moment, then suddenly spills his drink in his lap. Sarah laughs hysterically.)Reed: ...I just wet myself.
- Split-Screen Phone Call: The Chapter 1 finale "Split" plays with this effect a lot (including a bit at the end where the two cameras meet).
- The Stinger: After the credits roll on the finale's recap episode, we see Reed's "We Are the Resistance" video. He reaches the address Maggie gave him in "2:00 PM" ("3:00 PM" in the recap) and pounds on the door. After a few seconds, Daniel opens it, implying he and Reed will keep the Resistance alive.
- Stereotypical Nerd: "Bad Decision?" features "the sexy nineteen-year-old fact finder also known as... Research Nerd!" This is actually Sarah invoking the trope with Nerd Glasses, a collared shirt and tie, and her hair tied back in a ponytail.
- Strapped to an Operating Table: Maggie is shown to have spent a lot of time strapped to an operating table in Flashbacks.
- Synthetic Voice Actor: The Hymn of None, who later revealed to be the girl in the flashbacks, Maggie.
- The Teaser: "A Call To Arms" used the original prologue trailer video as a cold opening, before fading to the Opening Monologue.
- Thanks for the Mammary: Reed does this to Sarah by accident when he runs to greet her in a dark room in chapter 12.
- Throw the Book at Them: Sarah whacks a security guard with the Samsaran Doctrine in "Done Dirt Cheap".
- Trunk Shot: "3:00 PM" opens with one... because Sarah put the camera in the trunk deliberately to get one.
- Worthless Treasure Twist: The cure for trait-positivity doesn't exist. The box they get their hands on in the finale only contains a gun that Sarah uses to capture Jonas on behalf of the Order.
"Toodles!"
