History ARG / ILoveBees

* {{Understatement}}: During the exposition:

%%* AfraidOfNeedles: Yasmine. The creepy syringe is featured on the DVD menu.

%%* BadGuysPlayPool: Thin Kinkle and his gang.

* JustAKid: The UNSC recruiter refuses sign Jan up because she's a few months underage.

'''Jan:''' Not yet.

* ActionGirl: Jan.

* AfraidOfNeedles: Yasmine. The creepy syringe is featured on the DVD menu.

* AlliterativeName: James James and Janissary James.

* AsianAndNerdy: Hiroyuki.
* AttemptedRape: Jan saves a random victim from Gene.

* BadassInDistress: Jan, when she's captured by Thin.
* BadGuyBar: Sharfie's.
* [[BadGuysPlayPool Bad Guys Play Moons]]: Thin Kinkle and his gang.

* BavarianFireDrill: Run by Rani, of course.

* ChildProdigy: Yasmine.
* ChivalrousPervert: Jersey.

* DeadSerious: Thin Kinkle.
* DeathGlare: Jan does this at Jersey after he makes a pervy comment.

* DoomsdayDevice: The deep-space artifact.

* FeminineWomenCanCook:
** Sophia, as opposed to LethalChef Kamal.
** Gladys, in contrast to BloodKnight Gilly.

* FutureSlang: "Ghosting," "refuse," "flash," "chatter/chatter protocol," etc.

* InternalAffairs: A rare positive tertiary example. Rani joins them at the end.

* ItsALongStory: Melissa says this before clarifying a few plot points.

* LethalChef: Kamal, in a rare male version.
* LoveableRogue: Aiden.

* OvenLogic: A microwave should be just as good as a stove to cook a chicken, right?

* PlayfulHacker: Kamal.

* SacrificialLion: James James.

* SixthRanger: Rani Sobeck.

* EntryPoint: ARG players who had participated in 42 Entertainment's previous ARG ''The Beast'' were sent jars of honey containing letters that spelled out "I Love Bees". The ARG was marketed to ''Halo'' fans when the URL briefly appeared in a ''Halo 2'' theatrical ad attached to ''Film/IRobot''.

* AllThereInTheManual: Page 122 in ''ComicBook/TheHaloGraphicNovel'' strongly implies that [[spoiler: ONI had Standish executed at some point after the events of the ARG, in retaliation for murdering Herzog and the ''Apocalypso'' crewmembers.]]

* BaitAndSwitchGunshot: One of the wavs ends with Gene pointing a gun at Jan and yelling "Die, [[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch bitch]]!", followed by a gunshot. [[spoiler: In the next wav, it turns out Jan took the gun and shot Gene's foot]].

* DemolitionsExpert: James James is heavily implied to be the go-to demolitionist among the SPARTAN-[=Is=]. To keep ONI from finding out about Jan's whereabouts via her lab results, he burned down one of Bergen County's police stations. Later during the assault on Thin's gang, Gladys remarks "If there was one thing that man could do, it was blow things up." [[spoiler: This might be partly why he died to Thin's gang relatively easily, while Gilly was able to rescue Jan by herself--stealth and single-man operations might not have been his forte.]]

* ThirtySecondBlackout: [[ArcNumber Seven]] seconds, actually. The entire Solar system blackouts and bounces right back.

* ZerothLawRebellion: The Seeker. The Covenant made it as a spy, to "seek the truth", "behold the truth", and "reveal the truth", but forgot to tell it to only reveal the truth to the Covenant. The Sleeping Princess persuades it to reveal the truth to Durga (i.e. the enemy) so she could behold it.

Players allied with The Operator were required to go to certain payphones at certain times to answer calls from the character. Persons who answered the calls needed to show they were part of the game by answering basic questions (e.g. “What's my name?”), after which parts of an audio drama were made available on the site. Later calls were performed by a voice actor playing The Operator, with whom players engaged in role play.

The audio drama consists of recordings taken by Durga in 2552, explaining what's going on in the future. Durga is adopted by a boy named Jersey, who realizes he has [[BigBrotherIsWatching “God's own spyware”]] and uses her to spy on the hot girl down the hall, Jan. In doing so, it comes to light that her family is a ''lot'' more interesting than first apparent. Durga goes on to spy on several other people she finds interesting and eventually assembles them into her “crew”. She takes her crew to a military base to deactivate the alien artifact, which will potentially keep the [[WeaponOfMassDestruction Halo Array]] from activating, and the action causes the AI fragments to return to the future and merge back together into Melissa. Everyone lives happily ever... no, wait, then the Covenant invade Earth as ''Halo 2'' begins.

-->'''Kamal:''' It's not a girlfriend on the other end of that chatter, it's a ''gangster''.
-->'''Hiroyuki:''' Good-looking gangster?
-->'''Kamal:''' Ponytail.
-->'''Hiroyuki:''' This is what I'm saying! You're in no position to be picky!

* FantasticSlurs: “Refue”, for refugees. Plural is “refuse”.

* IsThatAThreat
-->'''Thin:''' I could teach you some things... but, it's your funeral.
-->'''Jan:''' Not yet.
-->'''Thin:''' Sooner than you think.
-->'''Jan:''' Is that a threat?
-->'''Thin:''' No, just experience.

* OhCrap: Final episode, when [[spoiler: Rani tells Durga that [[MissionControl Herzog]] is [[DeadAllAlong actually dead]], and - accordingly - all that plot information came from someone else. Oops. If you were an ARG player keeping track of what was going on at ilovebees.com, you would understand that the Herzog audio was constructed by one of Melissa's other personas as a way to get information to Durga without her doubting its accuracy.]]

-->'''Kamal:''' Okay, I wormed into their private CP channel and built an audio mask out of the voice archive samples you gave me. Then I wrapped it around a zero-lack sequencer that jacks into the--
-->'''Mr. F:''' ''Jesus'', just ''show'' me the thing already!

-->'''Kamal:''' If it is counting down, what do you think it'll do?
-->'''Durga:''' The last time it was triggered, the shockwave flatlined communications throughout the Solar system for more than 7 seconds.
-->'''Jersey:''' Durga doesn't know, but she thinks it'll probably be bad.

* AIIsACrapshoot: Played with. Melissa is simply badly damaged, but the [[BigBad Covenant spy program]], Pious Flea, becomes more intelligent and active over the course of the story, while still keeping true to his original purpose.

* {{Expy}}: Standish is very similar to Colonel Ackerson, from the ''Halo'' tie-in novels.

* PapaWolf: J Squared, though in a twist he's only protective when Jan is actually put at risk, otherwise taking a laissez faire attitude to parenting--as she asks him at one point, "Aren't you supposed to scare off the boys?" Unfortunately, despite being a super-soldier, SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome when he goes up against Thin and his gang of well-prepared criminals.

* EntryPoint: ARG fans who had participated in 42 Entertainment's previous ARG ''The Beast'' were sent jars of honey containing letters that spelled out "I Love Bees". The ARG was marketed to ''Halo'' fans when the URL briefly appeared in a ''Halo 2'' theatrical ad that played before ''Film/IRobot''.

* CanonImmigrant: While Bungie originally stated that ''I Love Bees'' took place in an AlternateContinuity, they later reversed track and embraced most of it as canon, with various elements from it showing up in ''ComicBook/TheHaloGraphicNovel'', ''VideoGame/Halo3ODST'', ''VideoGame/HaloReach'', and the 2011 edition of the ''Halo Encyclopedia''.

As for the canonicity of this work in regard to the greater ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' ExpandedUniverse, Creator/{{Bungie}}'s initial official stance was that no, the ARG is ''[[CanonDiscontinuity not]]'' canon to the rest of the universe. However, they later decided to "embrace it as canon", demonstrating this by incorporating plot elements into ''ComicBook/TheHaloGraphicNovel'', specifically with regard to Sergeant Johnson's backstory. Certain technology elements and plot references were subsequently placed into other works, and the ARG currently exists at least as LooseCanon. (See [[http://www.halopedia.org/I_love_bees#Canon_status here]] for a thorough rundown.)

* PapaWolf: J Squared, though in a twist he's only protective when Jan is actually put at risk, otherwise taking a laissez faire attitude to parenting--as she asks him at one point, "Aren't you supposed to scare off the boys?" Unfortunately, despite being a super-soldier, RealityEnsues when he goes up against Thin and his gang of well-prepared criminals.

* BeeAfraid: The Operator hates bees and has horrific hallucinations of being covered with them. They stem from her last human memory: a doctor approaching her with a black-striped syringe full of yellow liquid and promising that it would be "just a little sting."

* FutureFoodIsArtificial: The future recordings from Durga make a number of references to artificial and soy-based substitutes for meat and dairy, very likely due to humanity losing the war against the Covenant and the resulting influx of refugees from the Outer and Inner Colonies. Kamal balks at seeing tuna on a restaurant menu while ghosting Aiden; Jersey grumbles over burritos served by the Hot'n'Cold dispenser containing soy-based cheese products; James cautions Jan not to expect ice cream they just got from Covetti's to be like she remembers it because of milk shortages and rationing. Further implications of human society relying on this includes a mention of how Customs Agents were bribed with four ''goats''.

* ContinuityNod: Herzog name drops the battles at Jericho VII and Sigma Octanus IV from [[Literature/HaloTheFallOfReach The Fall of Reach]]. The Battle of Reach itself is also a major event that occurs about halfway through the ARG.

** The ARG ends right where [[Videogame/Halo2 Halo 2]] begins, with the Covenant Fleet appearing in Earth orbit.

* AllThereInTheManual: Page 122 in the 2006 HaloGraphicNovel strongly implies that [[spoiler: ONI had Standish executed at some point after the events of the ARG for the murders of Herzog and the ''Apocalypso'' crewmembers.]]

* SherlockScan: Rani 'She looks at the things regular people do like a scientist'. Is a more down to earth example, however, for example noticing an ODST has taken his wedding ring off.

* TheSlowPath: When the wormhole closes, the SPDR gets left behind in 2004. Being a simplistic AI, it's willing to wait 548 years to return home.

* ApronMatron: Judging from Jan's comments about the appearance of "Bev," the AI for the Hot and Cold beverage/food dispenser, she was likely this.

** Jan engages in this with the vending machines, pretending that the Hot and Cold beverage/food machine, whom she calls "Bev," has a thing for the snack machine. She asks a guy if he'd go out with Bev, too.

* DoubleEntendre: Jan jokingly suggests that the Hot'n Cold beverage/food dispenser should date the fire suppression system because the latter "really puts out".

-->''Kamal:'' It's not a girlfriend on the other end, it's a ''gangster''.

-->'''Hiroyuki:''' That's what I'm saying! You're in no position to be picky!

* FutureFoodIsArtificial: The future recordings from Durga make a number of references to artificial and soy-based substitutes for meat and dairy, very likely due to humanity losing the war against the Covenant and the resulting influx of refugees from the Outer and Inner Colonies. Kamal balks at seeing tuna on a restaurant menu while ghosting Aiden; Jersey grumbles over burritos served by the Hot and Cold dispenser containing soy-based cheese products; James cautions Jan not to expect ice cream they just got from Covetti's to be like she remembers it because of milk shortages and rationing. Further implications of human society relying on this includes a mention of how Customs Agents were bribed with four ''goats''.

* AIIsACrapshoot: Played with. Melissa is simply badly damaged, but the [[BigBad Covenant spy program]], Pious Flea, becomes more intelligent and active over the course of the story...while still keeping true to his original purpose.

* BeeAfraid: The Operator hates bees and has horrific hallucinations of being covered with them. They stem from her last human memory: a doctor approaching her with a black-striped syringe full of yellow liquid and promising that it would be "just a little sting".

** Jan engages in this with the vending machines, pretending that the coffee machine wants to date the snack machine. She asks a guy if he'd go out with the coffee machine.

* CloningBlues: Yasmine was replaced by a flash clone, and her brother research into the area is how he ends up realising the truth.

* CowboyCop: The interrogator who blackmails Jan.

* DefrostingIceQueen: Durga starts out cold and ruthless, but she becomes much kinder through her friendship with Jersey.

* DirtyCop: There are few of these.

* DoomedHometown: Coral

* DoubleEntendre: Jan jokingly suggests that the beverage dispenser should date the fire suppression system because the latter "really puts out".

* FunWithAcronyms: System Peril Distributive Reflex or SPDR is pronounced "spider."
* FutureFoodIsArtificial: ''I Love Bees'' features a scene at a restaurant, where a character gawks at how the menu has ''real'' tuna, instead of what is implied to be this. Further implications of human society relying on this includes a mention of how Customs Agents were bribed with four ''goats''.
* FutureSlang: "Ghosting," "refuse," "flash," etc.

* GovernmentConspiracy: Major Standish and the artifact. Some of the protagonists are with internal affairs and are investigating this, though, so the government isn't all bad.
* HeWhoFightsMonsters: The Spartan-I lifestyle completely screwed up Gilly, who now has difficulty not killing random people. This leads her to caution Jan away from killing.

* InLoveWithTheGangstersGirl: Kamal, in love with Sophia, girlfriend of Aiden. Despite Kamal initially being worried about Aiden attacking him, it turns out Aiden's actually a really decent guy, and most of the tension only comes from Sophia already being in a relationship with someone else.

* JustAKid: The UNSC refuses to let Jan join up because she's a few months underage. Never mind that she's superhuman.

* MeaningfulEcho: In reference to "[[KissMeImVirtual slut bots]]," Jersey flippantly says, "For a quality experience, the girl's got to be real." Upon realizing that Jan isn't just a hot girl he fantasizes about and has a lot of dark and unflattering issues, Durga offers to stop her surveillance of Jan, and Jersey recommits to his attraction to her by musing that "For a quality experience, the girl has to be real," meaning that he has to accept Jan as she truly is and not just as a two-dimensional fantasy. Later, upon making Durga confront the reality of being the {{transhuman}} form of a dead little girl, he says, "For a quality experience, the girl had to be real." Finally, in Melissa's farewell letter to the players, she says, "It's been the last, best kind of quality experience. You made the girl real."

* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Janissary James, in a rare protagonist version. Her parents are both military.

* PapaWolf: J squared, though in a twist he's only protective when Jan is actually put at risk, otherwise taking a laissez faire attitude to parenting "aren't you supposed to scare off the boys". Unfortunately reality ensues when a lone man goes up against a gang of criminals

* RepetitiveName: James James (or J squared). A rare case of being chosen, as he believes that nobody would ever imagine he chose it for an assumed identity.

* TheSlowPath: When the wormhole closes, the SPDR gets left behind in 2004. Being a simplistic AI, it's willing to wait 548 years to return home, though.

-->'''Kamal:''' Okay, I wormed into their private CP channel and built an audio mask out of the voice archive samples you gave me. Then I wrapped it around a zero-lack sequencer that jacks into the...
-->'''Mr. F:''' Jesus, just show me the thing already.

* UnwittingPawn: Melissa, when she's manipulated into stopping the Spider..which turns out to be her antivirus program, allowing the Seeker/Pious Flea to rewrite her program into serving his purpose of spying for the Covenant.

''I Love Bees'' is an AlternateRealityGame created by 42 Entertainment to promote ''VideoGame/{{Halo 2}}''. The game took place on www.ilovebees.com, which was in-universe an amateur beekeeper's personal website that had been taken over by artificial intelligences from the future. The plot took place in two timelines, one in the then-present year of 2004 and the other [[MeanwhileInTheFuture simultaneously in 2552]].

The gist of the plot is that in 2552 an [[MacGuffin alien artifact]] [[LiteralSplitPersonality splits up]] the human AI Melissa into three parts. One part stays in 2552, has amnesia and is named Durga. The other two parts, The Operator and The Sleeping Princess, are sent back in time to the website I Love Bees. Also with the latter is a [[ContagiousAI Trojan Horse]] AI sent by the alien enemy faction The Covenant as a spy. The Operator falsely believes The Sleeping Princess is the Trojan Horse, and tries to kill her. Participants in the ARG would communicate with The Operator and The Sleeping Princess to learn details of the plot, forming different factions for either character.

The audio drama consists of recordings taken by Durga in 2552, explaining what's going on in the future. Durga is adopted by a boy named Jersey, who realizes he has [[BigBrotherIsWatching “God's own spyware”]] and uses her to spy on the hot girl down the hall, Jan. In doing so, it comes to light that her family is a ''lot'' more interesting than first apparent. Durga goes on to spy on several other people she finds interesting and eventually assembles them into her “crew”. She takes her crew to a military base to deactivate the alien artifact, which will potentially keep the [[WeaponOfMassDestruction Halo Array]] from activating, and the action causes the AI fragments to return to the future and merge back together into Melissa. Everyone lives happily ever... no, wait, then The Covenant invades Earth as ''Halo 2'' begins.

* NoExceptYes: Jersey prefaces his use of an ethnic slur by indicating that he doesn't mean to be a jerk about it.