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** Incensed, Carroll outright commits high treason by giving all Project Monolith weapons specifications to foreign powers, assembling the "Free Earth Alliance" of Germany, Britain, and Russia, who also start mass producing them, and then directs them in a literal World War III that kills tens of thousands of soldiers on both sides. It seems the only reason Carroll put together the alliance is so he can be its shadow-leader: the Project Monolith weapons have already been publicly revealed so there's no sense in fighting a war to "hide" them anymore.
** Carroll thinks of himself as if he's president again, leading the Free Earth Alliance to secure the planet in World War III before the alien invasion. Just like Blades before him, however, the leaders of these countries don't feel compelled to blindly follow his orders - given that at this point he's not only an ''unelected'' information broker but a traitor to his own country with no formal standing in their governments. Nonetheless he is both surprised and insulted by their response. When Russia's leadership bluntly makes it clear that they won't be his puppet, Carroll hijacks the LEOPRD laser-defense KillSat and ''vaporizes Moscow''.
** Subsequently it appears that the aliens have shot an asteroid on a trajectory to hit Earth, but instead of using the LEOPRD to defend the United States ''or'' the Free Earth Alliance, Carroll ''self-destructs'' the defensive satellite, then reveals his ultimate Plan B: ''let'' the asteroid devastate Earth while he and his closest followers ride out the destruction in a massive bunker complex, where he will - again - end up being hailed as their savior. Ultimately, Carroll wasn't trying to defend anyone else ''from'' the aliens, he just wanted to be king of the ashes.
** Carroll thinks of himself as if he's president again, leading the Free Earth Alliance to secure the planet in World War III before the alien invasion. Just like Blades before him, however, the leaders of these countries don't feel compelled to blindly follow his orders - given that at this point he's not only an ''unelected'' information broker but a traitor to his own country with no formal standing in their governments. Nonetheless he is both surprised and insulted by their response. When Russia's leadership bluntly makes it clear that they won't be his puppet, Carroll hijacks the LEOPRD laser-defense KillSat and ''vaporizes Moscow''.
** Subsequently it appears that the aliens have shot an asteroid on a trajectory to hit Earth, but instead of using the LEOPRD to defend the United States ''or'' the Free Earth Alliance, Carroll ''self-destructs'' the defensive satellite, then reveals his ultimate Plan B: ''let'' the asteroid devastate Earth while he and his closest followers ride out the destruction in a massive bunker complex, where he will - again - end up being hailed as their savior. Ultimately, Carroll wasn't trying to defend anyone else ''from'' the aliens, he just wanted to be king of the ashes.
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** Incensed, Carroll outright commits high treason by [[spoiler:by giving all Project Monolith weapons specifications to foreign powers, assembling the "Free Earth Alliance" of Germany, Britain, and Russia, who also start mass producing them, and then directs them in a literal World War III that kills tens of thousands of soldiers on both sides. It seems the only reason Carroll put together the alliance is so he can be its shadow-leader: the Project Monolith weapons have already been publicly revealed so there's no sense in fighting a war to "hide" them anymore. \n]]
** Carroll thinks of himself as if he's president again,leading [[spoiler:leading the Free Earth Alliance to secure the planet in World War III before the alien invasion. Just like Blades before him, however, the leaders of these countries don't feel compelled to blindly follow his orders - given that at this point he's not only an ''unelected'' information broker but a traitor to his own country with no formal standing in their governments. Nonetheless he is both surprised and insulted by their response. When Russia's leadership bluntly makes it clear that they won't be his puppet, Carroll hijacks the LEOPRD laser-defense KillSat and ''vaporizes Moscow''. \n]]
** Subsequently it appears that the aliens have shot an asteroid on a trajectory to hit Earth, but instead of using the LEOPRD to defend the United States ''or'' the Free Earth Alliance, Carroll''self-destructs'' [[spoiler:''self-destructs'' the defensive satellite, then reveals his ultimate Plan B: ''let'' the asteroid devastate Earth while he and his closest followers ride out the destruction in a massive bunker complex, where he will - again - end up being hailed as their savior. Ultimately, Carroll wasn't trying to defend anyone else ''from'' the aliens, he just wanted to be king of the ashes. ]]
** Carroll thinks of himself as if he's president again,
** Subsequently it appears that the aliens have shot an asteroid on a trajectory to hit Earth, but instead of using the LEOPRD to defend the United States ''or'' the Free Earth Alliance, Carroll
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** Do they ''care'' that humanity is in the solar system? Almost certainly yes. On the one hand, they may see humanity as too primitive and harmless and incapable of interstellar travel, and they're purely here for the abundant mineral resources in the asteroid belt. On the other hand, statistically few solar systems can support intelligent life, and there are vastly more dead star systems where they could gather such resources without the hassle of dealing with a native species. Moreover, they're fairly certain that the aliens aren't from a nearby star system (SETI would have seen some trace of their signals decades ago), so they apparently came a long way and skipped over nearer but uninhabited systems to reach us. So no, they couldn't just be here for mineral resources, the unique thing about our solar system is that is has intelligent life.
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** Do they ''care'' that humanity is in the solar system? Almost certainly yes. On the one hand, they may see humanity as too primitive and harmless and incapable of interstellar travel, and they're purely here for the abundant mineral resources in the asteroid belt. On the other hand, statistically few solar systems can support intelligent life, and there are vastly more dead star systems where they could gather such resources without the hassle of dealing with a native species. Moreover, they're fairly certain that the aliens aren't from a nearby star system (SETI would have seen some trace of their signals decades ago), so they apparently came a long way and skipped over nearer but uninhabited systems to reach us. So no, they couldn't just be here for mineral resources, the unique thing about our solar system is that is it has intelligent life.
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** Do they ''want'' something from or for humanity? Very probably. It's possible that they don't want anything at all and are purely here for anthropological reasons and scientific observation. ''However'', this possibility is dispelled when the ''Clarke'' reaches the belt in issue #1 and discovers that the aliens have built a moon-sized construct there (mined from local resources), dubbed "the Chandelier". You don't build something on that scale for anthropological research. The Chandelier is soon revealed to be a powerful weapon when a test shot from it vaporizes one of Jupiter's small asteroid-moons (using up more energy in one shot than all of Earth's nuclear weapons put together).
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** Do they ''want'' something from or for humanity? Very probably. It's possible that they don't want anything at all and are purely here for anthropological reasons and scientific observation. ''However'', this possibility is dispelled when the ''Clarke'' reaches the belt in issue #1 and discovers that the aliens have built a moon-sized construct there (mined from local resources), dubbed "the Chandelier". You don't build something on that scale for anthropological research. The Chandelier is soon revealed to be a powerful weapon when a test shot from it vaporizes one of Jupiter's small asteroid-moons (using up more energy in one shot than all of Earth's nuclear weapons put together). [[spoiler:It is later reveal that the Builders are here trying to ''save'' Earth from an unknown, greater threat that is coming for the planet.]]
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** There are only actually three Builders on the Chandelier, given the high level of automation in their advance technology. The Chandelier was built and is maintained by an army of hundreds of football-sized automatons dubbed "Fractals". They are also pretty weird: like synthetic fractal life forms, every part of them in a smaller scale duplicate of the whole. They look like a football made out of metallic bands that have been twisted together in a spiral shape...with other little spirals growing off of it, branching into smaller ones.
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** There are only actually three Builders on the Chandelier, given the high level of automation in their advance advanced technology. The Chandelier was built and is maintained by an army of hundreds of football-sized automatons dubbed "Fractals". They are also pretty weird: like synthetic fractal life forms, every part of them in a smaller scale duplicate of the whole. They look like a football made out of metallic bands that have been twisted together in a spiral shape...with other little spirals growing off of it, branching into smaller ones.
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** Subsequently it appears that the aliens have shot an asteroid on a trajectory to hit Earth, but instead of using the LEOPRD to defend the United States 'or'' the Free Earth Alliance, Carroll ''self-destructs'' the defensive satellite, then reveals his ultimate Plan B: ''let'' the asteroid devastate Earth while he and his closest followers ride out the destruction in a massive bunker complex, where he will - again - end up being hailed as their savior. Ultimately, Carroll wasn't trying to defend anyone else ''from'' the aliens, he just wanted to be king of the ashes.
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** Subsequently it appears that the aliens have shot an asteroid on a trajectory to hit Earth, but instead of using the LEOPRD to defend the United States 'or'' ''or'' the Free Earth Alliance, Carroll ''self-destructs'' the defensive satellite, then reveals his ultimate Plan B: ''let'' the asteroid devastate Earth while he and his closest followers ride out the destruction in a massive bunker complex, where he will - again - end up being hailed as their savior. Ultimately, Carroll wasn't trying to defend anyone else ''from'' the aliens, he just wanted to be king of the ashes.
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* ItsAllAboutMe: Former President Francis Carroll. The series starts out revealing that many of his controversial policies were actually well-intended and meant to ready Earth for a potential alien invasion, but as it progresses Carroll is increasingly revealed to be a petty man-child who isn't even concerned with saving the United States ''or'' humanity so much as his own ego that ''he'' is the one that gets to do it.
**Carroll assumed that despite leaving office, Blades would still follow all of his commands, apparently out of gratitude for the foresight Carroll had to put together Project Monolith. Instead, Blades has no intention of being Carroll's puppet and refuses his "suggestions". Ultimately, instead of revering Carroll's sage leadership, Blades delivers an EPIC ReasonYouSuckSpeech accurately pointing out how Carroll mishandled the situation and cost thousands of American lives. Carroll insisted that the Project Monolith weapons remain hidden until the aliens actually arrive so they don't "tip their hand", disagreeing when Blades ordered them put in the field to quickly end the foreign interventions Carroll started. Carroll also wanted the foreign wars to keep going to "churn out a steady supply of battle-hardened veterans". Blades, however, succinctly points out that Carroll ''never even knew'' if the alien attack would involve a ground war at all (and in fact, it won't); not only were American lives lost for no reason, those were resources that could have been devoted to their satellite defense network (which as it turns out, they ''did'' need).
**Incensed, Carroll outright commits high treason by giving all Project Monolith weapons specifications to foreign powers, assembling the "Free Earth Alliance" of Germany, Britain, and Russia, who also start mass producing them, and then directs them in a literal World War III that kills tens of thousands of soldiers on both sides. It seems the only reason Carroll put together the alliance is so he can be its shadow-leader: the Project Monolith weapons have already been publicly revealed so there's no sense in fighting a war to "hide" them anymore.
**Carroll thinks of himself as if he's president again, leading the Free Earth Alliance to secure the planet in World War III before the alien invasion. Just like Blades before him, however, the leaders of these countries don't feel compelled to blindly follow his orders - given that at this point he's not only an ''unelected'' information broker but a traitor to his own country with no formal standing in their governments. Nonetheless he is both surprised and insulted by their response. When Russia's leadership bluntly makes it clear that they won't be his puppet, Carroll hijacks the LEOPRD laser-defense KillSat and ''vaporizes Moscow''.
**Subsequently it appears that the aliens have shot an asteroid on a trajectory to hit Earth, but instead of using the LEOPRD to defend the United States 'or'' the Free Earth Alliance, Carroll ''self-destructs'' the defensive satellite, then reveals his ultimate Plan B: ''let'' the asteroid devastate Earth while he and his closest followers ride out the destruction in a massive bunker complex, where he will - again - end up being hailed as their savior. Ultimately, Carroll wasn't trying to defend anyone else ''from'' the aliens, he just wanted to be king of the ashes.
**Carroll assumed that despite leaving office, Blades would still follow all of his commands, apparently out of gratitude for the foresight Carroll had to put together Project Monolith. Instead, Blades has no intention of being Carroll's puppet and refuses his "suggestions". Ultimately, instead of revering Carroll's sage leadership, Blades delivers an EPIC ReasonYouSuckSpeech accurately pointing out how Carroll mishandled the situation and cost thousands of American lives. Carroll insisted that the Project Monolith weapons remain hidden until the aliens actually arrive so they don't "tip their hand", disagreeing when Blades ordered them put in the field to quickly end the foreign interventions Carroll started. Carroll also wanted the foreign wars to keep going to "churn out a steady supply of battle-hardened veterans". Blades, however, succinctly points out that Carroll ''never even knew'' if the alien attack would involve a ground war at all (and in fact, it won't); not only were American lives lost for no reason, those were resources that could have been devoted to their satellite defense network (which as it turns out, they ''did'' need).
**Incensed, Carroll outright commits high treason by giving all Project Monolith weapons specifications to foreign powers, assembling the "Free Earth Alliance" of Germany, Britain, and Russia, who also start mass producing them, and then directs them in a literal World War III that kills tens of thousands of soldiers on both sides. It seems the only reason Carroll put together the alliance is so he can be its shadow-leader: the Project Monolith weapons have already been publicly revealed so there's no sense in fighting a war to "hide" them anymore.
**Carroll thinks of himself as if he's president again, leading the Free Earth Alliance to secure the planet in World War III before the alien invasion. Just like Blades before him, however, the leaders of these countries don't feel compelled to blindly follow his orders - given that at this point he's not only an ''unelected'' information broker but a traitor to his own country with no formal standing in their governments. Nonetheless he is both surprised and insulted by their response. When Russia's leadership bluntly makes it clear that they won't be his puppet, Carroll hijacks the LEOPRD laser-defense KillSat and ''vaporizes Moscow''.
**Subsequently it appears that the aliens have shot an asteroid on a trajectory to hit Earth, but instead of using the LEOPRD to defend the United States 'or'' the Free Earth Alliance, Carroll ''self-destructs'' the defensive satellite, then reveals his ultimate Plan B: ''let'' the asteroid devastate Earth while he and his closest followers ride out the destruction in a massive bunker complex, where he will - again - end up being hailed as their savior. Ultimately, Carroll wasn't trying to defend anyone else ''from'' the aliens, he just wanted to be king of the ashes.
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**Former President Francis Carroll is an expy for George W. Bush on at least a general level as a result: both Bush and Carroll were dogged by controversial foreign wars, then succeeded by younger opposition-party presidents of different ethnicity (Blades/Obama) who promised to halt their policies, only for their successors to keep at least some of their controversial programs active.
***On a specific level, President Carroll is a very cynical condensation of the worst aspects of both President Bush and Vice President Cheney, stripped of redeeming qualities - or at least, the public persona their party tried to present. Both Carroll and Bush had a self-perception that they were the wise president guiding the nation through crisis, like FDR or Lincoln - only to be genuinely surprised and almost childishly insulted when their opponents point out gaping failures of logic and foresight in their plans. Carroll, however, takes this to a science fiction extreme.
***On a specific level, President Carroll is a very cynical condensation of the worst aspects of both President Bush and Vice President Cheney, stripped of redeeming qualities - or at least, the public persona their party tried to present. Both Carroll and Bush had a self-perception that they were the wise president guiding the nation through crisis, like FDR or Lincoln - only to be genuinely surprised and almost childishly insulted when their opponents point out gaping failures of logic and foresight in their plans. Carroll, however, takes this to a science fiction extreme.
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* {{Expy}}: Blades is based on Barack Obama, as both Presidents having inherited a host of complicated problems from their predecessors. Furthermore, Blades continued to enforce Carroll's policies much like Obama continuing the Bush administration's surveillance of foreign nationals and U.S. citizens.
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* {{Expy}}: Blades is based on Barack Obama, as both Presidents having inherited a host of complicated problems from their predecessors. Furthermore, Blades continued to enforce Carroll's policies much like Obama continuing the Bush administration's surveillance of foreign nationals and U.S. citizens. The afterward to the first issue has the authors directly state that the major storyline facing Blades is an analysis of the moral dilemmas facing Obama once he took office, i.e., that after receiving the secret presidential debrief, maybe some of these controversial policies really ''were'' too dangerous to ''stop'' doing.
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Tentative plans for a TV adaptation are being shopped around at major networks.
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* AllohistoricalAllusion: Prior to the end of his term, Carroll was certain that the American public would want a Democratic President in office after all the controversial foreign wars he waged - and the ''Clarke'' mission would only reach its destination at the alien construct in the asteroid belt during his successor's first term. The next president would need to have as much popular support as possible in order to deal with the potential alien invasion when it came, but even if the Republicans managed to retain the presidency it would only be by a narrow margin over a divided electorate, making even more problems for the country as a whole when the aliens arrive. Faced with these options, Carroll manipulated the 2008 elections so that the Democratic candidate wouldn't just win, but win by a historic landslide. He didn't do anything explicitly ''illegal'' to manipulate this, but he used back-door politics to dupe his own party leaders into nominating a Republican candidate who was a stiff old man that openly promised to carry on the same controversial policies as Carrol then saddled him with the [[UsefulNotes/SarahPalin worst running mate]].
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* AllohistoricalAllusion: Prior to the end of his term, Carroll was certain that the American public would want a Democratic President in office after all the controversial foreign wars he waged - and the ''Clarke'' mission would only reach its destination at the alien construct in the asteroid belt during his successor's first term. The next president would need to have as much popular support as possible in order to deal with the potential alien invasion when it came, but even if the Republicans managed to retain the presidency it would only be by a narrow margin over a divided electorate, making even more problems for the country as a whole when the aliens arrive. Faced with these options, Carroll manipulated the 2008 elections so that the Democratic candidate wouldn't just win, but win by a historic landslide. He didn't do anything explicitly ''illegal'' to manipulate this, but he used back-door politics to dupe his own party leaders into nominating a Republican candidate who was a stiff old man that openly promised to carry on the same controversial policies as Carrol Carrol, then saddled him with the [[UsefulNotes/SarahPalin worst running mate]].
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Changed line(s) 9 (click to see context) from:
* AllohistoricalAllusion: Prior to the end of his term, Carroll was certain that the American public would want a Democratic President in office after all the controversial foreign wars he waged - and the ''Clarke'' mission would only reach its destination at the alien construct in the asteroid belt during his successor's first term. The next president would need to have as much popular support as possible in order to deal with the potential alien invasion when it came, but even if the Republicans managed to retain the presidency it would only be by a narrow margin over a divided electorate, making even more problems for the country as a whole when the aliens arrive. Faced with these options, Carroll manipulated the 2008 elections so that the Democratic candidate wouldn't just win, but win by a historic landslide. He didn't do anything explicitly ''illegal'' to manipulate this, but he used back-door politics to dupe his own party leaders into nominating a Republican candidate who was a stiff old man that openly promised to carry on the same controversial policies as Carrol (i.e. real-life John McCain), then saddled him with the [[UsefulNotes/SarahPalin worst running mate]].
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* AllohistoricalAllusion: Prior to the end of his term, Carroll was certain that the American public would want a Democratic President in office after all the controversial foreign wars he waged - and the ''Clarke'' mission would only reach its destination at the alien construct in the asteroid belt during his successor's first term. The next president would need to have as much popular support as possible in order to deal with the potential alien invasion when it came, but even if the Republicans managed to retain the presidency it would only be by a narrow margin over a divided electorate, making even more problems for the country as a whole when the aliens arrive. Faced with these options, Carroll manipulated the 2008 elections so that the Democratic candidate wouldn't just win, but win by a historic landslide. He didn't do anything explicitly ''illegal'' to manipulate this, but he used back-door politics to dupe his own party leaders into nominating a Republican candidate who was a stiff old man that openly promised to carry on the same controversial policies as Carrol (i.e. real-life John McCain), then saddled him with the [[UsefulNotes/SarahPalin worst running mate]].
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Changed line(s) 9 (click to see context) from:
* AllohistoricalAllusion: Prior to the end of his term, Carroll was certain that the American public would want a Democratic President in office and so he manipulated the 2008 elections to have the Republicans lose is by having a Republican candidate who is a stiff, old man who carry the same policies as Carrol and saddled with the [[UsefulNotes/SarahPalin worst running mate]].
to:
* AllohistoricalAllusion: Prior to the end of his term, Carroll was certain that the American public would want a Democratic President in office after all the controversial foreign wars he waged - and so he the ''Clarke'' mission would only reach its destination at the alien construct in the asteroid belt during his successor's first term. The next president would need to have as much popular support as possible in order to deal with the potential alien invasion when it came, but even if the Republicans managed to retain the presidency it would only be by a narrow margin over a divided electorate, making even more problems for the country as a whole when the aliens arrive. Faced with these options, Carroll manipulated the 2008 elections to have so that the Republicans lose is Democratic candidate wouldn't just win, but win by having a historic landslide. He didn't do anything explicitly ''illegal'' to manipulate this, but he used back-door politics to dupe his own party leaders into nominating a Republican candidate who is was a stiff, stiff old man who that openly promised to carry on the same controversial policies as Carrol and (i.e. real-life John McCain), then saddled him with the [[UsefulNotes/SarahPalin worst running mate]].
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* StarfishAliens: The Builders.
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* StarfishAliens: The Builders. Vaguely cephalopod-like, with eight arms/tentacles. They use base-six math instead of base-eight math, though, because two arms are considered "sacred" for some reason, and not used for manual labor. Beyond mere biology, the comic makes it a point that aliens are ''alien'' - they don't think like humans. Their exact motivations hinge on their BlueAndOrangeMorality which is not immediately comprehensible. Basic linguistic communication is achieved but their syntax can be vague and difficult to understand: most statements they make in a running conversation are framed with the verb "becomes", i.e. Astronaut: "Why did you build this moon-sized construct in the asteroid belt?" Builder: "Waiting becomes completion".
**There are only actually three Builders on the Chandelier, given the high level of automation in their advance technology. The Chandelier was built and is maintained by an army of hundreds of football-sized automatons dubbed "Fractals". They are also pretty weird: like synthetic fractal life forms, every part of them in a smaller scale duplicate of the whole. They look like a football made out of metallic bands that have been twisted together in a spiral shape...with other little spirals growing off of it, branching into smaller ones.
**There are only actually three Builders on the Chandelier, given the high level of automation in their advance technology. The Chandelier was built and is maintained by an army of hundreds of football-sized automatons dubbed "Fractals". They are also pretty weird: like synthetic fractal life forms, every part of them in a smaller scale duplicate of the whole. They look like a football made out of metallic bands that have been twisted together in a spiral shape...with other little spirals growing off of it, branching into smaller ones.
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**When Blades is told that the nuclear destruction of FOB Hurricane in Afghanistan instantly killed over 13,000 American soldiers, including most of the currently deployed Project Monolith gear (though state-side facilities eventually produce more).
**President Blades's TV address denouncing Germany's destruction of FOB Hurricane, when he reveals that powered armor and next-generation vehicles weren't the only weapons Project Monolith produced: they also have an orbital laser KillSat called LEOPRD. Live on TV, Blades then uses it to instantly vaporize a military base in Germany containing an entire panzer brigade, equal payback for the American army destroyed in Afghanistan. World War III begins.
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* WorldWarIII: The USA, China, France, and Japan vs the "Free Earth Alliance" (Germany, Britain, Russia, plus the "smaller nations").
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* WorldWarIII: The USA, China, France, and Japan vs the "Free Earth Alliance" (Germany, Britain, Russia, plus the "smaller nations").nations", among them Brazil). Generally, China and Japan's forces fight Russia, while the United States and France deal with the UK and Germany. By the time a ceasefire is abruptly called after nine months, Manilla and Moscow have been destroyed.
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* UnfortunateImplications: The alien Builders make a request which involves the number 666. Several characters are shocked and jump to the conclusion that this is because it is the Satanic "number of the beast" in the Christian Bible. Dr. Portek casually waves this aside, however, explaining that they've observed that the aliens use base-six mathematics (instead of our base-ten mathematics), in which "666" is just a generic round number - our equivalent of "1,000".
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* FirstContact: Dr. Portek raise the possibilities of why the aliens are in the solar system: Are they aware of humanity? Yes, as humans has been sending out signals into space for decades and made their attempts to be known to alien life through SETI and the Voyager programs. Do they care for human life? Maybe or maybe not, as the aliens may see humanity as too primitive and harmless to them whereas they are too very advance to travel light years of space. Are they here for the abundant resources in the asteroid belt? Maybe, but there are other valuable metal and volatile in other solar systems that are likely closer to their home. Are they here because of us? Very likely, but the aliens cannot be here for anthropological reasons to build a moon-sized construct, like the "Chandelier", and for some reasons they haven't bother to directly contacting humanity.
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* FirstContact: Dr. Portek initially raise the possibilities of why the aliens are in the solar system: Are system's asteroid belt:
**Are theyaware ''aware'' of humanity? Yes, as humans has been sending out signals into space for decades and made their attempts to be known to alien life through SETI and the Voyager programs. Do programs.
**Do theycare for human life? Maybe or maybe not, as ''care'' that humanity is in the aliens solar system? Almost certainly yes. On the one hand, they may see humanity as too primitive and harmless to them whereas they are too very advance to travel light years and incapable of space. Are they interstellar travel, and they're purely here for the abundant mineral resources in the asteroid belt? Maybe, but there are belt. On the other valuable metal and volatile in other hand, statistically few solar systems can support intelligent life, and there are vastly more dead star systems where they could gather such resources without the hassle of dealing with a native species. Moreover, they're fairly certain that are likely closer to their home. Are they here because of us? Very likely, but the aliens cannot aren't from a nearby star system (SETI would have seen some trace of their signals decades ago), so they apparently came a long way and skipped over nearer but uninhabited systems to reach us. So no, they couldn't just be here for mineral resources, the unique thing about our solar system is that is has intelligent life.
**Do they ''want'' something from or for humanity? Very probably. It's possible that they don't want anything at all and are purely here for anthropological reasonsto build and scientific observation. ''However'', this possibility is dispelled when the ''Clarke'' reaches the belt in issue #1 and discovers that the aliens have built a moon-sized construct, like the "Chandelier", and construct there (mined from local resources), dubbed "the Chandelier". You don't build something on that scale for some reasons they haven't bother anthropological research. The Chandelier is soon revealed to directly contacting humanity. be a powerful weapon when a test shot from it vaporizes one of Jupiter's small asteroid-moons (using up more energy in one shot than all of Earth's nuclear weapons put together).
**Are they
**Do they
**Do they ''want'' something from or for humanity? Very probably. It's possible that they don't want anything at all and are purely here for anthropological reasons
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Changed line(s) 29 (click to see context) from:
* ItIsPronouncedTro-PAY: President Blades is Latino, so his name is actually pronounced "Blah-dezz" (two syllables) not "Blaydz" (one syllable, like "knife blades"). The comic directly points this out when it is mentioned that the new high-tech Project Monolith units have been nicknamed "Blades Brigades" - and it is remarked that while it is alliterative, it ''does not'' rhyme due to the way the president's name is pronounced.
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* ItIsPronouncedTro-PAY: ItIsPronouncedTroPAY: President Blades is Latino, so his name is actually pronounced "Blah-dezz" (two syllables) not "Blaydz" (one syllable, like "knife blades"). The comic directly points this out when it is mentioned that the new high-tech Project Monolith units have been nicknamed "Blades Brigades" - and it is remarked that while it is alliterative, it ''does not'' rhyme due to the way the president's name is pronounced.
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* ItsPronouncedTro-PAY: President Blades is Latino, so his name is actually pronounced "Blah-dezz" (two syllables) not "Blaydz" (one syllable, like "knife blades"). The comic directly points this out when it is mentioned that the new high-tech Project Monolith units have been nicknamed "Blades Brigades" - and it is remarked that while it is alliterative, it ''does not'' rhyme due to the way the president's name is pronounced.
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* ItsPronouncedTro-PAY: ItIsPronouncedTro-PAY: President Blades is Latino, so his name is actually pronounced "Blah-dezz" (two syllables) not "Blaydz" (one syllable, like "knife blades"). The comic directly points this out when it is mentioned that the new high-tech Project Monolith units have been nicknamed "Blades Brigades" - and it is remarked that while it is alliterative, it ''does not'' rhyme due to the way the president's name is pronounced.
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* ItsPronouncedTro-PAY: President Blades is Latino, so his name is actually pronounced "Blah-dezz" (two syllables) not "Blaydz" (one syllable, like "knife blades"). The comic directly points this out when it is mentioned that the new high-tech Project Monolith units have been nicknamed "Blades Brigades" - and it is remarked that while it is alliterative, it ''does not'' rhyme due to the way the president's name is pronounced.
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** Carrol again in front of his followers when [[spoiler: the meteor turns out to be a spaceship, meaning Earth was never in danger and his plans to backstab his allies and only take in those most loyal to him to survive is now revealed ''and'' he publicly embarrassed himself in front of his loyal followers.]]
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'''''Letter 44''''' is an ongoing sci-fi and political drama comic book series written by CharlesSoule and published by Oni Press.
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!!''Letter 44'' contains examples of:
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* {{Blackmail}}: During President Blades' public address about the Builders, Congressman Christopher Higgins is blackmailed by [[spoiler:Isobel]] to drop the impeachment against Blades and resign himself from office or else his secret affair with the First Lady will go public in which he will be depicted as the villainous adulterer while the First Lady will be treated as a victim and the President will be blameless.
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* EmergencyPresidentialAddress: President Blades eventually reveal to the world about the Builders and as well breaking the news about Germany's undeclared war against the US that ultimately leads to World War III.
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* WorldWarIII: The USA, China, France, and Japan vs the "Free Earth Alliance" (Germany,
Britain, Russia, plus the "smaller nations").
Britain, Russia, plus the "smaller nations").
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* WorldWarIII: The USA, China, France, and Japan vs the "Free Earth Alliance" (Germany,
(Germany, Britain, Russia, plus the "smaller nations").
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** Carroll recalls [[UsefulNotes/BillClinton his predecessor]] who has a fondness of "learning pretty ladies' first names" and it almost got him kicked out of office.
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* HeroicBSOD: President Blades falls into this after seeing [[spoiler:LEOPRD being taken control by Carroll to destroy Moscow and then causing to self-destruct while leaving Earth helplessly defenseless and without any backup plans as the asteroid is about to hit it within a few hours]]. However, Blades comes out of his funk when the [[spoiler:asteroid doesn't turns to be one but a spaceship]].
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* HeroicBSOD: President Blades falls into this after seeing [[spoiler:LEOPRD being taken control by Carroll to destroy Moscow and then causing it to self-destruct while leaving Earth helplessly defenseless and without any backup plans just as the asteroid is about to hit it within a few hours]]. However, Blades comes out of his funk when the [[spoiler:asteroid doesn't turns to be one but a spaceship]].
* OhCrap: Jack and Pritchard's reactions to seeing World War III happening on Earth while the ''Clarke'' crew were out of the loop for over nine months.
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* WorldWarIII: The USA, China, France, and Japan vs the "Free Earth Alliance" (Germany, Britain, Russia, plus the "smaller nations").
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** [[spoiler:Astra's]] first words.
-->Would you like to know why the Builders are here, Mother? Because that's an easy one. I know that.
* WorldWarIII: The USA, China, France, and Japan vs the "Free Earth Alliance"(Germany, (Germany,
Britain, Russia, plus the "smaller nations").
-->Would you like to know why the Builders are here, Mother? Because that's an easy one. I know that.
* WorldWarIII: The USA, China, France, and Japan vs the "Free Earth Alliance"
Britain, Russia, plus the "smaller nations").
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* WorldWarIII: The the USA, China, France, and Japan vs the "Free Earth Alliance" (Germany, Britain, Russia, plus the "smaller nations").
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* WorldWarIII: The the USA, China, France, and Japan vs the "Free Earth Alliance" (Germany, Britain, Russia, plus the "smaller nations").
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* WorldWarIII: The the USA, China, France, China, and Japan vs the "Free Earth Alliance" (Germany, Britain, Russia, plus the "smaller nations").
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* WorldWarIII: The the USA, China, France, China, and Japan vs the "Free Earth Alliance" (Germany, Britain, Russia, plus the "smaller nations").
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* WorldWarIII: The the USA, China, France, China, and China vs the "Free Earth Alliance" (Germany, Britain, Russia, plus the "smaller nations").
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* WorldWarIII: The the USA, China, France, China, and China Japan vs the "Free Earth Alliance" (Germany, Britain, Russia, plus the "smaller nations").
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* HeroicBSOD: President Blades falls into this after seeing [[spoiler:LEOPRD being taken control by Carroll to destroy Moscow and then causing to self-destruct while leaving Earth helplessly defenseless and without any backup plans as the asteroid is about to hit it within a few hours]]. However, Blades comes out of his funk when the [[spoiler:asteroid isn't turns to be one but a spaceship]].
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* HeroicBSOD: President Blades falls into this after seeing [[spoiler:LEOPRD being taken control by Carroll to destroy Moscow and then causing to self-destruct while leaving Earth helplessly defenseless and without any backup plans as the asteroid is about to hit it within a few hours]]. However, Blades comes out of his funk when the [[spoiler:asteroid isn't doesn't turns to be one but a spaceship]].
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** DoubleSubverted when [[spoiler:Carroll deliberately destroyed the LEOPRD in according to his plan of allowing himself and his handpicked people to survive the asteroid.]]
* KillSat: The Chandelier reveals its capabilities by destroying one of Jupiter's moons Carme. However, it is DoubleSubverted ''again'' as the [[spoiler:asteroid is revealed to be a spaceship that harmlessly hovers over the National Mall]].
* KillSat: The Chandelier reveals its capabilities by destroying one of Jupiter's moons Carme. However, it is DoubleSubverted ''again'' as the [[spoiler:asteroid is revealed to be a spaceship that harmlessly hovers over the National Mall]].
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** DoubleSubverted when [[spoiler:Carroll deliberately destroyed the LEOPRD in according to his plan of allowing himself and his handpicked people to survive the asteroid.]]
]] However, it is DoubleSubverted ''again'' as the [[spoiler:asteroid is revealed to be a spaceship that harmlessly hovers over the National Mall]].
* KillSat: The Chandelier reveals its capabilities by destroying one of Jupiter's moons Carme. However, it is DoubleSubverted ''again'' as the [[spoiler:asteroid is revealed to be a spaceship that harmlessly hovers over the National Mall]].
* KillSat: The Chandelier reveals its capabilities by destroying one of Jupiter's moons Carme.
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* KillSat: The Chandelier reveals its capabilities by destroying one of Jupiter's moons Carme.
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* KillSat: The Chandelier reveals its capabilities by destroying one of Jupiter's moons Carme. However, it is DoubleSubverted ''again'' as the [[spoiler:asteroid is revealed to be a spaceship that harmlessly hovers over the National Mall]].
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* HeroicBSOD: President Blades falls into this after seeing [[spoiler:LEOPRD being taken control by Carroll to destroy Moscow and then causing to self-destruct while leaving Earth helplessly defenseless and without any backup plans as the asteroid is about to hit it within a few hours]]. However, Blades comes out of his funk when the [[spoiler:asteroid isn't turns to be one but a spaceship]].
