Line #18 Webcomic/ToPreventWorldPeace


1	->''"Is... Is that our new Arch-nemesis?"''\
2	* Cue montage of the protagonist in a BadFuture defining BewareTheSuperman*\
3	'''"No. I wish it were."''
4
5	''[[http://worldpeace.emilymarthasorensen.com To Prevent World Peace]]'' is a WebComic by Emily Martha Sorensen, who also made Webcomic/AMagicalRoommate.
6
7	InAWorld where {{Magical Girl}}s are commonplace, Kendra and her friends have fought against evil since grade school. However, one day her life takes a dramatic shift when Chronos, a natural born Mage with the power to see the future corners her outside of school. Chronos has been plagued with visions of a future where Magical Girls seek to control the world, [[WellIntentionedExtremist for its own good of course]], without anyone standing in their way, and Kendra is right in the center of it all. Kendra is quick to point out that it's [[IncorruptiblePurePureness impossible]] for a Magical Girl to turn evil. "Except," Chronos is just as quick to reply, "for the times that they do."
8
9	Disturbed by these revelations, Kendra makes a heart-wrenching decision: She breaks off from her team, her friends and her family [[FaceHeelTurn to become a villain instead]]. But rather than JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope, Kendra's plan is (with the much reluctant help of Chronos) to hunt down Magical Girls at most risk of becoming corrupted, [[AntiVillain and force them to change their ways...]] [[DarkShepherd or else.]]
10
11	And that's the start. The comic focuses on one way a world with Magical Girls versus Super-Villains could develop, with a sprinkling of Worldbuilding and comedy to balance out the main plot.
12
13	----
14	!!Tropes in ''To Prevent World Peace'':
15
16	* AbsenceOfEvidence: How Rhea and Chronos know about the other's presence, since their powers can't be used to see anything related to the past / future of the other.
17	** [[http://worldpeace.emilymarthasorensen.com/worldpeace037.html Page 37]]: Rhea finds out Chronos's involvement in Kendra's defection, by her inability to see Kendra's defection.
18	** [[http://worldpeace.emilymarthasorensen.com/worldpeace110.html Page 110]]: Chronos discovers Rhea is at her front door, by her inability to see the future of that location.
19	* AlliterativeName: Multiple instances:
20	** [[http://worldpeace.emilymarthasorensen.com/worldpeace003.html Avenging Angel]], the leader of the magical girls in the BadFuture.
21	** Tiffany's M.O. with all her sentient magitek of death... that isn't about death.
22	*** [[http://worldpeace.emilymarthasorensen.com/worldpeace067.html Page 67]]: Davie the Defense Grid
23	*** [[http://worldpeace.emilymarthasorensen.com/worldpeace068.html Page 68]]:
24	--->'''Kendra:''' You can't leave me alone with that girl! She's crazy!\
25	'''Tiffany:''' Hi, Stevie the Shower! Hi, Linus the Light Bulb! ''WHOA!!'' [[BreadEggsMilkSquick Robbie the Rocket Pack]]!\
26	'''Chronos:''' Indeed, and you still haven't given me a convincing reason to stay.
27	*** [[http://worldpeace.emilymarthasorensen.com/worldpeace107.html Page 107]]: Subverted with her cannons, which aren't given "C" names, but "B" names, like "Billy" and "Bobby". Although, it is never said precisely what kind of object they are[[note]]'Blaster' maybe[[/note]], so it could still count.
28	*** [[http://worldpeace.emilymarthasorensen.com/worldpeace109.html Page 109]]: Doris the Death Ray.
29	* AmbiguousInnocence: Tiffany acts playful, childish and slightly spoiled. But she also commits crimes almost casually and cheerfully murdered a couple of villains who mistreated her.
30	* AntiVillain: Kendra becomes this, to prevent a BadFuture where {{Magical Girl}}s control everything.
31	* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Played with. Born mages are believed to be born evil, but [[WhiteSheep Chronos]] proves there can be neutral bystanders and good-natured mages as well. Their villainy seems to be more a matter of upbringing than anything else. Most born mages are in fact quite harmless. Their notoriety is mostly the result of several born mage crime families, who happen to possess the most powerful bloodlines.
32	* AlwaysLawfulGood: Played with. Magical girls are considered good by definition. Their magical system requires the user to be pure-hearted, but if a magical girl is strong-willed enough and/or sufficiently deluded she can keep her powers even after losing her innocence. For a time at least.
33	* AttendingYourOwnFuneral: Tiffany does it when invisible, as people think she died, as seen on [[http://worldpeace.emilymarthasorensen.com/worldpeace413.html page 413]].
34	* BewareTheSuperman: The main issue with the Magical Girl Union. Sure, having all the world's superheroes band together and organize seems like a classic League of Superheroes... until you remember that said League is composed of 0-to-18-year old girls. Almost all of the Union's futures are bad as a result of having easily-manipulated and socially-inexperienced superheroes come together under one easily-controllable organization. Hence the title - To Prevent World Peace (So That Peace Isn't Defined As Killing Almost Everyone With Heroic Incompetence).
35	* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Villains have means of brainwashing magical girls or their loved ones into joining them.
36	* CapePunk: The Magical Girl version.
37	* CardCarryingVillain: Rhea is a villain and loves almost every moment of it - [[SurroundedByIdiots with the exception of handling incompetent minions and informants]].
38	* CatchingSomeZs: At the end of [[http://worldpeace.emilymarthasorensen.com/worldpeace031.html page 31]], Chronos says "Zzzzzzzzz..." when she sleeps.
39	* TheCorrupter: Rhea ''loves'' luring magical girls to villainy.
40	* DarkShepherd: Kendra's methods of culling corruption from the world Magical Girl population can be rather cold. However, she takes no joy from it.
41	** BadFuture!Kendra as well, but a lot more heartless, [[WellIntentionedExtremist hence being a separate trope]].
42	* {{Deconstruction}}: The series as a whole is a "light" deconstruction of Magical Girl anime. In this setting, magical girls can only receive their powers if they have a "purity of being" so that they completely believe in and represent an ideal, thereby gaining magical power that is used to hunt down the magical predators who plague society. Unfortunately, the forces of good [[WeAreStrugglingTogether are not one big happy family]]; [[MagnificentBastard politicians, businessmen, and even some muggles]] [[WouldHurtAChild manipulate their magical daughters into doing dangerous / socially unacceptable things]] for profit; and some of the "pure-hearted" heroes of justice kill people, yet are never socially reprimanded for thinking that killing is a pure and honest thing[[note]]even in the case of justifiable homicide, this mindset takes a toll on people's sanity and worldview[[/note]]. This usually results in many nice, kindhearted heroes having serious overconfidence in their ability to be incorruptible or infallible, and are extremely racist towards other types of mages as a result of their conflict and murder of said mages[[note]]most of the mages they fight are evil, but only because they're the minority who are stupid enough to cause havoc and fight out in the open for their respective crime families[[/note]], as seen by Kendra in chapter 1 when she is very close-minded to a sensible and peaceful oracle's warnings. In the BadFuture, magical girls reason that the world is screwed up, yet they received their powers by being pure of heart, [[DudeWheresMyRespect and they deserve praise for staying true to their ideals in spite of everything the world threw at them]]. "[[InsaneTrollLogic Therefore, they are obviously entitled to rule the world.]]
43	* TheDogBitesBack: Tiffany has murdered two of her bosses via sabotage; one for being constantly abusive, the other for outright threatening to kill her if she didn't start making lethal weaponry. This has its price, as she lost her magical girl transformation and nobody short of Chronos would be willing to tolerate her.
44	* DramaticallyMissingThePoint: Counterpoint is world renowned as a champion against apartheid, and is one of the people Kendra and Florence admire most. When Chronos reveals that Counterpoint has become a KnightTemplar planning a [[spoiler:violent revolt via MassHypnosis that will get countless innocent people killed or imprisoned]], Kendra and Florence are reluctant to see why this is a problem.
45	* TheEvilsOfFreeWill: The Union-controlled BadFuture Kendra seeks to avert.
46	* ExactWords:
47	** How Tiffany words things is very important, because they describe exactly what happened, and nothing else. Any implications are just that, implications. From the commentary for [[http://worldpeace.emilymarthasorensen.com/worldpeace413.html page 413]]:
48	--> [[spoiler:"Tiffany once [[http://worldpeace.emilymarthasorensen.com/worldpeace413.html described her funeral]] to Chronos as, "I saw my funeral years ago. No one even cried at it."]]\
49	[[spoiler:[[ExactWords This is true]], but what little Tiffany didn't realize was that that didn't mean nobody was sad]].
50	** When Rhea is questioned by a magical girl who can detect lies, Rhea takes advantage of the fact that she cannot detect sincerity and uses careful language to dodge her questions.
51	* ExoticEntree: The Deathwave crime family has a shop that sells pets, minions, and exotic food animals. When one of the animals annoys Rhea by chewing her dress, she retaliates by ordering it for dinner.
52	* FaceHeelTurn: Right in the first chapter no less, with [[spoiler:Kendra]] partnering up with [[spoiler:Chronos]], making a "villain" team.
53	* FantasticRacism: Born mages are treated with suspicion, no matter how harmless and useless their powers are. They tend to have trouble getting jobs and lose them when their magic is discovered.
54	* {{Foreshadowing}}: Whenever Emily world-builds in the commentary, keep a lookout. Sometimes she hints at something that will involve that bit of info in the next chapter.
55	** For example, the first mention of Counterpoint: http://worldpeace.emilymarthasorensen.com/worldpeace189.html
56	* GrowingUpSucks: In most parts of the world magical girls are expected to give up their powers as they reach adulthood. The WordOfGod confirms this is bound to change eventually, since magical girls are becoming more and more aware of their power.
57	* GenderRestrictedAbility: Only women can become magical girls. Averted with born mages, who can be both female and male.
58	* HeroicNeutral: Chronos would really prefer to live life as a hermit. But since her visions of bad futures plague her sleep with nightmares, and some of these bad futures threaten the entire world, she has agreed to work with Kendra to avert them.
59	* HeroicWillpower: If magical girl is strong-willed enough she can keep her powers even well past losing her innocence.
60	* InnocentInaccurate: Tiffany, because she states what she sees, without knowing precisely what's happening due to her young age:
61	--> [[spoiler:"Tiffany once [[http://worldpeace.emilymarthasorensen.com/worldpeace413.html described her funeral]] to Chronos as, "I saw my funeral years ago. No one even cried at it."]]\
62	[[spoiler:[[ExactWords This is true]], but what little Tiffany didn't realize was that that didn't mean nobody was sad]].
63	* LaserGuidedAmnesia: As said in [[http://worldpeace.emilymarthasorensen.com/worldpeace129.html page 129]], Cream Angel had a "short-term memory eraser".
64	* LivingMoodRing: In [[http://worldpeace.emilymarthasorensen.com/worldpeace315.html Chapter Twelve: Commentary]] one of the listed possible born mage powers is:
65	--> eyes that change color depending on mood
66	* MagicalGirl: Well... ''Duh.''
67	* {{Magitek}}: Tiffany's inventions - according to WordOfGod, they are not scientifically sound, and it's only her magic that allows them to work.
68	* OhCrap: One from Kendra and Chronos when they realize that [[spoiler:The Union (which is WellIntentionedExtremist personified for magical girls) has begun construction. But the architect isn't Kendra; ''it's her best friend''.]]
69	* OnlyThePureOfHeart: As Kendra says on page 18, about Magical Girl Magic, [[http://worldpeace.emilymarthasorensen.com/worldpeace018.html ''Everyone'' knows our magic only works for the pure in heart]]. Chronos retorts that: "It's true that a girl has to be [[NaiveNewcomer young]], [[ObliviouslyEvil innocent]], and [[WellIntentionedExtremist well-intentioned]] to ''become'' a magical girl."
70	* NeverFoundTheBody: Given how Magical Girl Forms are a kind of extra life, this is important. [[spoiler:From the commentary for [[http://worldpeace.emilymarthasorensen.com/worldpeace413.html page 413]]]] "The girl in the fourth panel is one of the other girls in the group." And that girl was thinking:
71	--> [[spoiler:"Why does everyone think she's dead? There was no body. Doesn't that mean she's not dead?"]]
72	* NotSoHarmlessVillain: [[spoiler:Rhea may seem unimportant in the grand scheme of things, but she is colossally malevolent and quite good at [[TheCorrupter what she does]].]]
73	** [[spoiler:She even succeeds at killing her great-uncle, a high ranking made-man with instant death spells, by buying off his ninja security. Of course, the fact that he was such a paranoid, trigger-happy boss helped.]]
74	* ParentalNeglect: The reason Tiffany's so messed up:
75	** Her irresponsible mother got pregnant out of high school and died in a car crash. Her father left her mother upon realizing she was pregnant.
76	** Her Aunt never wanted children, only took care of Tiffany out of begrudging duty, and wasn't sad when Tiffany was believed to have died. [[spoiler:Or at least, Tiffany ''thinks'' that her aunt wasn't sad. In the commentary for [[http://worldpeace.emilymarthasorensen.com/worldpeace413.html page 413]]]]:
77	--> [[spoiler:"Tiffany once described [[http://worldpeace.emilymarthasorensen.com/worldpeace413.html her funeral]] to Chronos as, "I saw my funeral years ago. No one even cried at it."]]\
78	[[spoiler:[[ExactWords This is true, but what little Tiffany didn't realize was that that didn't mean nobody was sad]]. It just meant that a) they didn't know her well, and b) even some of the ones who had known her slightly better than others felt more confusion than anything."]]
79	** The first father figure to actually care for her was a born mage who ended up becoming a criminal in an impulsive act of revenge. And while they shared three happy years together, they ended up encouraging one another to go deeper and deeper into villainy. The villains who interacted with her after he died ranged from neglectful to downright abusive.
80	* PowerParasite: As said on [[http://worldpeace.emilymarthasorensen.com/worldpeace135.html page 135]]: Rhea and Chronos's "uncle's power was to steal magical abilities".
81	* PubertySuperpower: Inverted. Magical girls gain their powers as young children and are expected to lose them during or shortly after puberty.
82	* PureIsNotGood: How some magical girls are not good, even if they are pure-hearted.
83	* PurityPersonified: You have to be this to be a magical girl in this universe. Unfortunately, you don't have to ''stay'' pure to keep your powers, and sometimes one's definition of pure may be twisted or destructive.
84	* ReligiousAndMythologicalThemeNaming: The Olympian born mage crime family names themselves after Greek mythology, due to an old family myth claiming they are descended from the gods.
85	* ShapeDiesShifterSurvives: Magical girls who die while transformed revert to normal and lose their transformation powers permanently. Born mages [[UnequalRites view this as cheating]].
86	* ShoutOut: The commentary for Chapter Five never so much as touched on it, but the situation with the Australian Magical Girl sounds somewhat reminiscent of [[Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica Kyuubey]].
87	* TeenPregnancy: From [[http://worldpeace.emilymarthasorensen.com/worldpeace416.html Page 416: Tiffany's Beginning: Commentary]]. Anything after this quote is a spoiler:
88	--> Tiffany's mother got pregnant in high school,
89	* UnequalRites: Magical girls are believed to be always pure-hearted and good, born mages are seen as villains. Other magic users consider magical girls' system to be “cheating”, mostly because it lets them survive as depowered humans when their transformed form is killed.
90	* VillainousFashionSense: Rhea's passion is designing clothes for villains (and the occasional magical girl). [[ShockinglyExpensiveBill And then overcharging them]].
91	* VillainProtagonist: Kendra becomes this, to prevent a BadFuture where {{Magical Girl}}s rule the world... badly.
92	* WhiteSheep: Chronos, who isn't a villain like the rest of her family. But, she presents as a True Neutral slacker, saving the world so that she can stop having traumatizing nightmares, and funding the protagonist by stealing millions through stock marketing and psionic powers. Whether or not she's good, evil, or really neutral has yet to be seen in the comic.
93	* WellIntentionedExtremist:
94	** At the start of the series, this is Kendra's most potential future as the leader of the Magical Girl Union. And the Union itself. She's genre savvy enough to quit while she's still sane and resolves to prevent other magical girls from falling into corruption. But she is willing to resort to unpleasant means to do so, such as destroying their magical girl forms and otherwise breaking the law.
95	** [[spoiler:Sadly, her best friend, Florence, takes up the mantle. And doesn't quit after seeing Chronos's warnings. And while Florence herself is a ReasonableAuthorityFigure, there are several potential bad futures in which other magical girls / schemers still end up misusing the union to cause trouble.]]
96	** One magical girl, Counterpoint, seeks to [[spoiler:end apartheid... by fomenting violent revolution with MassHypnosis]]. And since Kendra agrees with the goal, she initially decides not to do anything about the means by which Counterpoint intends to accomplish this.
97	* WhamLine: Kronos blunders so very thoroughly when she tells Kendra [[spoiler:the expected probability that Kendra would become a world-destroying magical girl dictator]].
98	-->'''Kronos''': Fifteen percent.
99	-->Beat
100	-->'''Kendra''': '''FIFTEEN PERCENT?!'''
101	* WordOfGod: After each chapter, Emily posts a page of commentary on the preceding, as well as the occasional bit of world-building on how her magical system works.
102	* WouldHurtAChild: Most of the villains. Sadly, this creates a setting where all magical girls and their fans assume that any mage who isn't a magical girl is evil incarnate. This nearly causes the protagonist to fight, or even kill, an oracle trying [[BreakThemByTalking by warn her about a bad future]] [[HeroicNeutral so she can go back to bed]].
103	** After becoming a villain, Kendra fights a lot of magical girls. Not to kill them (not permanently, at least), but to teach them of how stuck-up and close-minded they are, or rob them of their powers if they seriously abuse them. Since magical girl forms act as an extra life (with an expiration date), killing heroines in magical girl form is akin to [[CareerEndingInjury crippling a non-essential body part linked to their greatest talent]]. This isn't as vicious as it seems, especially in the case of magical girls causing active harm to many people[[note]]such as the Robin Hood fanatic who almost caused an international incident, the Luck Stealer who was strong-armed by her father into cheating in Las Vegas, and Counterpoint who almost magically-brainwashed her fans into starting a violent revolution.[[/note]].
104	* YesMan: Maria Athemyst starts out incapable of defying her socially abusive, misery-profiting dad. [[spoiler:She gets better thanks to Kendra.]]
105	-->'''Maria:''' This is ALL YOUR FAULT! I don't have a choice, my daddy is threatening to hire me out to other gamblers!\
106	'''Kendra:''' You REALLY need to work on your no-saying skills.

Context Webcomic / ToPreventWorldPeace