Danger Days: The True Lives of The Fabulous Killjoys

"This one's for all you rock-and-rollers, all you crash queens and motor babies. Listen up! The future is bulletproof. The aftermath is secondary. It's time to do it now and do it loud! Killjoys, make some noise!"

Danger Days: The True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys is the fourth studio album by My Chemical Romance. The concept of the album is based around the lives of the 'Fabulous Killjoys' with each band member posing as a different member. The Killjoys are a group of outlaws who are fighting against the evil corporation Better Living Industries (BL/ind.) led by Korse, in the year 2019. Their guide is pirate radio DJ Dr. Death Defying. A website for Better Living Idustries was launched in mid-November, betterlivingindustries.jp, featuring a mission statement, a report from the Zones and a merchandise store.

In terms of music, Danger Days is very much a lighter and - wait, no, that doesn't quite fit. It's definitely less wangsty than previous MCR albums, even with the requisite rock opera ending, and while many tracks keep the anthemic feel of their previous works, they're infused with a straightforward high-octane, raygun-laden psychotronic enthusiasm that has even managed to win over a somewhat-vocal portion of the band's previous hatedom.

The Fabulous Killjoys and others

  • Party Poison: Gerard Way
  • Jet Star: Ray Toro
  • Fun Ghoul: Frank Iero
  • Kobra Kid: Mikey Way
Tropes used in Danger Days: The True Lives of The Fabulous Killjoys include:
  • Alternate Continuity: Many are quick to note a Continuity Snarl or two between the album and the events in the videos, the most obvious being Jet Star and Kobra Kid being reported as dead in "Jet Star and Kobra Kid" on the album and the Killjoys possibly dying in the video for "SING". It all depends on how you interpret all the information gathered together, whether or not everything happens in one timeline.
  • The Apunkalypse: The Killjoys world isn't a million miles away from that seen in Mad Max.
  • Arc Words: Run, Live Forever, and variations thereof.
    • There's also Summertime mentioned throughout the album.
      • And something about The lights going out or variations mentioned in almost every track.
  • Badass and Child Duo: The girl with all four Killjoys.
  • Bald of Evil: Korse
  • Big Damn Heroes: The Killjoys, especially in the "Sing" video.
    • According to the Twitter feeds, Agent Cherri Cola attempted to do this for News A Gogo. He failed. Gogo escaped on her own, and Cherri was turned into a Draculoid.
  • Big Rock Ending: Two of them.
  • Cerebus Syndrome: Sort of a self-contained example. The songs start out fun and even uplifting, but at about the halfway point after Jet Star and Kobra Kid die, things start sounding angrier, sadder rather sinister, and the storyline ends with a positively grating Last-Note Nightmare Downer Ending.
    • And then comes Vampire Money, an out-of-story song that's kind of perplexing coming after everything that just happened.
    • but ends the album on the same note it started on. Borderline positive!
      • Except if you listen to the words of Vampire Money, they finish exactly opposite of Na Na Na, that is, caving in an submitting the the life they fought in the beginning....
    • Borderline positive.
  • Character Blog: The mysterious Twitter accounts for Dr. Death Defying, Agent Cherri Cola, News A Go Go, and Tommy Chow Mein. We think.
  • Concept Album: Seems to be following in the heels of The Black Parade
  • Cool Car: The Trans Am.
  • Cool Mask: The Killjoys all have personalized masks to kick ass in.
  • Crapsack World
  • Crowning Moment of Awesome: The Little Girl wielding a bazooka in the video for "Na Na Na".
  • Dark Reprise: Na Na Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na) is repeated in Save Yourself, I'll Hold Them Back.
  • Death by Cameo: Jimmy Urine of MSI as a Draculoid in the video for "SING".
  • Defictionalization: Replicas of the cool jackets of all 4 Killjoys are now available for purchase, but sadly they're very expensive.
    • Also available are the ray guns.
  • Deus Ex Nukina: possibly part of the plot or universe of the next album.
  • Dog Food Diet: In the video for "Na Na Na", the band is seen eating "Power Pup" from cans.
  • Doomed Moral Victor: The prelude to the album states that the Killjoy's are greater than God's revolver and twice as shiny. The intro to Na Na Na states that the future is bulletproof, the aftermath is secondary. The song later states outright that there are many people who want to change this Crapsack World, but are afraid to die.The Killjoys are the only ones who have the balls to change the world at the face of certain death.
    • Also note that in all the music videos thus far, the Killjoys are handed their asses in the end.
  • Drives Like Crazy: We have to assume this is the only way to drive out in the Zones.
    • Or, possibly, that they were entertaining the little girl. Kids love dangerous stuff.
  • Dying Moment of Awesome: The whole Sing video, though especially Fun Ghoul. He's like the Boromir of the group!
  • Dyeing for Your Art: Most of the band members have done this for the album.
  • Elite Mooks: The Draculoids.
    • The Dracs might just be regular Mooks while the Exterminators (like Korse) are the real Elite Mooks.
    • Word of God seemed to suggest that the Dracs were higher than S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W, who were higher than the police. Korse seems more like The Dragon.
  • Eyepatch After Time Skip: Jet Star has one in "SING". Probably an injury from the fight at the end of "Na Na Na".
    • which, as stated below, could be an example of Fridge Brilliance.
  • Faceless Goons: The S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W unit and the Draculoids
  • Fate Worse Than Death: Agent Cherri Cola, who went into Battery City on a one-Killjoy killing spree, was captured alive, and was turned into a Draculoid.
    • Until evidence appears to state otherwise, anyway.
  • Fingerless Gloves
  • Getting Crap Past the Radar: Fun Ghoul it's a play off the Italian way of saying "Fuck you/fuck off"
  • Gratuitous Japanese: In Party Poison.
    • Also the music video for Planetary (GO!). Heck, even the BL/ind website has it.
  • Handicapped Badass: Dr Death Defying.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Taken literally, this trope is the main focus of "Save Yourself, I'll Hold Them Back".
  • Hey, It's That Voice!: Dr Death Defying's voice? Steve, Righ? from MSI and the Left Rights.
  • Hey, It's That Guy!: For the music videos, at least. Steve, Righ? and Grant Morrison are the most obvious ones, but Jimmy Urine from MSI also has a place in music videos as a Draculoid.
  • High Concept: How Gerard gets out of claims that the band has created another concept album after early interviews quoted them as avoiding that. What many fail to realize, of course, is that descriptions of the album in early interviews refer to the scrapped first attempt.
  • Ho Yay: Many fans interpret the relationship between Dr. Death Defying and Show Pony this way. Also, in the song "Save Yourself, I'll Hold Them Back", the lyrics, "I'm the only friend that makes you cry/ you're a heart attack in black hair dye/ so just save yourself and I'll hold them back tonight," are sung. Considering Jet Star and the Kobra Kid are already dead at this point, and considering that the lyrics are being sung by Gerard Way, whose alter-ego is Party Poison, and considering Frank Iero's character Fun Ghoul has dyed-black hair, this is interpreted as ho-yay between Party Poison and Fun Ghoul by some fans.
  • Improvised Weapon: Nintendo Power Gloves and Zappers are the weapon of choice in 2019.
  • It Always Rains At Funerals: At the end of the 'SING' video, it's pouring down rain.
  • Kill'Em All: In the video for "SING", all of the Killjoys die.
    • In the album, only Jet Star and the Kobra Kid die. Or at least at that point.
    • I'm pretty sure they all die. After all, don't the lyrics of "Save Yourself, I'll Hold Them Back" say "I'll tell you all how the story ends, well the good guys die and the bad guys win"? Plus, a lot of the songs from that entire album make mention of things like that.
      • DESTROYA implies that at least one of them survived. I personally interpret that song as a Rousing Speech before what is either the Killjoys' Heroic Sacrifice or victory.
      • The final track featuring Dr. Death-Defying suggests some sort of nuclear fallout occuring. Assuming it didn't just come out of nowhere in the otherwise connected plot, this probably had something to do with the efforts of the remaining Killjoys. If we continue this, we'll have to give the album its own Wild Mass Guessing page.
      • Keep in mind that according to Dr. Death Defying's Twitter, there are "four generally accepted levels of dead" in the wastes.
  • Large Ham Radio: Doctor Death Defying
  • LARP: Overlaps with Audience Participation, since the band encourages fans to come up with their own Killjoy names and costumes. A "secret" part of the Transmissions page on the official site also encourages fans to send in their own; some of these videos are then broadcast from Dr. Death Defying's WKIL channel.
  • Last-Note Nightmare: "Goodnite, Dr. Death" has a really bad one.
  • Little Miss Badass: The Little Girl, traveling with the Killjoys.
  • Long Title: The CD's title is fairly lengthy, and the song "Na Na Na" might also count, given that its full title is "Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)".
  • Lyrical Dissonance: Many technological, club-style dance songs are thrown in with lyrics fitting the Killjoys' story of rebellion. Most notable example is "Planetary (GO!)"
    • "Party Poison" is arguably the most fun, high energy, dance-y song on the album. The chorus begins, "This ain't a party, get off the dance floor."
  • Mega Corp: Better Living Industries.
  • Metallicar Syndrome: Seriously, a painted-up Trans Am is maybe not the most inconspicuous car.
  • Man in White: The Draculoids at BL/ind.
    • Also, Korse.
  • Mood Whiplash: When you first hear the album, you go through it all fine. Then, you start to listen to the songs, apart of 'em all, and you feel like you are hearing a mixtape of a lot of genres and favorite songs you just picked, all mixed up in between songs. Helped by the Dr. D's reports, it could very well be a casette being left recording a whole afternoon of radio. And it's awesome.
    • The whiplash really starts to bite when, after the first handful of songs, all of which are fist-pumping, party-inducing anthems, "The Only Hope For Me Is You" throws in a little hint about bombs and war. No big deal, just a little hint. And then the normally-cheerful Dr. Death Defying breaks in to tell us that Jet Star and the Kobra Kid "got themselves ghosted", and encourages us to "die with your masks on if you have to" before adding "Here...is the traffic". The rest of the songs sometimes fit the "anthem" style and sometimes dip into melancholy, but they tell the story of everyone else dying, too.
  • One of Us: "Shiny" as "good" started in Firefly.
  • Redheaded Hero: Party Poison
  • Refrain From Assuming: Played with, possibly, since the song name Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na), and "na na na" is sung.
  • Retraux: Bulletproof Heart has a distinct mid/late-70s vibe.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: "Party Poison", or so it has been theorized.
  • Robot Girl: "FTWWW" and "Mastas of Ravencroft" by Mad Gear & The Missile Kid imply sex with android girls.
  • Sound Effect Bleep: "BL/ind" bleeped the cuss words and "drugs" from the "Na Na Na" music video using standard bleeps and a nice, briefly interrupting screen that said "BL/ind" right on it.
  • Shout-Out: The Na Na Na video shows a skeleton half-buried in the desert wearing a Black Parade jacket. Gerard Way's personal Black Parade jacket.
    • Also, there is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it Shout-Out to The Kids Are Alright in "Vampire Money."

The kids don't care if you're alright, Honey!

    • "Vampire Money" begins with a roll call, similar to the one at the beginning of Sweet's "Ballroom Blitz".
  • "Stop Having Fun!" Guys: the sentiment of a lot of fans (especially on LJ) in response to the "shenanigans" the band is doing before the release of the 4th album, directed towards both the band and the fans who want to actually participate in the shenanigans.
  • Tagalong Kid: The Little Girl. Rather than being The Load, however, she's seen hacking into vending machines, wielding a giant bazooka, and basically not panicking when she's captured by Better Living Industries during the "SING" video.
  • Thanatos Gambit: The Killjoys know that they don't stand a chance against BL/ind. So they plan to live forever by making a memorable stand against their enemy.
  • The Stinger: "Vampire Money," the last song on the album, which comes after Dr. Death Defying's final broadcast, is sung by MCR as themselves, and is seemingly unrelated to the Killjoys. It's about selling out, further adding to the listeners' confusion.
    • Specifically, it's based on a request to do a song for the Twilight soundtrack, which they turned down despite the financial potential. In one interview, Gerard is quoted as saying "Vampires are the new Jonas Brothers."
  • Twenty Minutes Into the Future
  • What Could Have Been: What all would have been different had Bob not left the band before the album's release?
    • According to the band, they were going for a down to earth, raw and nasty garage rock and punk sound for the new album. Several songs are vestige of this.
      • One example could be "Vampire Money," the final track on the album.
    • The Mad Gear & Missile Kid EP is this. Three raw garage songs, sounding like coming directly from your basement.
  • Wild Mass Guessing
  • You Shall Not Pass: The song "Save Yourself, I'll Hold Them Back" and the video for "Sing".
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