User:Wandering Ghost/SpoilersDemonstration

Marc Shepherd asked that I find five articles that I felt should have spoiler tags, so that I could illustrate where I felt their placement should be. I decided that instead of searching randomly, or choosing pages from my own personal sphere of interest, I'd follow the edit summaries from the last 500 edits (when I chose - I was a little busy from the time I made my choices to the time I did my writeup so there is some gap there) of one of the spoiler patrollers, those editors who attempt to WP:OWN the spoiler policy as a whole by searching out any use of the spoiler template and deciding against the use of spoiler tags. I looked for cases there where somebody else had put in spoiler tags, and the spoiler patrol member removed it - this to show that this was not only my point of view, but that it was shared by at least one other. I avoided the cases where a whole plot outline was covered by a spoiler warning (although I think those are at least more useful than one where spoilers are completely unwarned). In general, I have no particular knowledge about any of these topics (one I have some limited knowledge, and a few I've heard of)... since I strongly suspect the same goes for the spoiler patroller who removed them (but _not_ for the person who added them), that puts us on an even footing. In particular, everything marked as a spoiler was also a spoiler to _me_, personally, in that it was something I didn't know when I read the page. And of course, I don't copy the entire text of the pages, just the important part. So, here we go.

The Religion War

How it should look

The Religion War (ISBN 0-7407-4788-6) is a 2004 novel by Dilbert creator Scott Adams, and the sequel to his novella God's Debris. This book takes place right before the last chapter of that book.

Plot summary

The delivery man from the first book, who is now the Avatar, must stop an epic clash of civilizations between the Western world, led by Christian extremist General Horatio Cruz, and the Middle East, led by Muslim extremist Al-Zee. To accomplish this task, the avatar decides to find the "Prime Influencer", a person who, he feels, can indirectly influence all the decisions people make by virtue of responsibility, from fashion to the election of the President.

The Avatar applies his unparalleled ability to identify developing patterns and accurately determine the most probable outcomes of a situation to accurately predict the war plans of both Cruz and Al-Zee. He subsequently uses his ability to recognize even the vaguest patterns (which makes him seem to know more than he actually does) to bypass guards, escape interrogations, and ultimately win an audience with the warring leaders.

{{spoiler}} Ultimately, the Avatar fails to stop the onset of the war. However, at the conclusion of the book, the Prime Influencer, who turns out to be an opinionated café owner that the Avatar had met previously by chance, launches a simple, yet catchy, phrase that spreads throughout the world like a virus: If God is so smart, why do you fart? According to the story, "Once you heard it, you could never forget it." It was this phrase — accelerated by the creation of a new system of global communication and shared knowledge — that finally captured the collective imaginations of ordinary people, causing them to reevaluate their assumptions about the nature of God. This ultimately led to the elimination of fundamentalist religious practice throughout the world, which, in turn, resulted in the end of the Religion War. {{endspoiler}}

Explanation

A pretty basic one for illustrating my general ideal policy. Within a plot section, often people want to read either part of the plot, but stop at the spoilers, or skip right to the spoilers. As such, it is appropriate to put spoiler warnings within the plot outline at a point where the ending is revealed. This is indeed an added bit of information. This theoretically _could_ be corrected by subsectioning (with Ending being an appropriate subsection), but with a spoiler patrol bent on removing spoiler warnings, more often than not they're just going to remove it, like this case, without adding back the information.

30 Days of Night

How it should look

30 Days of Night was initially a miniseries of horror comics written by Steve Niles, illustrated by Ben Templesmith and published by IDW Publishing in 2002. All three parties co-own the property. The series takes place in Barrow, Alaska, so far north that during the winter the sun does not rise for 30 days (however, the town in the miniseries bears little resemblance to the real Barrow except in name). The premise of the series is that vampires (who are harmed by the sun) move to Barrow and terrorize the area. The series was a break out success story for Steve Niles, whose previous works had received relatively little attention. It was also the first full-length work by co-creator Ben Templesmith, who considers the work some of his rawest and most immature, [1] ironic, considering its ongoing success.

Niles' critics have noted similarities between 30 Days of Night and Vampirella Strikes issue 6 written by Mark Millar, as well as an episode of The Twilight Zone. The extent of the similarities remain debatable, however, all involve the basic elements of vampires in Alaska.

Plot summary

30 Days of Night was a three issue mini-series that jump-started the careers of writer Steve Niles and artist Ben Templesmith. Vampires flock to a small town in Alaska where the sun sets for 30 days, allowing them to feed without the burden of sleep to avoid lethal sunlight. When the vampire elder Vicente learns of this plan, he travels to Barrow to end the feeding, in order to preserve the secrecy of vampires. Because of the cold, the vampires' senses are weakened and a few of the town's residents are able to hide. {{spoiler}} One such resident is Sheriff Eben Olemaun, who saves the town by injecting vampire blood into his veins. He uses his enhanced strength to fight Vicente, saving the lives of the few remaining townspeople, including his wife Stella. Suffering the same weakness as all vampires, Eben dies with the sunrise.

Dark Days was the follow-up to 30 Days of Night, featuring the original creative team. Beginning in June of 2003, this series featured the exploits of Stella Olemaun after surviving the attack on Barrow in the original series. After publishing an account of the attack, Stella draws the attention of the Los Angeles vampire population, as well as the lover of Vicente, the head vampire from the original series. Learning that there may be a way to bring back her former husband Eben, Stella strikes a deal with vampire Dane, who seeks revenge for the murder of his mentor by Vicente. The two form a brief romantic relationship. Stella exchanges proof of the existence of vampires for her husband's remains, in the hope of bringing him back from the dead. She double crosses the vampire party, blowing up a large number of them in a house, before successfully resurrecting Eben. The two reconcile for a moment before the still vampiric Eben lunges, fangs bared, for her throat.

This series also serves as an introduction to the vampiric FBI agent, Norris.

Annual 2004 was a 48 page one-shot released in January 2004 by regular 30 Days of Night publisher IDW. The issue features four short stories, each written by Steve Niles but featuring different illustrators. The first, "The Book Club," is illustrated by co-creator and original 30 Days of Night artist Ben Templesmith. It involves a suburban book club's discussion of Stella Olemaun's book (also titled 30 Days of Night). This arouses suspicion about a shut-in neighbor, leading to his murder by the unruly book club. The second story, "The Hand That Feeds" is illustrated by Szymon Kudranski and features Dane seeking a hand transplant from an eccentric doctor. "Agent Norris: MIA" features the pencils of Brandon Hovet, and depicts agent Norris' transformation from a "scout" or "bug eater" to a full-blown vampire. The final tale, "The Trapper," is illustrated by Josh Medors. This story introduces John Ikos, a Barrow resident turned vampire hunter (and a main character in later series).

30 Days of Night: Return to Barrow is another sequel to the original series by Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith. Return to Barrow features Brian Kitka, the brother of a victim of the attack on Barrow in the original mini-series. Kitka becomes Barrow's new sheriff after moving there with his son to investigate his brother's demise. Kitka's skepticism about the claims of a vampire attack disappears when he discovers his deceased brother's journal, which includes a full account of the attack. He finds himself protecting the town along with John Ikos. This story features the return of several characters from the previous series.

30 Days of Night: Bloodsucker Tales marked the first time a writer other than Niles would work on the series. Throughout the eight issues of Bloodsucker Tales, two stories were told. The first, Dead Billy Dead was written by Steve Niles and illustrated by Kody Chamberlain. This serialized story featured a young man named Billy who was bitten by, and turned into a vampire and later kidnapped, along with his girlfriend Maggie by a vampire-obsessed scientist. Meanwhile Goodis, a police officer whom Maggie had called when approached by the vampiric Billy, discovers Stella Olemaun's book. The second story, Juarez or Lex Nova & The Case of the 400 Dead Mexican Girls, was written by Matt Fraction and illustrated by 30 Days of Night veteran Ben Templesmith. This story depicted Lex Nova's investigation of the disappearance of hundreds of girls in Juarez, Mexico. A group of vampires called the Zero Family Circus arrives in Mexico at the same time, believing the deaths to be caused by an estranged vampire.

Annual 2005 was a 48 page single issue of 30 Days of Night released in December 2005 by IDW. It tells the story of John Ikos leaving Barrow and going to Los Angeles in search of Agent Norris. While in Los Angeles, John Ikos meets Billy (from the "Dead Billy Dead" story in Bloodsucker Tales) and Dane, and does battle with a gang of vampires going by the name The Night Crew lead by a vampire called Santana.

30 Days of Night: Dead Space - After a self-imposed hiatus following the tragic events of the last shuttle mission, NASA prepares to launch the Icarus on a simple mission to help restore the nation's confidence in the space program. But their worst fears are realized when it's discovered that something has gotten aboard the shuttle, something ferocious, something with fangs and a taste for blood.

30 Days of Night: Spreading the Disease - This new series picks up with Agent Michael Henson from the Dead Space series being sent off to exile in Alabama after trying to get people to take the vampire threat seriously. He is contacted by a mysterious caller that suggests the questions of ‘why someone would want to put a vampire in space’ still needed to be answered. So Henson takes the time he has before checking in at his new office to try and follow the fangs. This leads him into a much bigger and far more dangerous situation.

30 Days of Night: Eben and Stella - In the waning moments of 30 Days of Night: Dark Days, Stella managed to bring her vampire/husband Eben back from beyond... only he came back hungry. Now, for the first time, see what happened next, in this all-new miniseries that fills in the black gaps between that tale and Return to Barrow. Co-written by Steve Niles and Kelly Sue DeConnick and illustrated by Justin Randall.

30 Days of Night: Red Snow - 1941. Hitler's Operation: Silver Fox has failed, but the war on the Eastern Front drags on as the Russian winter starts to bite. British military attaché Corporal Charlie Keating observes the war from the Soviet side, making sure crucial supplies get through to aid Stalin's front in the battle against the Nazis. With luck, he too will survive to see the end of the war. But something else is out there, and they're not the Nazis. No matter how hard humanity tries to kill itself, something else does it better. Written and illustrated by Ben Templesmith.

30 Days of Night: Beyond Barrow - After years of attacks, and several without, the citizens of Barrow have become united against random attacks on their city by the undead. Unfortunately the same does not apply outside of Barrow or the rest of the mysterious Arctic Circle. Written by Steve Niles and illustrated by Bill Sienkiewicz.

Explanation

This one is fairly standard too, for another reason. A lot of times in plot outlines, it follows a fairly chronological order with a reasonable number of paragraphs, and a reader has a sense they can read a few paragraphs to get a general idea of the story without being spoiled. This plot outline didn't, as it separates the main plot of the first comic (and presumably, the first movie) by including elements in the first paragraph in the plot summary that seem to be fairly big spoilers. This is a prime candidate for a spoiler warning if nothing else, because a reader can't easily self monitor... they might read the first paragraphs to get a sense of the story, and then run smack into a spoiler. In fact, because this deals with a large series of independent books, spoiling significant elements of each of them, this is one instance where a block spoiler warning might well be appropriate.

(The plot should be broken up into sub-sections, certainly, and that would help, but even within subsections the short amount of space devoted to each plot would make a spoiler warning helpful - otherwise it might seem like a very brief outline, as opposed to the longer ones where one might expect spoilers, and there would probably need to be spoiler warnings in several of the subsections).

Endless (comics)

How it should look

The Endless are a somewhat dysfunctional family of seven siblings. They may appear in different forms but usually have light skin and black hair, with the exception of redheads Destruction and Delirium. Their appearance can change to fit the expectations of others. When asked by Marco Polo if Dream is always so pale, the Dream King replies "That depends on who is watching."

Function and domains

The Endless spend most of their time fulfilling their functions as embodiments of natural forces. For example, Death leads the souls of the dead away from the realm of the living, while Dream oversees the realm of dreams and imagination ("The Dreaming") and regulates dreams and inspiration. In Sandman #48, Destruction describes the Endless:

"The Endless are merely patterns. The Endless are ideas. The Endless are wave functions. The Endless are repeating motifs. The Endless are echoes of darkness, and nothing more...And even our existences are brief and bounded. None of us will last longer than this version of the Universe."

Some of the Endless are more dedicated to their tasks than others. The younger Endless, especially Desire, are known to play games with mortal lives. Destruction, often called "The Prodigal", abandoned his duties altogether. If one of the Endless are destroyed then he or she will be replaced by another aspect of their role, but this does not occur if they are simply absent or inactive. In such cases the aspect of existence supervised by that member of the Endless becomes more random and chaotic.

Each of the Endless has a realm in which they are absolutely sovereign. Within their realm, each member of the Endless has a gallery containing symbols, or sigils, of the other Endless. The Endless may contact each other by holding the appropriate sigil and calling for that member of the Endless. Destiny is also able to call his siblings by using his gallery of portraits.

The Endless are generally uncomfortable in each other's realms. They do not travel into the realms of their siblings except when absolutely necessary. Death is the exception, as her role requires that she have the ability to freely travel wherever she needs to go.

In addition to overseeing their own sphere of influence, the Endless also help to define their own opposites. This dualistic aspect of the Endless has been confirmed in the case of Death, who not only ends lives but also begins them. Destruction has an interest in creative pastimes, including art, poetry and cooking. Dream seems to have some power to shape reality, as seen in Sandman #18, A Dream of a Thousand Cats, in which a large number of entities, dreaming of an alternate reality, create said reality.

Origin

The origin and exact nature of the Endless is unknown. Few hints are ever given in the series as to exactly why the Endless exist. They seem to be natural forces.

The Endless are as old as the concepts that they represent. The Endless are said to be older than the fairyfolk, gods, and other supernatural beings. Their exact ages in years are unknown, but they are known to have existed long before life on Earth. They have manifested themselves in alien civilizations from long before the creation of the Earth in the Sandman's universe (and DC Comics continuity in general).

In Sandman #5 "Passengers", Dream is recognized by the Martian Manhunter as the dream god on ancient Mars, as well as as in the Endless Nights chapter "Dream: The Heart of the Star", which takes place before our Sun's planets have "awakened" with life. Death has claimed that she was there when the first living thing stirred, and Destiny has said that Dream gave the Earth itself the fond dream of being able to support life.

One of the few references to any sort of parentage for the Endless is in The Sandman #70, where some sentience in the Necropolis Litharge that guards the symbols of each of the Endless wails "like a mother sorrowing for her departed child."

The Endless

The Endless are not known to have proper names, although Dream has a habit of collecting different names for himself. They are each known by their respective function.

• Destiny: The oldest of the Endless, Destiny appears as a blind man dressed in grey or brown robes, carrying a large book. The book is chained to him, or he is chained to the book, and within the book is written the entire sum of existence, past, present and future. Destiny seems the most possessed by his function and responsibilities of any of the Endless. He rarely demonstrates much personality. His symbol is his book. His speech appears as a regular word balloon with letters in itallics.

• Death: Death appears as a spunky, attractive, level-headed young Goth woman. She wears an ankh (representing the afterlife) and usually has an Eye of Horus painted under one of her eyes. She prefers to dress and act casually, and is on better terms with Dream than any of the other Endless. Her symbol is the ankh. Her speech is presented in regular letters in a regular balloon.

• Dream:

{{spoiler}}

• • Dream (Morpheus): Dream's usual appearance is as a tall, pale man with wild dark blue-black hair. He dresses in a shapeless cloak of "night" with "flames dancing in its folds". His eyes are pools of shadows with glimmers of light within. He is known by many names, most commonly "Morpheus." He has a long history of insensitivity towards others, and throughout The Sandman he must come to deal with his past cruelties. He is very concerned with fulfilling his responsibilities. His symbol is his dream-helm, made from the spine and skull of a long-dead god. His word balloons have wavy edges and a black background outlined in white, with white lettering.
  • Dream (Daniel): Morpheus's successor appears as a tall, pale young man with white hair and a white costume. Like Morpheus, his eyes are formed by shadows with a glimmer of light in their center. Before becoming the new Dream at the end of The Sandman, he was a young boy named Daniel. Daniel was born in dreams to Lyta Trevor-Hall and the ghost of Hector Hall. He is generally softer in his approach than Morpheus. Daniel carries an emerald eagle stone, although his symbol remains the same (that of the dream-helm). His word balloons are similar to Morpheus's, only with a white background and black lettering.

{{endspoiler}}

• Destruction: A very large, robust man with red hair, who sometimes appears bearded and sometimes shaven. Destruction abandoned his responsibilities as one of the Endless three hundred years ago, causing much conflict between him and his siblings. He has a passion for creative and constructive endeavors, but little talent. His symbol is the sword. Since abandoning his realm, he is often referred to as "the Prodigal" or "Brother" rather than "Destruction" by his siblings. His text is normal, with a normal balloon.

• Desire: Desire is beautiful, slim, and truly androgynous, capable of appearing as a man, a woman, or neither. Desire has a cruel streak and a long-standing rivalry with Dream. His/Her symbol is a heart shape. Although Desire is Despair's twin, in a sense he/she is older than Despair. The current incarnation of Desire is the original one, while Despair is currently in her second incarnation. Desire's text is defined by a specific letter style in a normal balloon.

• Despair: Twin sister to Desire.
  • The Second Despair: A short, obese woman with greyish skin and irregularly-shaped teeth. She is always naked. Despair has a cold, quietly intelligent manner. She has a habit of carving her flesh with a hooked ring that she wears. This hooked ring is also her symbol. The aspect of Despair we see throughout the comics is not the original manifestation. Despair's text is normal in a balloon with ragged-waved edges.
  • The First Despair: In her first form, Despair had many of the same physical qualities as her later form, but is taller and is tattooed with intricate red lines. She was also much more talkative than her later incarnation.

• Delirium: The youngest of the Endless, Delirium appears as a young girl whose form changes the most frequently of any of the Endless, based on the random fluctuations of her temperament. She has wild hair and eccentric, mismatched clothes. Her only permanent physical characteristic is that one of her eyes is green with silver flecks and the other blue, but even those sometimes switch between left and right. She was once known as Delight, but some traumatic event caused her to change into her current role. Her symbol is an abstract, shapeless blob of colors. Her speech is portrayed in standard graphic novel block-caps, characterized by wavy, unpredictable orientation and a gradient background.

Explanation

This is a list of characters in the Endless, a group of comic characters who are key in the Sandman series. Most of it is relatively spoiler light - it talks general characteristics of each, which somebody who is still reading them might not know. But there is a big spoiler there about the fate of the main character, that people would reasonably not be expecting. In fact, the spoiler warning was added by somebody who complained that THEY WERE SPOILED. And the spoiler patroller who removes it gives a snide edit summary about how you shouldn't read an encyclopedia unless you want to learn information. The section heading doesn't imply that there'll be major spoilers about the series.

Akeelah and the Bee

How it should look

Words spelled in the film

{{spoiler}}

Word	Meaning	Significance to the film
Xanthosis	A yellow discolor of skin.	Akeelah purposely spelled the word wrong, trying to give Dylan a chance to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee, although he deliberately misspells it as well. First mentioned at Woodland Hills by Dylan Chiu to Akeelah.
Pulchritude	Physical beauty. (Derived from the Latin word Pulcher.)	Akeelah's winning word of the National Spelling Bee. First mentioned when Joshua Larabee is testing Akeelah's vocabulary at Crenshaw.
Pluviosity	A quality of being rainy	The word Akeelah spelled after a discussion with her mother during the state spelling bee.
Ratatouille	Dish of stewed vegetables, originally from southern France, usually consisting of tomatoes, onions, peppers, aubergines, and courgettes cooked slowly in olive oil.	Javier used this word to try and stall time before Akeelah comes back from discussion with her mother. Javier requested the judge to repeat, define, use it in a sentence, and even to sing it in a song.
Ratiocinate	To reason methodically and logically	The first word Akeelah spells at the National Bee.
Argillaceous	Of or relating to clay (from Latin "argilla" meaning clay).	The one word that Akeelah stumbles on but eventually spells correctly during the national bee.
Miscible	Able to be mixed together into a homogeneous mixture	Akeelah spells this word during the Scripps National Bee.
Palynological	Of or relating to the scientific study of spores and pollen.	One of the words Akeelah correctly spells during the championship round of the National Bee.
Scheherezadian	Weaving story after story without apparent end. (Scheherazade was the storytelling sultan's wife in The Arabian Nights entertainments, who told stories so engaging that her husband repeatedly spares her life to hear the next installment.)	One of the words Dylan spelled in the championship round of the National Bee.
Merovingian	Pertaining to dynasty of Frankish kings that ruled from the fifth to the eighth century.	Javier spelled this word wrong in the Scripps National Spelling Bee, finishing in fifth place.
Logorrhea	Excessive talkativeness.	Winning word for Dylan Chiu.
Prestidigitation	Sleight of hand	First word Joshua Larabee tested Akeelah on.
Xylem	The woody tissue of a plant.	One of the words Javier spelled in one of the spelling bees.
Doubt	Uncertainty	The first word Akeelah spelled in the Crenshaw Spelling Bee.
Fanciful	Imaginative or whimsical.	The second to last word spelled in the Crenshaw Spelling Bee, enabling Akeelah to be the Crenshaw Spelling Bee winner.
Pterodactyl	A prehistoric flying reptile.	Used in the Crenshaw Spelling Bee as a "trick word", because the 'P' is not pronounced.
Psoriasis	A skin condition in which red scaly patches to appear on the skin.	One of the words posed by Akeelah to Javier and two other members of the Woodland Hills spelling bee study group.
Synecdoche	Using a part of something to refer to the whole, or a whole to refer to a part.	Word spelled in one of the rounds in the competition.
Grovel	To humble oneself in an abject manner.	The first word spelled in the film.
Ambidextrous	Able to use both hands at an equal level; double dealing.	A word given to Akeelah in the Crenshaw Bee by Dr. Larabee.
Placid	Calm or peaceful.	Third word spelled in the film.
Love	Deep affection and attachment to another.	Last word spelled in the film.
Staphylococci	A genus of gram-positive bacteria (plural)	Given to Akeelah to spell by Dr. Larabee in his garden. Staphylococci was the winning word of the 1987 Scripps National Spelling Bee.
Loquacious	Talkative	A word spelled in the Regional bee.
Embrocation	A lotion for diseased skin	A word spelled incorrectly as "embrication" by a girl in the regional bee.
Jambalaya	Rice cooked with meat and vegetables and seasoned with herbs.	A word spelled incorrectly at the state bee.
Jacquard	A fabric of intricate or figured weave or pattern	A word Akeelah and Dr. Larabee spelled before the state bee.
Effervescent	Producing gas in the form of tiny bubbles	A word given by Dr. Larabee
Gabbro	A dark coarse-grained basic igneous rock containing calcium-rich plagioclase feldspar and pyroxene.
Pastiche	A medly of ingredients, often in the arts
Madrigal	A song with parts for several usually unaccompanied voices that was popular in England in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Doublure	A lining, especially one made of leather or highly decorated, inside the cover of a book.
Manifest	Clear to see or understand.
Cabbalistic	Of mystic arts or teachings.
Cognizant	Being fully aware or having knowledge of something.
Tzigane	A member of a Romany people, especially one from Hungary.
Psalmody	The singing of psalms, especially in public worship.

{{endspoiler}}

Explanation

Another snide edit summary suggests that what words are spelled aren't spoilers. And maybe they wouldn't be, if it just basically a list. But then there's the "role in the story", which included spoiler points. Such would not be immediately obvious from a section of "list of words spelled" that plot points would be included. (Plot summary probably would, in my ideal world, contain spoiler warnings as well, but this serves for a different example of where warnings could be helpful and have been removed by the spoiler patrol)

Raze's Hell

How it should look

Raze's Hell is a video game on the Xbox console. The game is rated "M" by the ESRB for blood and gore, language, mature humour, and violence. Published by Majesco Entertainment and developed by Artech Entertainment, Ltd., it was released on Apr 21, 2005.

Story

For centuries the Kewletts, a cute and happy race, lived an idyllic existence inside the hallowed walls of Kewtopia. They never mingled with the creatures and beasts outside the gates of their city. They never ventured forth from their perfect world for any reason whatsoever. Why would they? They had everything they needed inside; a wonderful Princess, perfect weather, wealth, privilege… the whole enchilada.

Then one day, the Princess made a momentous and somewhat surprising announcement - the Kewletts for the first time in their history would venture beyond their borders for the grand purpose to purify the 'ugly' from the rest of the world.

The Kewletts increasingly vicious colonization efforts, are going along swimmingly until they run into Raze, an ugly, simple beast who is transformed when he accidentally stumbles upon some ancient artifacts.

As Raze’s heroics spark a swelling underground guerrilla movement, the Kewletts realize they have a real fight on their hands.

Characters

{{spoiler}}

• Raze -The main protagonist. While the Kewletts are destroying his village, Raze has just returned to witness his people being slaughtered by the Kewletts. Frightened by this, he ran deep into a forest and eventually came across a cave. Inside he found an ancient artifact which transformed him into an armored rage-filled version of himself, able to use squibs as weapons, he sets off on a journey along with Slivh to save his species. Now it is up to him to fight this invading, yet cute force.

• Slivh -A flying imp-looking creature who was the keeper of the artifact that transformed Raze. He joins Raze and helps him by giving Raze instructions on what to do. It is later revealed that he is a son of the Princess and twin brother to Nylus. His hidden agenda is to overthrow the Princess and become the new king of Kewtopia. He is a Huggly. He has a British accent.

• Nyluus -Another flying imp-like creature that serves as Kraag's advisor similar to how Slivh helps Raze. However he ends up double-crossing Raze twice and gets Slivh captured. He is the twin brother to Slivh and is obsessed with winning the favor of his mother: The Princess. He does end up meeting with the Princess who rejects him. Her servant Dr. Mingle kills during an experiment known as a Huggly reversal surgery. He is also a Huggly. He has a British accent.

• Kraag -A monster from another race of creatures that are also under assault by the Kewletts. He is initially held captive by the Kewletts, but after he is freed he helps Raze out with the resistance against the Kewletts.

• The Shaman -A holy man from Raze's race. After Raze frees him from Kewlett captivity, he helps later by summoning a creature known as "Big Momma". He also gives advise to Raze.

• Zorlach -An ancient deity that protects Raze and Kraag's people and who powers the ancient artifacts. He provides Raze with powerful spells upon his release.

• Big Momma -A large, flying whale-like creature that is summoned by the Shaman to protect Raze. It attacks by dropping eggs on the Kewletts.

• The Princess -The leader of the Kewletts, she is the one responsible for the bloodshed of anything un-cute. The Kewletts all give her praise for her seemingly peaceful expansion efforts. In public, the Princess claims she started "Operation Fresh Hope" to liberate the monsters that live outside of Kewtopia. Her true motive though is to claim three ancient artifacts so she can improve her looks. She is capable of shooting powerful electic shocks; however, she gains these powers through four generators within her castle. In the end, Raze kills her for all the trouble she has caused.

The Princess is a Huggly, or an ugly Kewlett. Slivh and Nyluus are her sons who she abandoned to hide this fact. Unlike her sons, she grew into her Huggly form whereas they were born into it. For years, she hid her Huggly identity from her subjects. Her cute exterior is really a mechanical outfit. She has a British accent.

• Dr. Mingle -A Kewlett doctor who assists the Princess. He is a parody of Dr. Mengele and insists that his name is pronounced "Ming-eh-leh" and not "Ming-el" and even has a German accent. He uses Nyluus in a failed experiment. The Princess executes Dr. Mingle afterwards.

• Max -A Kewlett newscaster for QTV. He is mindlessly loyal to the Princess and even has his co-worker Mya executed for treason against her. Near the end of the game, he is promoted to Information Minister.

• Mya -Max's first co-worker. She ends up being skeptical of the Princess and her war. This upsets Max who informs the Princess of Mya's dissent. She is subsequently executed, though Max covers this up as a "treadmill accident".

• Polly -Max's second co-worker. She replaces Mya. Like Max, she loyal to the Princess.

Gameplay

Raze's normal attacks consist of using his wrist blade and rolling similar to a Goron. When a Kewlett is killed, it either splatters on the screen or bursts into bloody chunks. Raze can suck up these Kewlett chunks to refill his health.

Raze can also suck up special, multi-colored insects call Squibs. These insects serve as ammo for Raze to shoot at the Kewletts. There's different types of Squibs with varying effects, such as:

• Ripper -Raze’s ‘base’ weapon, these rapid-fire Squibs behave in a machine-gun like way. Short to Medium range.

• Spiker -Raze spits these things in a single shot or a charged shot. The single shot-firing mode is accurate and powerful, while the charged shot absorbs more ammo but is equally as accurate and more deadly.

• Blaster -Raze uses these Squibs like a rocket launcher.

• Driller -These Squibs cause instant death by drilling into the head of the victim using his 'sniper ability'.

• Smasher -Short range but deadly like a shotgun.

• Bloater -When shot with this Squib, Kewletts are inflated like balloons and helplessly float up in the air, vulnerable and alone.

• Seeker -After they’re fired, Raze can fly these Squibs around. Raze is vulnerable to attack while guiding these 'remote controlled' Squibs.

• Lurker -This ugly thing crawls around and then blows up. Like the seeker but on the ground.

The Kewletts

{{spoiler}} The Kewletts are a race of Care Bear-like creatures that live in a city-state called Kewtopia. Their ruler is the Princess. Kewletts get their news from a show called QTV. Before the events in the game, the Kewletts lived isolated from the rest of their world. Their first attempt at diplomacy with the creatures of the hinterlands was brief and failed. Afterwards, their Princess decided to launch "Operation Fresh Hope" to "cutetify" all of the monsters outside of Kewtopia.

The true nature behind "Operation Fresh Hope", unknown to most Kewletts, is retrieval of three ancient artifacts that the Princess desires due to her being a Huggly. As the Kewletts are intensely nationalistic, they support the idea of expanding Kewtopia through the war and have no problems with ethnically cleansing the hinterlands of all monsters. Their belligerent, racist worldview is in sharp contrast to their cute, gentle appearance.

The Kewletts come in many different shapes and sizes, each with there own types of weapons and personalities, such as:

• Kewlett Gunner -The first line of defence, these small Kewletts carry semi-automatic Death-in-the-Boxes.
• Kewlett Axer -These Kewletts carry lollipop axes and can be defeated very easily.
• Special Ops -They are the same as the Kewlett Gunner except they drop down on parachutes.
• Gunner Bear -These small white bears carry assault rifles and are more aggressive than the Kewlett Gunners. They usually talk about battles they've been through while fighting.
• Grenader -Medium-sized grenade launching Kewletts dressed in yellow jumpsuits.
• Bomber Bear -Large orange bears dressed in overalls. These bears carry bombs in a baskett and throw them at Raze. They are the only silent Kewletts and the largest.
• Suicide Bear -Small teddy bears who chase Raze and explode using a plunger on their back. It is easy to tell when they're chasing Raze because they scream while they're after you.
• Rocket Dogs -These are yellow bug-eyed dogs wielding bunny rocket launchers.
• Sniper Bear -Same as the Gunner Bears except they carry sniper rifles and hide from Raze to get a clear shot.
• Shotgun Bear -These small bears carry extremely deadly shotguns.
• Gas Grenader -Same as the Grenade Kewlett except dressed in a green jumpsuit. Their grenades create a purple cloud that makes the camera move around thus making it harder for Raze to focus.
• Paintballer -Same as the Grenade Kewlett except dressed in a blue paint-splattered jumpsuit. Whenever the paintballs hit Raze the screen gets covered in paint making it harder to see.
• Rocket Cat -These blue bug-eyed cats are a very dangerous enemy in that they carry tri-rocket launchers which home in on Raze.
• Rocket Dinosaur -These smiling dinosaurs carry a single rocket launcher that also homes in on Raze. This Kewlett is a possible parody of Barney.
• Kewtinator -The strongest enemy in the game, these armored Kewletts wield rapid-fire blue laser rifles. They tend to be very overconfident in their abilities as soldiers.
• Elite Kewtinator -An even stronger Kewtinator marked with samurai-looking rainbows on their helmets. They have stronger armor and a faster firing rate. Four Elite Kewtinators are generals of the Kewlett Army.
• Hugglies -Ugly Kewletts. They are either born like this or they grow into it. Slivh, Nyluus and the Princess are Hugglies.

Multiplayer Modes

The game features a two-player mode where two players cooperate to kill the Kewletts, as well as an online mode which features a variety of mini-games. Among these is a variation of soccer with the ball made out of Kewlett skin. Ultimately, though, the mini games consist of nothing but violence. (snip out)

Explanation

I chose this one in part to illustrate something. In order to avoid a spoiler tag inclusion, the editor changed "Characters" to "Character History", under the theory that you might be expected to have spoilers about characters history under a Character History section. Except... this is _not_ a character history section. A character History section, one would expect, would actually contain the character's _history_, but not particularly things about their role in the story. This contains assorted information about the characters temperment and general role in the story, but very little actual history aside from a few spoilers about what happens to them in the game (I don't think it's immediately obvious that what happens to characters in a game counts as their history). So, in their zeal to remove spoiler tags, this spoiler patroller actually made Wikipedia LESS ACCURATE. And this was one example from the last few days. Who knows how many more there are, of spoiler patroller attempting to force a section heading into one that 'spoilers should be obvious' in, when in fact the less specific (and less obviously containing spoilers) heading is more accurate to what is contained in the section. Probably quite a few.

I know I've personally seen cases where the inability to place a spoiler tag, because of the spoiler patrol, has caused people to remove spoilery information, and this has not been corrected, despite being generally against policy. Why? Because the spoiler patrol swoops in, removes a warning, and has no furthur contact with the page unless someone tries to add it again. If it's a little used page with only a few local editors, then after they force the spoiler warning's removal, the editors may decide to remove the spoilers, with the patrollers completely unaware they've forced the net loss of useful information.

Key Points

• Removing too many spoiler warnings leads to less information and less accurate information, even aside from the information contained in the spoiler tag itself.

• Any policy that does not either attempt to quell the spoiler patrol as part of it, or that does not explicitly allow enough spoiler tags to make their job difficult (since it's harder to inject their bias against new adds when there are 1000 spoiler tags than when there are 3) is a failure as a compromise.

Counter-Challenges

As part of the spoiler debate, I've continually made two challenges of the anti-warning side. For the most part, they've gone unanswered, so I'll put them again here.

How many spoiler-adders versus spoiler-removers?

The spoiler-removers continue to claim consensus for their acts. But, as has been pointed out many times, the field is tilted in their favour. They can easily monitor whenever someone attempts to add a spoiler tag. They can then jump onto that article and claim it's necessary. Even in a border case. Their numbers typically overwhelm any person who wants to add it, and the spoiler tag goes away. And a number of them do just that - whether they work together or independently have the idea is completely immaterial. It's extremely difficult for those who believe pages should have spoiler warnings to act on that level. For them to even be aware a battle is taking place, a spoiler warning has to be gone, and if it's gone, you can't search for its absence. As such, any time a dispute is going on, a small number of anti-spoiler warning people can overwhelm a much larger number of people who want warnings, so long as they fight page by page.

So, for anyone who claims that there's consensus for their removal of spoiler tags, I challenge them to tell me how many different people have added spoiler tags, and how many different people have removed them, in the last 2 months. If that's too much trouble, I'd like them to at least tell me how many different people they've personally overruled by removing a spoiler tag. Whether they did it in accordance with the spoiler guideline is for this question irrelevent, because the guideline currently exists in part because of the claims that there is consensus for it. Just numbers will do.

What compromises are anti-warning people willing to make?

Wikipedia is about compromise, and in a situation without consensus we should be reaching for one. So I ask again, for any of those who are opposed to spoiler warnings, what compromises are you willing to make that would allow for a non-trivial number of spoiler warnings to exist. Please give specific proposals. Marc Shepherd, who asked me to choose five choices, proposed a time limited one, so if he continues to support that (with actual uses of the spoiler warning template, rather than the useless current fiction tag), he gets a pass on this part, but I'm still waiting for any help from most of the rest.