Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys

Killjoys or Danger Days verse refers to the canon and fanon universe and works created around the promo and material related to My Chemical Romance's fourth album, released in 2010. 
==Canon==
Much like The Black Parade, Danger Days was a concept album whose songs, videos, merch, promo material etc. told a cohesive and dramatic story. The universe was carried over through costumes and props worn on tour by the band. The story would later be continued in a comic book of the same name written by frontman Gerard Way and Shaun Simon with art by Becky Cloonan. 
The story is set in California in 2019 and focuses on the fight between the Killjoys, a group of colourful rebels, and a monochrome megacorporation known as Better Living Industries, or BL/ind, and its minions- Korse, the Draculoids, and S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W. 
The main narrative is told in the videos for singles Na Na Na and SING. 
===Release Timeline===
The album was teased through a number of means - the band's website, a number of Twitter accounts - creating a virtual treasure-hunt for fans, hyping up their excitement and whetting their imagination. 
The "Art Is The Weapon" teaser/trailer came out Sept 17, 2010Art Is The Weapon trailer, sending fans into a frenzy, giving birth to the first Killjoy fics in a matter of days. 
The full video was released Oct 14, 2010"Na Na Na" Official Music Video. The video for SING followed on Nov 18, 2010"SING" Official Music Video and the album was released Nov 22, 2010.
For a long time the fans waited for the third Killjoys video which would fix or conclude the events of SING. The video was never shot due to budget issues.
===Main Characters===
Characters appearing in Killjoyverse canon are:
*Party Poison (frontman Gerard Way): the leader of the Killjoys. 
*Kobra Kid (bassist Mikey Way)
*Fun Ghoul (guitarist Frank Iero)
*Jet Star (guitarist Ray Toro)
*Dr Death Defying (Mindless Self Indulgence's Steve, Righ'?): The DJ whose radio transmissions go out throughout the Zones. 
*Show Pony (Ricky Rebel): Dr Death Defying's roller-skating assistant. 
*Korse (comic author Grant Morrison): The main villain chasing the Killjoys. 
*The Girl (actress Grace Jeanette): A child who is protected by the Killjoys and coveted by BL Industries.
*Cherri Cola: A friend of the Killjoys who acts as a friend/mentor to the girl.
*Val Velocity: The leader of the Ultra Vs and one of the comic's antagonists.
*Vaya and Vamos: Members of the Ultra Vs, with ambiguous genders and a love for fashion.
*Phoenix Witch: A mythological figure that guides Killjoys to the afterlife.
*Blue: A pornodroid that wants to escape Battery City.
*Red: Blue's girlfriend, an ill pornodroid.
*Madam Director: The head of BL/ind and Battery City.
*Draculoids: Battery City's police force.
*Destroya: A massive android that lies abandoned in the desert.
Official Twitter accounts (now defunct) include:
*DrDeathDefying
*NewsAGoGo
*AgentCherriCola
*TommyChowMein
*PartyPoison
*DJHotChimp
*GaryLevko
Note that the Agent Cherri Cola and Tommy Chow Mein accounts strongly differ from the characters portrayed in the comics.
===Themes===
Themes of the album and narrative include growing up on your own terms, life and death and sacrificing yourself for those you love, breaking the rules, eschewing expectations. In the words of Gerard Way:
==Fanon==
Fans took the canon elements and ran with them like they were chased by Dracs. They expanded on the universe, building prequels and sequels, integrating other Bandom characters (ex-MCR manager Brian Schechter and ex-member Bob Bryar, Pete Wentz, etc.) 
Example of fanon tropes:
*The Girl's name and identity: fandom often used the name of the actress who played the character (Grace). She is sometimes characterized as being Jet Star's child, perhaps because of their curly hair. See Motorbaby | Grace (Danger Days), the canonical tag for the character on AO3. 
*Party Poison's past in Battery City: Many stories used Gerard Way's own life (interning at a big corporation before leaving it behind to form the band, his history of addiction and getting clean) as inspiration to write Party Poison as a character with a dark past, who maybe used to be a part of BL/Ind. 
*Bob Bryar's absence: the drummer did not feature in any of the videos, having left/been fired at the beginning of 2010. Since the circumstances of his departure were unclear and fans weren't sure who - if anyone - to blame, many fanworks featured explanations as to why he wasn't there, often referring to his death or capture by the verse's villains.
*Death in the Killjoys verse: there is a wide-spread tendancy to take the canon catchphrase "Killjoys never die" literally and to build stories where death ("getting ghosted" or "dusted") in the Zones is not permanent. This allows fans to fix the death that occur in canon (the SING video, Dr Death Defying's Traffic Report) and to explain away the absence of certain beloved Bandom members in the canon.
==Shipping==
There were 590 works tagged with the Killjoys fandom tag on AO3 as of May 2015. 
However, tagging in Killjoy stories might use Killjoy names or real names to indicate pairings (so that the same story could be tagged Party Poison/Fun Ghoul and/or Frank/Gerard, and indeed often is), and given the prevalence of crossover fics, where Party Poison and Gerard are two distinct characters, it is hard to run exact numbers in terms of pairing popularity. 
Still, it can be safely said that the main ships within the Killjoys universe mirror the popular ships within the RPF fandom for the band, with Fun Ghoul/Party Poison as the juggernaut ship.
==Example Fanworks==
===Fanfic===
Canon Killjoys fic:
*Haircare Tips for Zonerunners by greedy_dancer (Frank/Gerard, posted Sept 22, 2010). 
*Born to Motorbabies by jjtaylor, with two podfics: one by argentumlupine and one by greedy_dancer. Summary: Here's the thing with having a crush on a mysterious DJ; it's kind of an inconvenient place to hang your affections. (Frank/Gerard, originally posted to LJ Oct 17, 2010). 
*And the Embers Never Fade by turps33 (GSF, posted January 2011) in which the Killjoys find Bob and take him in. 
*War series by akamine_chan (Korse/Gerard). Summary: Party Poison is tired. Tired of living, tired of dying.
*Draculoids Will Never Hurt You by were_duck and sassbandit: a 100k epic featuring a pan-Bandom cast. 
*You Can Run Away With Me Anytime You Want... by Ally Kat Tomlinson: an ongoing (as of January 2025) fic about a female OC who is taken in by The Fabulous Four. 
Doppelganger fic:
*Time Travel 'verse by ladyfoxxx with podfic of Part 1 by knight-tracer. A time travel and doppelganger AU. Pairings throughout the series: Frank/Gerard, Party Poison/Gerard, Frank/Fun Ghoul, Party Poison/Fun Ghoul, Ray/Mikey, Jet Star/Kobra Kid, Mikey/Pete Wentz. Summary of Part 1: The one where Party Poison and Basement!Gerard have sex.
*Venom series by akamine-chan (Party Poison/Gerard Way, Korse/Gerard Way). 
Killjoy AUs: 
*sing it for the n00bs by jedusaur (Frank/Gerard), with podfic by podcath. Summary: Gerard would be killing twice as many dracs right now if his fucking spacebar would quit sticking. (Gamer AU, wherein the Danger Days universe is an MMORPG.)
*Sometimes I wanna wrap my coat around you by tuesdaysgone: a fusion between the Killjoys verse and the video for "Every Snowflake is Different" performed by the band on child program "Yo Gabba Gabba". 
Non-MCR Killjoys AUs:
*Racing the Wind by incendiary and ruby_riptide: Adam Lambert/Tommy Ratliff fic in the Killjoys verse. 
*We Don't Need to Know the Way Home by Green: Teen Wolf fic set in the Zones.
===Podfic===
*Hold Your Heart Into This Darkness series, podfics by argentumlupine totalling almost 9 hours
*The Sharpest Lives series, podfics by Lucifuge5
*when your heart begins to break by andeincascade
*Go West, Young Ladies, by Jai by klb and shiningartifact
===Art===
*askpoison, a Tumblr where asks are answered in character by Party Poison, by tennyboo
*Battery City History Museum collection at mcrdeviantclub on tumblr
*Killjoys by Angietatsu on DeviantArt (2010)
*Party Poison's Day Off by josie on Dreamwidth (2011)
*fanart: Party Poison sketch by theopteryx on LiveJournal (2011)
*Danger days by pingguotou1119 on DeviantArt (2011)
*Val by JennieMaher on DeviantArt (2014)
*pfft by rapidgears on DeviantArt (2014)
*Out Of Blue by DareTheDevil102 on DeviantArt (2014)
*mikey...mikester...the light of my life by ghostfrenchtoast on DeviantArt (2015)
*Killjoys by fuckingVITAMIN on DeviantArt (2015)
*gerard way by hey-tey on DeviantArt (2015)
*killjoys never die by Osato-kun on DeviantArt (2015)
===Other===
*Cosplay: Girl!Party Poison and Fun Ghoul cosplay gallery by maru-light and anda-chan. 
*Crafts: Fabric dolls inspired by akamine_chan's 'The Sharpest Lives' by turlough
*Primer: Get Up and Go: A Killjoys Primer by toucanpie (2010)
===Glossaries===
*Dangerspeak, 2010, by girlautomatic, and some more term speculation here, here, here
*The Killjoys Twitter Lexicon, posted Oct 19, 2010, by delphinapterus
*THE GLOSSARY, posted Oct 20, 2010 by Red Echo
*Killjoy/Danger Days Dictionary (with definitions), posted in 2011 to the fuckyeahmcrquotes Tumblr, archived
*GLOSSARY, posted May 20, 2013 by betterliving
*Killjoy Slang/Terminology by Action Cat on Amino (2017)
*Zone words! A guide for Danger Days: The The True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys Writers by mememway on AO3 (2017)
*Killjoy Dictionary for all the useful slang you need in your trashy danger days fic by UnderscoreIsCool (2018)
*Zone Slang by KilltheDJ (2019)
*Danger Days Roleplay Dictionary (with many terms made by fans in collaboration) by BlackoutCrypt (2020)
*every killjoy slang term I could possibly find by brick-in-hand (2022)
*Killjoy Terminology by fuckinready (2022)
*Danger Days Dictionary on Genius (collaborative)
==Communities, Forums, Etc.==
*california2019
*dustverse
*killjoybookclub
*killjoycostumes
*mcrdangerdays
*somany_killjoys
*zone_7
*zonestories
*zoning
==Canon Resources and Primers==
*YouTube playlist of the 35 Transmissions posted on MCR's website in the pre-release period
*Official Danger Days YouTube playlist including videos, messages and live performances
*Digging Underneath The Mythology: The Danger Days Of My Chemical Romance posted Nov 15, 2010 on thequietus.com
*Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys review by Rolling Stone, posted Nov 22, 2010
*Get Up and Go! A Killjoy primer for Taxon by poisonousparty, posted Dec 2011
*Frequently asked 'Danger Days...' Questions Answered! updated March 18, 2011
*Detonation Network - killjoy blog list by tumblr user mcrdeviantclub
*The Index, Vol. I by girlautomatic (Stay Tuned)
==References==
Category:My Chemical RomanceCategory:The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys