Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. We appreciate your interest in our cause. America is a tune. It must be sung together. --50 Blessings
50 Blessings is a terrorist group of ultranationalists aiming to topple the Russo-American Coalition with guerrilla tactics, and act as the central antagonists of the Hotline Miami series. They are the ones who leave messages on the answering machines of operatives (who generally have military experience), notably Jacket, Biker, Jake and Richter. The group's 1989 Miami activities are largely organized by The Janitors, who claim to be volunteers in an underground national organization with powerful allies. Associations with Phone Hom and high ranking US Army officials are also established. A Miami-based public HQ for 50 Blessings is run by the Manager in 1989. Their name is a reference to the 50 stars on the American flag and the song "God Bless America".
Their modus operandi consists of threatening members into committing assassinations on Russian Mafia members and RAC politicians, presumably through any means necessary. Those who refuse to cooperate are threatened with unspecified consequences and ultimately eliminated. The Janitors hint that the idea of the threat is more powerful than them actually cracking down on rogue operatives, but the organization does act against those who disobey them: Jacket was sent to eliminate Biker after the latter disobeyed their instructions, and Jacket himself was hunted down for failing to kill him.
The group's symbol, which is well-spread by its agents and figures in numerous places of Miami, is a red circle crossed by three lines. This symbol is first seen chronologically in the bones and shell of a turtle corpse on October 25th, 1985 in the Colonel's private quarters. It appears again on October 30th, 1985, scrawled in panther blood on the stripes of the American flag.
Known Members and Operatives[]
Leadership[]
- The Colonel : Brandon Mask | Possible Founder or Leader | Possibly killed by a gunshot or the nuke
- The Janitors: | Operating the calls to the Operatives | Fled Miami
- Phone Hom Manager: | Manager for Phone Hom | Killed by Biker
- Manager: | Executive for 50 Blessings | Possibly killed by the nuke
Operatives[]
- Jacket: Various | Operative, at least partially believes he's under orders of the Russian Mafia | Dead by nuke
- Biker: Motorcycle Helmet | Rogue Operative | Likely fled to the desert
- Richter: Richter Mask | Reliable, but secretly reluctant Operative, keeps tapes of his phone messages | Dead by nuke
- Prison Boss: Unknown | Imprisoned Operative | Dead from being hit over the head with a pipe by Richter
- Jake: Jake Mask | Unswerving Operative | Dead by gunshot to the head by Petrov or the Manager
- Tension Man: Tony Mask | Operative captured by Russian mob | Dead by detonation of a Russian explosive by Jacket
- Carl: Carl Mask | Suicidal Operative | Suicide by Russian mobsters in dance club
- Aubrey: Aubrey Mask | Operative in hiding spray tagged for a hit | Likely dead
- Earl: Earl Mask | Operative captured by Russian mafia and tied to a chair | Dead in Overdose
- Dennis: Dennis Mask | Operative cornered by Russian mafia | Dead by bludgeoning in Tension
- Jones: Jones Mask | Operative surrealistically seen by Jacket in sewer in Full House | Dead
- Technician: Likely Charlie Mask | Operative setting up phone lines to frame The Golden Truckstop | Likely Dead
Origin[]
The 50 Blessings organization was possibly founded by the Colonel while or shortly after serving in Hawaii, where he commands a small unit of Special Forces, of which Beard and Jacket are members. On October 25th, 1985, he becomes disillusioned with the war and seems resigned to a useless role as Lt. General in the post war bureaucracy. He also has made the 50 Blessings tag symbol out of a turtle's corpse. On October 30th, he gets drunk and wears a skinned panther face as a mask, telling his unit that all humans are violent and animalistic, ordered by forces they cannot comprehend to behave entirely on instinct (hence the animal masks motif and the organization's M.O. of anonymous calls).
The Colonel was fond of coded sentences and had his operatives use them extensively to communicate with each other by walkie talkie; those two characteristics can again be found in 50 Blessings' organization, and the walkie talkie usage is emulated by the Fans in Death Wish.
It is implied that the Colonel assassinated both the US and the Russian presidents on December 28th, 1991, sparking an international conflict in the process. Their headquarters in Miami is shown to be lead lined with a large vault door, implying they intended to survive the nuclear war in that location (if not also several others nationwide). If any operatives or members of the leadership survived, it is not shown.
Tagged Locations and Pamphlets[]
The 50 Blessings symbol can be seen in several places throughout Hotline Miami. The symbol appears in:
- Prelude: The Metro (twice)
- Chapter 1: No Talk
- Chapter 7: Neighbors
- Chapter 8: Push It, the symbol can be seen in the bathroom of Beard's convenience store. Richter can be seen at the sink.
- in Jacket's apartment after Chapter 12: Trauma
- Chapter 16: in Aubrey's restaurant in Safehouse
- Chapter 17: in the bathroom of the casino-arcade in Fun & Games
- Chapter 19: Resolution
The symbol also appears several times in Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number:
- The large table in the Fans' hideout is painted with a pink 50B symbol
- The phone table in the Fans' hideout is painted with a green 50B symbol
- The Attack Van has two pink 50B symbols tagged on it. "Phone Hom" is also crossed out.
- The symbol appears in Stronghold in the Colonel's quarters, in an turtle corpse
- The symbol appears in Casualties in the Colonel's quarters, in panther blood on the stripes of the US flag.
- In Subway, the circular symbols of both anarchy and peace are regularly tagged, along with a green 50B symbol on some benches. A red painted symbol is on the train itself.
- The 50B symbol is tattooed on the Prison Boss
- A pink, candle-lit symbol appears in the hobo room in the Abyss.
Pamphlets[]
- No Talk intro, Jacket's apartment
- Fun & Games intro, Biker's apartment
- Resolution, printed in the sewer
- Hard News, Jake's apartment
- Withdrawal intro, 50B HQ. Withdrawal "successful" outro, being printed in hideout.
- Release, information table along with several bibles on final stage
Trivia[]
- You can use the briefcase tagged by 50 Blessings from the The Metro as a melee weapon for Payday 2.
- The pamphlets are the same shade of pink as the puzzle letters, Biker's vest, and the Pig Butcher's surreal hallucinatory phone in Rouven Blankenfeld's Midnight Animal.
- 50 Blessings was considered to have both a square and a triangular logo. The Square one was dropped because it was "too boring" and the triangular being "too illuminati".
- Richter may have tagged these places, explaining to Evan.
- An achievement in Payday 2 contains the phone number 1 (786) 519 3708. Calling the number will have an automated message from 50 Blessings: "We are 50 Blessings. Together, we march- ma-ma-ma-ma-march into the future. *BEEP* You have reached a Wrong Number. *BEEP*"
- The 50 Blessings logo is seen in game with 3 different colors: Red, Hot Pink, and Green.
- The desktop icon for Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number displays an orange 50 Blessings logo despite no such logo existing in game. There is no official reason given as to why this is the case.