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Joe Blakes is a shapeshifter living in Wellington. He appears in Wellington Paranormal.

Biography[]

As a shapeshifter, Blakes required regular feedings on human fear to survive. In order to maintain a constant source, he took up a job as the manager of Fear Factory, a haunted house attraction in Cuba Street. While working there, he frightened some of his patrons so severely that they died of heart failure.

One night, Blakes' feedings got out of hand and he left the premises to feed on a group of colleagues who had just visited Fear Factory on a work outing. He turned into a giant rat to frighten Dave, a faceless man to scare Lorraine, and went as far as to transform into a shark and bit the leg of Paul. Officers O'Leary and Minogue arrived and arrested Blakes alongside his other innocent workers.

In the interrogation room, Blakes complained of feeling hungry. When Sergeant Maaka refused him food, he transformed into a giant spider to terrify him and had to be held in a cell. There, he turned into a bottomless bit to corner the supervising Officer Roy, who was afraid of heights. The Paranormal Unit rescued Roy and Blakes escaped in the distraction. He left the station, turning into centipedes, “tiger bats” and Darth Vader to scare off the police force.

Maaka concluded that Blakes was a shapeshifter and sent O'Leary and Minogue, accompanied by Constable Parker, to find him. Meanwhile, Blakes returned to Cuba Street and scared Lorraine again, this time by turning into a giant snake with a human face, and scared a young man afraid of climate change by turning into a melting iceberg. The two officers followed his trail back into Fear Factory, where Blakes tried to feed off Minogue by turning into a stage (representing his fear of public speaking), sock puppets and balloons. He then found O'Leary and turned into an excessively critical and embarrassing form of her mother. Despite the officers' attempts at resistance, Blakes overpowered them and they had to call for backup from Constable Parker. Parker had so many phobias that Blakes overwhelmed himself trying to shapeshift into all of them, and collapsed into a puddle of buttons. The Paranormal Unit apprehended him by trapping the buttons in a jar.[1]

Appearances[]

References[]

  1. Yates, Paul (writer) & Clement, Jemaine (director) (10 March 2021). "Fear Factory". Wellington Paranormal. Episode 16. TVNZ 2.
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