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Correcting the spelling of the name of the book
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* FleetingDemographicRule: Many elements were recycled into Pinkwater's later novel ''The Education of Robert Nifkin''. The first couple chapters of ''Avacado'' read almost as a LighterAndSofter version of that book.
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* FleetingDemographicRule: Many elements were recycled into Pinkwater's later novel ''The Education of Robert Nifkin''. The first couple chapters of ''Avacado'' ''Avocado'' read almost as a LighterAndSofter version of that book.
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* JiveTurkey: ''The Avacado of Death'' has a trade unionist trying to organize a strike in a banjo pick factory, who speaks entirely in jive.
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* JiveTurkey: ''The Avacado Avocado of Death'' has a trade unionist trying to organize a strike in a banjo pick factory, who speaks entirely in jive.
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* ReelTorture: Wallace Nussbaum captures Uncle Flipping and attempts to torture the secret of the avocado computer out of him. How? Using old German comedies. Unfortunately for Nussbaum, it doesn't work, since Uncle Flipping happens to love those movies.
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adding context to example.
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%%* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: Old German movies. [[SubvertedTrope It fails miserably.]]
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%%* EvilTwin: Wallace Nussbaum to [[spoiler: Heinrich Nussbaum.]] [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] at various points in the second book.
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%%* ItRunsOnNonsensoleum: The giant avocado-based computer that somehow repels the alien realtors.
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%%* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: In the second book.
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%%* UnwittingPawn: [[spoiler: Uncle Flipping's inventions]] usually end up getting used for nefarious purposes.
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* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: Old German movies. [[SubvertedTrope It fails miserably.]]
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* EvilTwin: Wallace Nussbaum to [[spoiler: Heinrich Nussbaum.]] [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] at various points in the second book.
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* ItRunsOnNonsensoleum: The giant avocado-based computer that somehow repels the alien realtors.
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* MadScientist: Uncle Flipping, who self-identifies as one and is always working on strange inventions.
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* MadScientist: Uncle Flipping, who self-identifies as one and a mad scientist, is always working on strange inventions.
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* NoCommunitiesWereHarmed: Baconburg to Chicago. Many locations, such as Blueberry Park, the Snark St. Theater, and Lower N. Aufzoo St. have real-life counterparts in Chicago, and some elements of the stories are recycled from other Pinkwater works set in Chicago.
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* NoCommunitiesWereHarmed: Many Baconburg to Chicago. Many locations, such as Blueberry Park, the Snark St. Theater, and Lower N. Aufzoo St. have real-life counterparts in Chicago, and some elements of the stories are recycled from other Pinkwater works set in Chicago.
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* OrganicTechnology: Many of Uncle Fliping's inventions, such as an alien-repelling avocado supercomputer, or food that conveys information, fall into this category.
* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: In the second book.
* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: In the second book.
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* OrganicTechnology: Many of Uncle Fliping's inventions, such as Flipping's inventions include an alien-repelling avocado supercomputer, or supercomputer and food that conveys information, fall into this category.
*information.
%%* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: In the second book.
*
%%* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: In the second book.
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* SeriousBusiness: Old movies seem to be the key to everything.
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* UnwittingPawn: [[spoiler: Uncle Flipping's inventions]] usually end up getting used for nefarious purposes.
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* DiabolicalMastermind: Wallace Nussbaum, an evil genius who's constantly trying to take over the world using mind-control, stolen technology, and kidnapped orangutans. Referred to as "The Napoleon of Crime" and the arch-nemesis of Osgood Sigerson, he's something of an {{Expy}} of Moriarty from ''Franchise/SherlockHolmes''.
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* DiabolicalMastermind: Wallace Nussbaum, an evil genius who's constantly trying to take over the world TakeOverTheWorld using mind-control, stolen technology, and kidnapped orangutans. Referred to as "The Napoleon of Crime" and the arch-nemesis of Osgood Sigerson, he's something of an {{Expy}} of Moriarty from ''Franchise/SherlockHolmes''.
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[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/snarkout_boys.jpg]]
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Example did fit new definition of Theres No B In Movie, re-written to emphasize characterization
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* TooKinkyToTorture: Wallace Nussbaum attempts to torture Uncle Flipping by forcing him to watch German comedies, but Uncle Flipping actually loves those movies so it doesn't work.
* UnabashedBMovieFan: All the characters know each other because they all sneak out at night to watch old movies, primarily trashy B-movies. One of Rat's main characteristics is her absolute devotion to movies-- no matter how bad the movie is, she insists on sitting quietly through the whole thing and will hassle anyone who does otherwise. In contrast, the snarkier Walter and Winston enjoy making fun of bad movies, while Uncle Flipping's love of them indicates his larger {{Cloudcuckoolander}} tendencies.
* UnabashedBMovieFan: All the characters know each other because they all sneak out at night to watch old movies, primarily trashy B-movies. One of Rat's main characteristics is her absolute devotion to movies-- no matter how bad the movie is, she insists on sitting quietly through the whole thing and will hassle anyone who does otherwise. In contrast, the snarkier Walter and Winston enjoy making fun of bad movies, while Uncle Flipping's love of them indicates his larger {{Cloudcuckoolander}} tendencies.
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Renamed per TRS: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1551594823093632200&page=2#comment-26
. Removed because it's misuse (it's about B-movie fans, not the movies themselves).
. Removed because it's misuse (it's about B-movie fans, not the movies themselves).Deleted line(s) 54 (click to see context) :
* TheresNoBInMovie: The Snark St. Theater tends to screen pulpy older genre films.
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* AsianSpeekeeEngrish: Sigerson deduces that Nussbaum is bluffing about [[spoiler: Heinz]] being an android clone on the basis that androids are all made in Asia, and have a hard time with their Rs and Ls. Since the man in question wasn't calling certain chracters "Llat", or "Fripping", he couldn't be an android. This later shows up as a BrickJoke, when the Mitsubishi robot pizza chefs turn out to have a stereotypical Asian accent.
* BlackSpeech: The werewolf's speech is described as unspeakably horrible, and and cause food to spontaneously go moldy.
* BlackSpeech: The werewolf's speech is described as unspeakably horrible, and and cause food to spontaneously go moldy.
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* TheEndOrIsIt: ''Baconburg Horror'' ends with the heroes capturing the bad guy, Wallace Nussbaum, and sending him to be imprisoned in the Chateau D'If. Then, in the last scene, Nussbaum's voice takes over a movie showing, as he announces that he has escaped and will soon reign in terror all over the world, and laughs evilly.
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* AdultsAreUseless: The FBI searches exhaustively for K.E. Kelman, PH, and after being unable to find him, declare him not to exist. Cool teen Rat is able to find him in ten minutes.
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* CelebrityElegy: Jonathan Quicksilver writes a poem mourning the untimely death of Creator/JamesDean.
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* NonResidentialResidence: In The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado Of Death, there's Custerville, a {{Hobo}} jungle where the entire neighborhood is made of people living in abandoned train cars.
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*NoCommunitiesWereHarmed: Baconburg to Chicago. Many locations, such as Blueberry Park, the Snark St. Theater, and Lower N. Aufzoo St. have real-life counterparts in Chicago, and some elements of the stories are recycled from other Pinkwater works set in Chicago.
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* {{Beatnik}}: All the denizens of the Dharma Buns Cafe, and Johnathan Quicksilver in particular.
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* {{Beatnik}}: All the denizens of the Dharma Buns Cafe, and Johnathan Quicksilver in particular. They all dress in all black and are very concerned with avant-garde poetry and jazz.
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* LivingMacGuffin: Uncle Flipping, especially in the first book.
* MadScientist: Uncle Flipping.
* MadScientist: Uncle Flipping.
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* LivingMacGuffin: Uncle Flipping, especially in the first book.
book. The plot is driven by the bad guy attempting to kidnap him, and the protagonists trying to get him back.
* MadScientist: UncleFlipping.Flipping, who self-identifies as one and is always working on strange inventions.
* MadScientist: Uncle
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The education of Robert Nifkin was published in 1998, while the Snarkout Boys came in in the 80's, though they were republished in the mid-2000s.
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* FleetingDemographicRule: Many elements are recycled from Pinkwater's earlier novel ''The Education of Robert Nifkin''. The first couple chapters of ''Avacado'' read almost as a LighterAndSofter version of that book.
to:
* FleetingDemographicRule: Many elements are were recycled from into Pinkwater's earlier later novel ''The Education of Robert Nifkin''. The first couple chapters of ''Avacado'' read almost as a LighterAndSofter version of that book.
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* ChekhovsGag: Walter's father's strange obsession with avocados is PlayedForLaughs, but in both books avocados turn out to be key to the villain's EvilPlan. In the second book, Walter's dad tells an avocado-related story that helps explain how the Baconburg werewolf was created.
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* AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents: Walter's father makes corny jokes and is bizarrely obsessed with avocados, something that Walter finds endlessly embarrassing. He tries to spend as little time with his father as possible.
* {{Hobos}}: In ''The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death'', the Snarkout Boys are taken to a Hobo Jungle, a vast, sprawling, off-the-grid neighborhood made of box cars and inhabited by self-proclaimed hobos.
* LethalChef: Walter's mother's cooking is so terrible that he thinks the inedible MysteryMeat his cafeteria serves to be delicious by comparison.
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* TheresNoBInMovie
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* TheresNoBInMovieTheresNoBInMovie: The Snark St. Theater tends to screen pulpy older genre films.
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* WhiteSheep: The entire Nussbaum family has been evil for generations, except for Heinrich Nussbaum, who is good. His mother writes to tell him how ashamed she is of him.
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* DiabolicalMastermind: Wallace Nussbaum, an evil genius who's constantly trying to take over the world using mind-control, stolen technology, and kidnapped orangutans. Referred to as "The Napoleon of Crime" and the arch-nemesis of Osgood Sigerson, he's something of an {{Expy}} of Moriarty from ''Franchise/SherlockHolmes''.
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* ManiacMonkeys: Wallace Nussbaum relies on kidnapped and mind-controlled orangutans to do his evil bidding.
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* AbhorrentAdmirer: The nerdy Scott Feldman keeps asking Rat out on dates, but she and her friends find him incredibly annoying and repulsive.
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* OrganicTechnology: Many of Uncle Fliping's inventions, such as an alien-repelling avocado supercomputer, or food that conveys information, fall into this category.
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* SoapboxSquare: Blueberry Park, where anybody can give a speech. In ''The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death'', three speakers go on simultaneously about the virtues of vegetarianism, getting the British out of Kenya, and Demonic Possession. Walter then decides to make a speech himself and brave the hecklers.
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example was actually Only Known By Their Nickname
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* NoNameGiven: The Matthews' butlers are always called Heinz.
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* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Rat. Her real name is Bentley Saunders Harrison Matthews, but everyone, including her parents, calls her Rat.
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* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: OnlyKnownByTheirNickname:
** Rat. Her real name is Bentley Saunders Harrison Matthews, but everyone, including her parents, calls herRat.Rat.
** The Matthews' butlers are always called Heinz.
** Rat. Her real name is Bentley Saunders Harrison Matthews, but everyone, including her parents, calls her
** The Matthews' butlers are always called Heinz.
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* PrisonEscapeArtist: Wallace Nussbaum, the "Napoleon of Crime", breaks out of prison at least once per book and is implied to have done so more times. One book has him escaping from the supposedly inescapable Devil's Island.
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** In ''The SnarkoutBoys and the Baconburg Horror'', The Deadly Nightshade Cafe is a popular hangout for nearly all the characters, and a number of key scenes take place there.
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** In ''The SnarkoutBoys Snarkout Boys and the Baconburg Horror'', The Deadly Nightshade Cafe is a popular hangout for nearly all the characters, and a number of key scenes take place there.
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* LocalHangout: Several, most overlapping with GreasySpoon.
** The Hasty Tasty, a disgusting all-night hot dog stand, is Walter and Winston's go-to spot to hang out after Snarking Out.
** Bignose's Cafeteria, known for its delicious Napoleons, is also a frequent hang out spot, and is usually where the characters meet up with Osgood Sigerson.
** In ''The SnarkoutBoys and the Baconburg Horror'', The Deadly Nightshade Cafe is a popular hangout for nearly all the characters, and a number of key scenes take place there.
** The Hasty Tasty, a disgusting all-night hot dog stand, is Walter and Winston's go-to spot to hang out after Snarking Out.
** Bignose's Cafeteria, known for its delicious Napoleons, is also a frequent hang out spot, and is usually where the characters meet up with Osgood Sigerson.
** In ''The SnarkoutBoys and the Baconburg Horror'', The Deadly Nightshade Cafe is a popular hangout for nearly all the characters, and a number of key scenes take place there.
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* SuckySchool: Winston and Walter's high school, George Armstrong Custer High. Nearly all the teachers are crazy, and some, such as their English teacher, are highly anti-semitic. Rat's school is implied to be just as bad.
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* SuckySchool: Winston and Walter's high school, George Armstrong Custer High. Nearly all the teachers are crazy, and some, such as their English teacher, are highly anti-semitic.anti-Semitic. Rat's school is implied to be just as bad.
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* DriveInTheater: The secret history of the drive-in is a major plot point in ''The Snarkout Boys and the Baconburg Horror''. The book claims that the original "drive-in" was a stage show in Romania in the 1800s, which the peasants hated so much that they burned it down and drove the purveyor out of the country. The climax of the book is at the world's largest drive-in theater, founded by a descendant of the original inventor. [[BrickJoke A Romanian pyromaniac shows up and sets the entire lot on fire.]]
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The books take place in the city of Baconburg, a [[FictionalCounterpart fictionalized version]] of UsefulNotes/Chicago. Many of the recurring places in the books have analogues to real-life locations from 1950's Chicago, including the Snark St. Theater itself.
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The books take place in the city of Baconburg, a [[FictionalCounterpart fictionalized version]] of UsefulNotes/Chicago.UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}}. Many of the recurring places in the books have analogues to real-life locations from 1950's Chicago, including the Snark St. Theater itself.
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split from Daniel Pinkwater
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The Snarkout Boys books is a series of two books, ''The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death'' and ''The Snarkout Boys and the Baconburg Horror'' by Creator/DanielPinkwater. Fourteen-year-old Walter Galt, TheNarrator, and his friend Winston Bongo have an unusual hobby: sneaking out of the house in the middle of the night to go watch a movie at the 24-hour Snark St. Theater, a practice they call "Snarking Out". In the course of these adventures, they befriend a punk girl named Rat and get recruited by the world's greatest detective to fight werewolves, aliens, and a criminal mastermind.
The books take place in the city of Baconburg, a [[FictionalCounterpart fictionalized version]] of UsefulNotes/Chicago. Many of the recurring places in the books have analogues to real-life locations from 1950's Chicago, including the Snark St. Theater itself.
!!These books contain examples of:
* AnachronismStew: The books have a very [[TheFifties 50's]] flavor, but don't seem to actually take place then. 50's movies and objects (for example, Winston's 1957 Studebaker Lark) are often discussed but are usually presented as "old" or "this cool thing from the past." Hints such as Rat's dyed hair and the existence of a [[NewWaveMusic New Wave]] radio station point to the books taking place in the [[TheSeventies 70's]] or later. But the kids also run into [[{{Beatnik}} beatniks]] (1950's) and {{hobos}} ([[TheGreatDepression 1930's]]), and attend debates at Blueberry Park, whose [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Square_Park_(Chicago) real-life]] [[FictionalCounterpart counterpart]] in Chicago petered out by the [[TheSixties 1960's]].
* TheButlerDidIt: [[spoiler: In the first book, Rat's butler Heinz turns out to behind the scheme to capture the Avocado. [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in the second book, when the butler is suspected but turns out to be merely the [[TwinSwitch identical twin]] of the BigBad.]]
* BigBad: [[spoiler: Wallace Nussbaum is always behind whatever scheme takes place.]]
* {{Beatnik}}: All the denizens of the Dharma Buns Cafe, and Johnathan Quicksilver in particular.
* CelebCrush: Rat has devoted her life to the memory of [[Creator/JamesDean James Dean]].
* CharacterNameAndTheNounPhrase
* ChronicallyCrashedCar: The Snarkout Boys' biology teacher periodically drives into a tree in the school parking lot.
* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: Old German movies. [[SubvertedTrope It fails miserably.]]
* CoolCar: Winston Bongo's 1957 Studebaker Lark, which also doubles as TheAllegedCar. It's a luxury vintage convertible, but it also barely functions.
* DistressedDude: Uncle Flipping. Gets kidnapped and lost on a regular basis.
* EvilTwin: Wallace Nussbaum to [[spoiler: Heinrich Nussbaum.]] [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] at various points in the second book.
* {{Expy}}: World's Greatest Detective Osgood Sigerson, Dr. Ormond Sacker, and their nemesis Wallace Nussbaum, the "Napoleon of Crime," are all obvious parodies of [[Franchise/SherlockHolmes Sherlock Holmes]], Watson, and Moriarty. Sigerson is even described as dressing like someone in a [[Film/TheAdventuresOfSherlockHolmes1939 Basil Rathbone-as-Sherlock Holmes]] costume.
* FleetingDemographicRule: Many elements are recycled from Pinkwater's earlier novel ''The Education of Robert Nifkin''. The first couple chapters of ''Avacado'' read almost as a LighterAndSofter version of that book.
* ImprobableWeaponUser: The most dangerous man in the country when he has his lacrosse stick.
* ItRunsOnNonsensoleum: The giant avocado-based computer that somehow repels the alien realtors.
* JiveTurkey: ''The Avacado of Death'' has a trade unionist trying to organize a strike in a banjo pick factory, who speaks entirely in jive.
* LivingMacGuffin: Uncle Flipping, especially in the first book.
* MadScientist: Uncle Flipping.
* NoNameGiven: The Matthews' butlers are always called Heinz.
* OneParagraphChapter: ''The Baconburg Horror'' has quite a few short chapters, the shortest of which consists of the single sentence "Anything is possible."
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Rat. Her real name is Bentley Saunders Harrison Matthews, but everyone, including her parents, calls her Rat.
* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: In the second book.
* ReplacementGoldfish: [[spoiler: After the Matthews family butler is [[TheButlerDidIt revealed]] to be the BigBad in the first book, the Matthews hire a new butler who looks exactly the same and call him by the same name.]]
* SeriousBusiness: Old movies seem to be the key to everything.
* SuckySchool: Winston and Walter's high school, George Armstrong Custer High. Nearly all the teachers are crazy, and some, such as their English teacher, are highly anti-semitic. Rat's school is implied to be just as bad.
* TheresNoBInMovie
* UnwittingPawn: [[spoiler: Uncle Flipping's inventions]] usually end up getting used for nefarious purposes.
* YouAreTooLate: At the end of ''The Avocado of Death'', the titular [[OrganicTechnology vegetable computer]] that repels the aliens is destroyed in spite of the heroes' efforts, so nothing will stop them from [[PuppeteerParasite possessing]] [[MilkmanConspiracy every licensed realtor in the world]]. They shrug and say "We'll have to get used to them".
The books take place in the city of Baconburg, a [[FictionalCounterpart fictionalized version]] of UsefulNotes/Chicago. Many of the recurring places in the books have analogues to real-life locations from 1950's Chicago, including the Snark St. Theater itself.
!!These books contain examples of:
* AnachronismStew: The books have a very [[TheFifties 50's]] flavor, but don't seem to actually take place then. 50's movies and objects (for example, Winston's 1957 Studebaker Lark) are often discussed but are usually presented as "old" or "this cool thing from the past." Hints such as Rat's dyed hair and the existence of a [[NewWaveMusic New Wave]] radio station point to the books taking place in the [[TheSeventies 70's]] or later. But the kids also run into [[{{Beatnik}} beatniks]] (1950's) and {{hobos}} ([[TheGreatDepression 1930's]]), and attend debates at Blueberry Park, whose [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Square_Park_(Chicago) real-life]] [[FictionalCounterpart counterpart]] in Chicago petered out by the [[TheSixties 1960's]].
* TheButlerDidIt: [[spoiler: In the first book, Rat's butler Heinz turns out to behind the scheme to capture the Avocado. [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in the second book, when the butler is suspected but turns out to be merely the [[TwinSwitch identical twin]] of the BigBad.]]
* BigBad: [[spoiler: Wallace Nussbaum is always behind whatever scheme takes place.]]
* {{Beatnik}}: All the denizens of the Dharma Buns Cafe, and Johnathan Quicksilver in particular.
* CelebCrush: Rat has devoted her life to the memory of [[Creator/JamesDean James Dean]].
* CharacterNameAndTheNounPhrase
* ChronicallyCrashedCar: The Snarkout Boys' biology teacher periodically drives into a tree in the school parking lot.
* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: Old German movies. [[SubvertedTrope It fails miserably.]]
* CoolCar: Winston Bongo's 1957 Studebaker Lark, which also doubles as TheAllegedCar. It's a luxury vintage convertible, but it also barely functions.
* DistressedDude: Uncle Flipping. Gets kidnapped and lost on a regular basis.
* EvilTwin: Wallace Nussbaum to [[spoiler: Heinrich Nussbaum.]] [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] at various points in the second book.
* {{Expy}}: World's Greatest Detective Osgood Sigerson, Dr. Ormond Sacker, and their nemesis Wallace Nussbaum, the "Napoleon of Crime," are all obvious parodies of [[Franchise/SherlockHolmes Sherlock Holmes]], Watson, and Moriarty. Sigerson is even described as dressing like someone in a [[Film/TheAdventuresOfSherlockHolmes1939 Basil Rathbone-as-Sherlock Holmes]] costume.
* FleetingDemographicRule: Many elements are recycled from Pinkwater's earlier novel ''The Education of Robert Nifkin''. The first couple chapters of ''Avacado'' read almost as a LighterAndSofter version of that book.
* ImprobableWeaponUser: The most dangerous man in the country when he has his lacrosse stick.
* ItRunsOnNonsensoleum: The giant avocado-based computer that somehow repels the alien realtors.
* JiveTurkey: ''The Avacado of Death'' has a trade unionist trying to organize a strike in a banjo pick factory, who speaks entirely in jive.
* LivingMacGuffin: Uncle Flipping, especially in the first book.
* MadScientist: Uncle Flipping.
* NoNameGiven: The Matthews' butlers are always called Heinz.
* OneParagraphChapter: ''The Baconburg Horror'' has quite a few short chapters, the shortest of which consists of the single sentence "Anything is possible."
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Rat. Her real name is Bentley Saunders Harrison Matthews, but everyone, including her parents, calls her Rat.
* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: In the second book.
* ReplacementGoldfish: [[spoiler: After the Matthews family butler is [[TheButlerDidIt revealed]] to be the BigBad in the first book, the Matthews hire a new butler who looks exactly the same and call him by the same name.]]
* SeriousBusiness: Old movies seem to be the key to everything.
* SuckySchool: Winston and Walter's high school, George Armstrong Custer High. Nearly all the teachers are crazy, and some, such as their English teacher, are highly anti-semitic. Rat's school is implied to be just as bad.
* TheresNoBInMovie
* UnwittingPawn: [[spoiler: Uncle Flipping's inventions]] usually end up getting used for nefarious purposes.
* YouAreTooLate: At the end of ''The Avocado of Death'', the titular [[OrganicTechnology vegetable computer]] that repels the aliens is destroyed in spite of the heroes' efforts, so nothing will stop them from [[PuppeteerParasite possessing]] [[MilkmanConspiracy every licensed realtor in the world]]. They shrug and say "We'll have to get used to them".
