History Podcast / MissionToZyxx

''Mission to Zyxx'' is an improvised science fiction comedy podcast following the adventures of Ambassador (later Envoy) Pleck Decksetter (played by Alden Ford), security officer Dar (Allie Kokesh), the android C-53 (Jeremy Bent), and their artificially-intelligent ship, the ''Bargarean Jade'' (Moujan Zolfaghari), in the remote Zyxx quadrant. They're typically dispatched on their assignments by Junior Missions Operations Manager Nermut Bundaloy (Seth Lind).

* NoodleIncident: C-53 has some heavy emotional history with a boat captain that C refuses to discuss. [[spoiler: The working theory is that C was once slotted into a fishing boat, but no explanation of what happened between them.]]

* RussianRoulette: B-69-420 suggests the crew play a game of [[CallARabbitASmeerp Brethian roulette]] with his ion cannon. [[RealityEnsues He promptly dies when the first shot destroys his cube]]; the crew tells Nermut that his death was a suicide so they won't have to fill out any paperwork.

* AbnormalAmmo: Kor Balevor explains that his limbs were simultaneously amputated when a starship ran out of ammo and started firing cybernetic replacement parts. He got hit with a spare torso directly in his torso.

* ArtificialHuman: The [=CLINTs=] are clones designed for combat with several "upgrades" including absence of genitals, a detachable edible pinky finger, and a butt-gun.

** In "The New Norm" Dar cheats to win the eating contest by stuffing their chutes and flaps with hot dogs.

* CommonTongue: Almost everyone in the galaxy speaks Regular. Exceptions include Flarn (which speaks Weird) and Juntowa (which speaks Juntowa).

** There's one in "What Happens On Magnifiku" wielded against the crew with the specific objective of seducing one of them

* MyHovercraftIsFullOfEels: The Juntowa language consists entirely of the word "Juntowa" with various tonal emphases. Non-native speakers who attempt it inevitably enrage native speakers with their rudeness.

* OncePerEpisode: C-53's recitation that there is "An incoming transmission from Junior Missions Operation Manager Nermut Bundaloy," even after Nermut makes it clear he's sensitive about still being a ''Junior'' Missions Operation Manager.

* RepressedMemories: AJ can memory-wipe himself at will and does repeatedly during "The Daming of the Crew".

'''AJ:''' That's a pretty thick binder\\
'''C-53:''' Yes it's very, very thick. In fact I'm still sort of getting through the-\\
'''AJ:''' Beat him in the head with the binder. Ok, let's do this.

* TalentContest: Oddly more than once.

* TearsFromAStone: Only implied due to the audio format, but C-53 weeps during the exchange of vows in Episode 102.

* CreditsGag: Across the third season the Allwheat is described with a different metaphor each episode, including "like if the sun hated you" and "a black hole really hitting bottom".

* FunWithForeignLanguages: The language that Pleck and most of the creatures the crew meet is called Regular. The language of Flarn is Weird. Juntowa is its own beast.

* HeartDrive: Droid C-53 has a cube that contains his consciousness. He swaps his cube to various frames over the course of the show including a battle droid, a forklift, and a dehumidifier.

* KangarooCourt: Pump Up the Justice is an in-universe courtroom reality show. Proceedings are governed by dramatic reveals and commercial breaks, and the outcome is driven not by evidence but by the audience voting by phone-in.

** The second-last episode [[{{A Day in the Limelight}} follows someone other than the crew]].

* PaperThinDisguise: In "Rock the Pote" the crew has to hide their alien appearances on a planet that has not yet discovered space travel. Hulking Dar chooses to wear a fake beard.
* PassedOverPromotion: Nermut has been a Junior Missions Operations Manager for several years. Protocol requires JMOMs to be automatically promoted to Missions Operations Manager after six months. Even [[spoiler:the Council of Seven]] is confused by this, but they think Nermut's [[ObfuscatingStupidity done it on purpose to cover his tracks as a Rebellion mastermind]].

-->''Announcer:''' It's definitely an improvement. Totally not a lateral move.

* BizarreAlienReproduction: Dar's species can juck literally anything (see reconfigurable genitalia above), but the process can trigger asexual reproduction in themselves.

* FunWithForeignLanguages: The language that Pleck and most of the creatures the crew meets is called Regular. The language of Flarn is Weird. Juntowa is its own beast.

* AssShove: All [=CLINTs=] keep an emergency backup firearm. It's very warm.

* TheChosenOne: The Trope is poked fun at with the introduction of the Zima Knights and the reveal that Pleck is The Chosen One. He really is, but the Zimas have a ''lot'' of Chosen Ones, and Pleck is just the One who's been Chosen to do a very specific task (some Chosen Ones are just Chosen to clean up the camp on Zima Prime, for example).

* EatingContest: Dar is challenged to one on Flarn to establish diplomatic relations.

* FantasticDrug: Dust, a very illegal drug whose effects aren't entirely clear and seem to vary depending on who's doing it. Droids can do dust because it has a technological component, according to C-53.
-->'''Pleck:''' How does [dust] affect you?\\

* ICantHearYou: C-53 can create "zones of silence" that render specific individuals incapable of hearing the crew's conversations.
* InsistentTerminology: Zima warriors train to use "woodsabers" in combat. Everyone else just calls it a stick.

* PaperThinDisguise: Bargie always leaves her location beacon on including during stealth missions.
-->'''Bargie:''' That's why I wear a coat.
* PassedOverPromotion: Nermut has been a Junior Missions Operations Manager for several years. You're supposed to be automatically promoted to Missions Operations Manager after six months. Even [[spoiler:the Council of Seven]] is confused by this, but they think Nermut's [[ObfuscatingStupidity done it on purpose to cover his tracks as a Rebellion mastermind]].

* SimilarSquad: Ambassador Turk Mannikin's team also includes protocol droid D-20, a security officer, missions operation manager Merle, sentient spaceship Tiny Toots, and team mascot Squeegee.
* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: In an early episode, the opening narration is very insistent that the Federated Alliance is a far more benevolent government than the Galactic Monarchy it replaced, and is "totally not a lateral move."

* TaughtByExperience: It's easy to miss due to how glacial the progress is, but the crew ''do'' learn from their mistakes... to some degree.
** After making a mortal enemy of the leader of Flurp in the very first episode, the crew do their level best to avoid invoking his wrath even further upon returning to the planet later on.

* AssShove: All CLINTs keep an emergency backup firearm. It's very warm.

* LoopholeAbuse: As an ambassador team, the crew is forbidden from carrying weapons on missions... except for Dar's ion cannon, which they've filed as spare droid parts since it was originally part of a droid's body when they got it.

** Escaped [=CLINT=] RJ tags along with the crew and develops as his own character.

* EatingContest: Dar is challenged to one to establish diplomatic relations on a criminal planet.

* ClonesArePeopleToo: Cloned Light Infantry Nomadic Troopers, or [=CLINTs=], are very prideful and individualistic, with deep-running rivalries and are very insistent about having their own particular talents (or, more often, other [=CLINTs=] having specific deficits they have to make up for). Non-[=CLINTs=] don't typically see the differences, though it's usually easier to humor a CLINT than trying to convince him he's identical to all the others.

* EyepatchOfPower: Pleck tries one to look cool. [spoiler:Later he needs it, after losing the eye.]

** Every version of the opening narration states that one of the crew's goals is to "meet weird bug creatures and stuff"

--> ''Pleck'': If a horse breaks its leg, [[MercyKill you just kill it]].\\
''Dar'': What happens to a Tellurian when they break their leg?\\
''Pleck'': They go to the doctor.
--> ''Dar'': What??
--> ''Shataina'': Why wouldn’t you treat them the same?
--> ''Pleck'': I mean, I’m not a horse doctor, so I don’t know, but I’m just saying--
--> ''C-53'': Oh, so now you’re saying there ''are'' horse doctors, and yet you still kill the horses. Very nice, Pleck. Very nice.

--> ''Pleck'': How does [dust] affect you?
--> ''C-53'': I just don't work very well for a while. [...] You wouldn't think that's fun, but it is.

--> ''C-53'': Junior Missions Operation Manager Nermut Bundaloy, I've been thinking about your genitalia--

--> ''Pleck'': C-53, what is happening?\\
''C-53'': It is a very stirring vow.

The first season ends with the crew becoming aware of the corruption of the Federated Alliance and going on the run as renegades before joining up with the Rebellion.

--> ''Pleck'': If a horse breaks its leg, [[MercyKill you just kill it]].
--> ''Dar'': What happens to a Tellurian when they break their leg?
--> ''Pleck'': They go to the doctor.

--> ''Pleck'': C-53, what is happening?
--> ''C-53'': It is a very stirring vow.

* AffectionateNickname: The ''Bargarean Jade'' is "Bargie" to the crew, C-53 is "Cee," and Dar likes to call Nermut "Nermie" when she's flirting with him.

* MrExposition: C-53 typically fills this role when [[TheWatson Pleck has entry-level questions about what's going on]], given his encyclopedic knowledge of most things a droid could know about.

** Bargie spends the majority of the first season struggling to remember Nermut's name and title.

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Ads during the show are typically read as intercepted transmissions from leaders of the Rebellion against the Federated Alliance, often at less-than-appropriate times such as the middle of a distress call from a crashing spaceship. That might've just been a fun conceit, until in one episode where we meet Centurion Tiddle, and C-53 identifies his father as Rolphus Tiddle, Rebel commander and underwear salesman.

* WhiteDwarfStarlet: The ''Bargarean Jade,'' in her younger years, was an A-list holofilm star. She occasionally tries to work her way back into acting, and loves to show off her classic movies to the crew, as well as gossiping about all the famous people (and ships) she knew in the old days.