History Theatre / TheSolveItSquadReturns

[[caption-width-right:350:Keith, Gwen, Scrags, Esther! Good, better, best, bester! Who are we? THE SOLVE-IT SQUAD!]]

* SurfRock: The limited soundtrack Nick Gage composed for this show is in this style, a deliberately {{Retraux}} homage to [[Franchise/ScoobyDoo the source material]]'s origin in TheSixties (despite the show taking place in TheNineties and TheNewTeens). Keith's obnoxious modernized version of the theme song on his stereo may be a TakeThat at badly done attempts to "update" the franchise.

* NoNameGiven: We hear Keith referred to as "Keith Swanson" fairly early, and Esther's full name is a subject of a [[LineOfSightName joke]], but Scrags' and Gwen's full names are never spoken in the script. A FreezeFrameBonus lets us see that Gwen's name is "Gwen Barrywood" from the cover of her book, and Scrags' FBI badge says his full name is "Benji Scragtowski". WordOfGod during a Q&A says that Gwen's name is short for "Gwendolyn", in response to [[WordOfSaintPaul opining]] that it should be "Gwyneth" because she reminds her of Creator/GwynethPaltrow.

* SelfDeprecation: Gwen and Keith are the chance for the Creator/TinCanBrothers to get in some digs on themselves as LA-based actors and writers who make their living off of an Internet fandom, especially the fact that the [=TCBs=] originally got famous from going viral all the way back in [[Theatre/AVeryPotterMusical 2009]]. Gwen and Keith are both [[SocialMediaBeforeReason portrayed as insufferably addicted to online self-promotion]]. Keith especially gets [[ButtMonkey kicked around a lot]] for dwelling on the GloryDays and never having gotten a real job with a steady wage for his entire adult life, and for shamelessly supplementing his income with branded [[TheMerch merch]] sales (every Solve-It Squad video comes with a link to the TCB online merch store, including [[{{Defictionalization}} the actual Solve-It Squad tank top featured as evidence in the show]]). Gwen likewise, despite having far more mainstream success as an actress than any of the [=TCBs=], gets a huge rant from Scrags about how her celebrity is meaningless and her career is a fake job that doesn't actually help anybody, and we get some self-deprecating humor about how ridiculous the acting exercises she makes Scrags do look to an outsider.

* BreakingTheFourthWall: Scrags and Esther both make reference to the "[[Creator/TinCanBrothers Three Writers]]" of the show as a stand-in for [[RageAgainstTheHeavens God]]. Also, in the ending reprise of the ThemeTune, Keith starts singing the {{Scatting}} from the OpeningChorus only for everyone to correct him that that's wrong and that part is only in "the beginning".

* SelfDeprecation: Gwen and Keith are the chance for the Creator/TinCanBrothers to get in some digs on themselves as LA-based actors and writers who make their living off of an Internet fandom, especially the fact that the [=TCBs=] originally got famous from going viral all the way back in [[Theatre/AVeryPotterMusical 2009]]. Gwen and Keith are both [[SocialMediaBeforeReason portrayed as insufferably addicted to online self-promotion]]. Keith especially gets [[ButtMonkey kicked around a lot]] for dwelling on the GloryDays and never having gotten a real job with a steady wage for his entire adult life, and for shamelessly supplementing his income with branded [[TheMerch merch]] sales (every Solve-It Squad video comes with a link to the TCB online merch store, including [[{{Defictionalization}} the actual Solve-It Squad tank top featured as evidence in the show]]. Gwen likewise, despite having far more mainstream success as an actress than any of the [=TCBs=], gets a huge rant from Scrags about how her celebrity is meaningless and her career is a fake job that doesn't actually help anybody, and we get some self-deprecating humor about how ridiculous the acting exercises she makes Scrags do look to an outsider.

** Esther is the Cynic, who only came along out of a sense of personal duty to Scrags and an [[ChallengeSeeker interest in solving mysteries]] she hasn't fully suppressed, but she doesn't really believe the Apostle can be found or stopped or thinks it matters if it does, since as she shouts at Scrags in her TheReasonYouSuckSpeech she believes the universe is "nothing but chaos".

* WillTheyOrWontThey: Apparently this was Keith and Gwen all through their ongoing flirtation in their teens, including never being 100% clear on whether they were officially dating at any particular point in time. They ''instantly'' pick this back up when they reunite as adults, much to Scrags' irritation.

* RealityHasNoSoundtrack: There's no music in the show after the OpeningChorus ThemeTune; after the MusicalisInterruptus of Cluebert's death, the rest of the show goes on in silence (with the exception of the hard rock version of the Solve-It Squad theme on Keith's stereo) until the wacky background music of the ScoobyDoobyDoors scene, followed shortly by the SuddenMusicalEnding -- symbolizing that we've left the depressing world of ordinary adult life and [[HesBack the Solve-It Squad has its groove back]]. (This is really RealLifeWritesThePlot, of course, with the limited budget and time the Tin Can Bros had to commission music, but fits the theme of the show very well.)