History WesternAnimation / TheWrongTrousers

* ButtMonkey: Gromit falls into this hard. His birthday presents are things that benefit Wallace more than him, he gets evicted from his own bedroom by Feathers, then Feathers forces him out of the house and causes him to leave home out of resentment. He doesn't even manage to stop Feathers's plan from going ahead, as by the time he finds out about it, Feathers is already putting it into operation. Things only go his way at the end when he traps Feathers in a bottle and Wallace decides lodgers are more trouble than they're worth.

* TheDogBitesBack: Subverted. After Feathers locks Wallace in the wardrobe, he bumps into Gromit, who has a DeathGlare on his face and is wielding a rolling pin, about to whack Feathers with it. Feathers simply pulls a gun on Gromit and locks him in the wardrobe too.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: While the characterisations and designs are mostly locked down by this point, the Techno Trousers are the only gadget in the series that Wallace ''bought'' ("Ex-NASA"). From ''A Close Shave'' onwards, every gadget or device the duo use is of his own creation.

* LastNoteNightmare: The short begins with a noticeably sombre rendition of the theme song and descends into a frightening series of ScareChords.

* DarkerAndEdgier: Not to the same degree as the later shorts, but the stakes are still noticeably upped from ''A Grand Day Out'': The suspense in this film rival the work of Creator/AlfredHitchcock and a few scenes, such as Gromit walking away from the house after getting kicked out, are played relatively dramatically. On top of that, there's more action set-pieces, and the antagonist is genuinely evil as opposed to [[NotEvilJustMisunderstood misunderstood]], to the extent of outright trying to shoot the protagonists dead.

* AirVentPassageway: Feathers [=McGraw=] gets Wallace into the museum through a rooftop ventilation duct that's large enough for Wallace to stand upright inside. It is shown to be cacophonously loud, however ([[HeavySleeper not that a slumbering Wallace is bothered]]).

* DarkerAndEdgier: Not to the same degree as the later shorts, but the stakes are still noticeably upped from ''A Grand Day Out'': A few scenes, such as Gromit walking away from the house after getting kicked out, are played relatively dramatically, there's more action setpieces, and the antagonist is genuinely evil as opposed to [[NotEvilJustMisunderstood misunderstood]], to the extent of outright trying to shoot the protagonists dead.

* DarkerAndEdgier: Not to the same degree as the later shorts, but the antagonist here is genuinely evil as opposed to merely [[NotEvilJustMisunderstood misunderstood]], it's the first time where Wallace & Gromit are in serious mortal danger, and there are some genuine dramatic and emotional moments throughout.

* WhamShot: Feathers at first just comes off as [[InnocentlyInsensitive an incredibly thoughtless lodger]] that gets on Gromit's nerves. When Gromit finally leaves however, it cuts to Feathers, watching and rubbing his fins in satisfaction, his villainous plan with the Techno-Trousers now revealed.

* ShoutOut: Gromit bottling Feathers evokes what WesternAnimation/FoghornLeghorn and the Barnyard Dawg do to WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck when they find he's been playing them in "The High and the Flighty".

* {{Homage}}: Creator/NickPark cited ''Film/{{Rebecca}}'' as an influence on the film, particularly some of the shots of Feathers.

* BiggerOnTheInside: Wallace and Gromit's house is big enough for them to have an entire (miniature, but still) TraintopBattle inside. [[RuleOfFunny Somehow.]]

* FeatheredFiend: Feathers [=McGraw=].

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler: After using the Techno-Trousers to commit his heist, Feathers [=McGraw=] gets his train escape ruined by the Trousers walking in front of the tracks and sending him flying into a milk bottle.]]

* JustEatGilligan: After discovering Feathers controlling an unwilling Wallace in the trouser, Gromit, for whatever reason, ignores Wallace's pleas to pull him out of them in favour of spying on Feathers until the heist is pulled off. Perhaps justified as when he finally takes action Feathers instantly disarms him with his pistol.

* NoNameGiven: Averted in the final scene. Though never mentioned by any character, we learn Feathers [=McGraw's=] name from the headline of the newspaper Gromit is reading.

* AssInALionSkin: Feathers [=McGraw=], who simply wears a red glove on his head during jobs to convince others he is a chicken.

* AchillesHeel: The Techno-Trousers' ability to walk on walls and ceilings is really impressive, but Feathers finds out the hard way that suspending the heavy equipment on an unstable surface made from old flexible ceiling tiles simply held in with fixative will cause problems.
* AirVentPassageway: Feathers [=McGraw=] gets Wallace into the museum through a rooftop ventilation duct that's large enough for Wallace to stand upright inside. It is shown to be cacophanously loud, however ([[HeavySleeper not that a slumbering Wallace is bothered]]).

* BigOlUnibrow: Gromit never speaks, so this is the only way you know what he's feeling. It's really incredible, the emotion you can wring out of an artfully-squashed bit of plasticine...

** In the same scene, [=McGraw=]'s revolver never seems to run out of bullets, although it's debatable because he fires a total of 7 rounds[[note]]one hits the light cord, one narrowly misses Gromit, one hits Gromit's 'helmet', one knocks out the flap on the front door, two more strike Gromit's helmet, and the final one hits a railway switch[[/note]] before his gun is taken, which is possible if he had a fully-loaded 7-shooter instead of a 6-shooter.
* BrickJoke: The system that gets Wallace out of bed and serves him toast at the beginning comes back later when Feathers gets a sleeping Wallace out of bed, with Gromit hiding in it. Gromit ends up getting dressed in Wallace's clothes and a spoonful of jam gets launched at him, but because this time there's no bread in the toaster to intercept the jam, it hits him in the face.

* ConcealmentEqualsCover: A variation, in that "cover equals protection", when Gromit uses a [[ImprovisedArmor fallen lampshade]] as a helmet, which manages to ''block a headshot'' from Feather's revolver at a distance of barely six feet away.
* ContinuityNod: At the beginning, Gromit reads a newspaper which bears a headline, ''Moon Cheese Shares Soar'', referring to their moon-cheese-related adventurings in "WesternAnimation/AGrandDayOut". Which raises the question of why they were cash-strapped enough to need to let the room out in the first place, but then the series has never been that big on continuity anyway, so who knows.

* TheEndOrIsIt: After [[spoiler:the two foil Feathers' diamond robbery and use the Techno Trousers one last time to anonymously drop him off at the Police Station]], the Trousers are seen lying upside-down in the bin outside. Then, as Wallace and Gromit enjoy some cheese together, [[spoiler:they start moving on their own and are last seen walking off down the street and [[RidingIntoTheSunset into the sunset over the credits]]: still with the bin on top of them, humorously enough.]]

* FeetFirstIntroduction: The introduction to the Techno Trousers, as they perform an OminousWalk towards Gromit.

** When Gromit is upside-down in the Techno Trousers painting the ceiling of the spare room, Feathers comes in and looks rather intently at him. Wallace is later upside-down in the Techno Trousers when Feathers uses him to steal the diamond from the museum.
** As Feathers is guiding Wallace along the museum ceiling, one of the ceiling tiles the Trousers steps on is almost pulled loose. After Feathers gets the diamond, another tile comes loose, putting Wallace off-balance and setting off the alarm.

* GoneHorriblyWrong: Feathers' misuse of the Techno-Trousers. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by Wallace when he is stuck inside them (see quote at top).

* {{Homage}}: Creator/NickPark cited ''Film/{{Rebecca}}'' as an influence on the film, particuarly some of the shots of Feathers.
* HumiliationConga: After catching him, Wallace and Gromit have Feathers paraded into the police station, tied up and towed by the same Techno Trousers he used in the robbery. He then gets imprisoned in a zoo, on display to everyone passing through the entrance.
* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: Averted, all of Feathers' shots are reasonably close to the target considering that he's 1) FiringOneHanded, 2) on a moving train, and 3) [[FeatherFingers a penguin.]] At least three of his shots would have been lethal if Gromit wasn't [[ConcealmentEqualsCover protected by]] [[ImprovisedArmor the lampshade]] on his head.
* {{Jerkass}}: Feathers [=McGraw=]. His EstablishingCharacterMoment features a big KickTheDog moment to Gromit by forcing him out of his own bedroom and then out of the house, reducing Gromit to tears and resentment and after only two nights in Feathers' presence, Gromit is so depressed, he leaves home. The worst part? Wallace doesn't even notice any of this. He only realises Feathers' true colours when he sees Feathers is the thief who stole the diamond from the museum.

* NonStandardCharacterDesign: Used to great dramatic effect with Feathers [=McGraw=]: as discussed in [[https://www.tumblr.com/beholdthemem/705100199849328640/obscureculturalreference-hextrudedcubes?source=share this post]], the style of the series is such that the characters in it are ''very'' expressive, so Feathers' design (a static face and eyes with no sclera that are constantly looking straight ahead) manages to make him deeply unsettling.

* PoweredArmor: The Techno Trousers are at the very least half of one. Wallace's offhand comment that they're "ex-NASA", along with the [[WallCrawl suction feet]], subtly imply they were designed to be worn as some kind of EVA equipment.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Although the Techno-Trousers' wall and ceiling walking functions are impressive, the heist Feathers [=McGraw=] conducts with them goes wrong since the museum's ceiling consists of old tiles only held in with fixative, which causes the heavy Techno-Trousers to nearly fall down after tearing one off and subsequently triggers the alarm.

* ThroughTheCeilingStealthily: Feathers [=McGraw=] operates the techno-trousers by remote control while Wallace is asleep and wearing them. The trousers take Wallace to the top of a museum, and walk him into a spacious AirVentPassageway that leads to the room where a huge diamond is on display. The ceiling grate swings open, and Wallace emerges. The suction-soled techno-trousers allow him to walk around on the ceiling, which avoids the waist-high light beams protecting the prize. All the while, Wallace is snoring away in perfect obliviousness.

* WallCrawl: The techno-trousers' suction feet are powerful enough to walk up walls and upside-down on ceilings.

* WhamShot: Feathers at first just comes off as [[InnocentlyInsensitive an incredibly thoughtless lodger]] that gets on Gromit's nerves. When Gromit finally leaves however, it cuts to Feathers, watching and rubbing his fins in satisfaction, his villainous plan with the Techno Trousers now revealed.

* WithCatlikeTread: The techno-trousers make a ''massive'' amount of noise getting into the building through the AirVentPassageway. One has to wonder whether or not the only reason Feathers wasn't caught was because [[MinimalistCast there are so few people in Wensleydale.]] (And yet Wallace ''[[HeavySleeper still]]'' doesn't wake up until the alarm goes off.)