The Nickmas series was a group of Nickelodeon animated commercials released in 2002. They featured both claymation and animated incarnations of contemporary Nickelodeon characters parodying various Christmas Specials.
Series featured
The Nickmas commercials provide examples of:
- Anime Hair: Arnold's, Gerald's, and Helga's exaggerated haircuts are poked fun at in the "Twelve Days of Christmas" commercial. They use so much hairspray they end up choking.
- Badass Normal: Angelica in "How the You-Know-Who Stole You-Know-What!", as she manages first to wrestle a chocolate candy cane out of Zim's hands and then kicked Plankton clear across a room both with no direct consequences. Justified in that this is part of an parody-based ad campaign, canonically either action by itself would have landed Angelica a very long hospital visit with no guarantee of her survival.
- Balloon Belly: At the end of "How the You-Know-Who Stole You-Know-What!", Angelica as "Grinchelica" becomes very fat after eating all the chocolate candy she stole from the other Nicktoons."And all the toons in Toonsville say, Grinchelica's tummy grew three hundred sizes that day."
- Crossover: The shorts feature various Nick characters coexisting.
- Crossover Couple:
- The Crimson Chin flirts with Debbie. However, she isn't interested.
- Plankton tries to kiss Helga under a mistletoe.
- Demoted to Extra: Almost every show suffers from this in some capacity:
- Averted completely with The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius: All five main characters get ample screen time, and Goddard is even given the role of Rudolph. The closest it gets to this trope is Libby not having any of her own lines in either version of the "Patrick the Snowman" skit.
- As Told By Ginger: Carl & Hoodsey get one solo line in the "12 Days of Nickmas" song, Courtney Gripling gets another, and all three are reduced to background characters for the "Holiday Party" sketch. Ginger, Dodie and Macie are Adapted Out altogether.
- CatDog: The title character is reduced to a backgrounder with no speaking lines, and no one else appears.note
- ChalkZone: Rudy and Snap are again denied speaking roles, despite the show premiering the same year as the promo spots! Penny fares even worse, once again being Adapted Out.
- The Fairly Odd Parents: Almost averted, with Cosmo, Wanda, Vicky, Jorgen von Strangle, and the Crimson Chin all given reasonable screen time. What places the show in this trope is the complete absence of Timmy Turner himself.
- Hey Arnold: Arnold, Gerald, and Helga share a single solo line in 12 Days of Nickmas, but are otherwise background characters. None of the other kids appear at all.
- Invader Zim: Zim gets all of one line in the "Holiday Party" sketch, and a cameo appearance in "How The You-Know-Who Stole You-Know-What". GiR is reduced to a backgrounder (wearing his dog disguise, no less) and Dib is nowhere to be found.
- Rocket Power: Unquestionably given the worst treatment of all the shows featured, their only appearance is the four leads skating across the stage while Otto sings their "12 Days" line all by himself. The only other time the show is referenced is in "How The You-Know-Who Stole You-Know-What", where the first things stolen by Angelica are a chocolate skateboard and helmet. To top it off, they're not even featured in the group portrait!!
◊ - Rugrats: While all the main characters are given acceptable screen time, only Tommy, Chuckie and Angelica actually have speaking roles.
- SpongeBob SquarePants: Sandy Cheeks is completely absent despite having introduced Christmas to Bikini Bottom in the show's first Christmas special!
- The Wild Thornberrys: While Nigel got to narrate "Patrick the Snowman" and Debbie is given a line in "12 Days of Nickmas", the rest of the family wasn't so lucky: Donnie is a backgrounder for "12 Days" and "Holiday Party", Eliza gets a blink-and-you-miss-it cameo in "How The You-Know-Who Stole You-Know-What", and Darwin and Marianne are completely Adapted Out.
- Everyone Is Christian at Christmas: Amongst Santa's elves are several Jewish characters (though Tommy celebrates Christmas with his dad).
- Full-Name Basis: In the Peanuts parody, Chuckie refers to Tommy as "Thomas". In turn, Chuckie is called "Chuckie Finster".
- Hair Color Dissonance: Vicky's a redhead in the cartoon but her clay model is a brunette.
- How the Character Stole Christmas: In "How the You-Know-Who Stole You-Know-What!", Angelica takes on the form of "Grinchelica" and steals chocolate candy from the other Nicktoons.
- Not His Sled: Near the end of "How the You-Know-Who Stole You-Know-What!", after stealing all the chocolate candy from the other Nicktoons, Angelica, as "Grinchelica" begins to think about the Nicktoons having nothing at all. However, rather than undergo a Heel–Face Turn, she decides she doesn't care and keeps all the chocolates for herself, getting very fat after eating her fill."And all the toons in Toonsville say, Grinchelica's tummy grew three hundred sizes that day."
- Promotional Consideration: Parodied:"The Chuckie Finster Christmas/Hannukah/Kwanzaa/Winter Solstice Special has been brought to you by Dork KrabbyMint Patty".
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: The second version of the Frosty the Snowman short has the kids freaking out when their snowman comes to life.
- True Meaning of Christmas:
- Parodied in the short parodying Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer:
Somehow, through it all, they managed to remember the true meaning of the holiday season: to put aside our differences, join together, and open presents!- In the short parodying A Charlie Brown Christmas, Tommy tries to say that the true meaning of the holidays is having a peaceful, joyous period all about good will. Angelica, however, thinks it's just about the presents. The babies change their mind and go with what she said.
- You Mean "Xmas":
- One commercial ends with "Happy (insert holiday choice here) to you!"
- The Rugrats commercial parodying A Charlie Brown Christmas is about "Christmas/Hannukah/Kwanzaa/Winter Solstice Time". When Chuckie tries listing the stuff he likes to do on those holidays, it takes too long and he and Tommy both end up covered in snow.
