The trio are shocked to learn that they are not a real family. Thankfully, a pair of twins invites them to their home so they can see what a real family looks like — though they may have sinister motives in mind.
Tropes:
- Actually, That's My Assistant: As the trio and twins are hanging at the couch, a big guy and a little guy then enter the room with one of the twins referring to them as their father and brother. Can you guess which one is which?
- An Aesop: Even if you aren't related, if you're a group that deeply cares for each other and sticks together (and share a lawyer), you are a family.
- Art Shift: Downplayed. Instead of a fuzzy-felt world, the episode is mostly spent in the Twins' household, which looks like a rundown, grimey, realistic house.
- Played a bit straight in their scrapbook which actually has a few animated segments. But, it's still downplayed because it is just a few.
- Bait-and-Switch: At first it seems like the moral of the episode might be healthy eating, given that a sentient apple shows up when the guys try to open a bag of crisps and starts singing about making good choices for snacks. But then Lilly takes a bite out of the apple and tosses him on the floor, and we learn that the actual lesson of the week is about families.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Red Guy eventually finds his family of red things, but they end up kicking him out because he is too expressive and excitable compared to them.
- Blatant Lies: The bread that Duck Guy speaks to claims that she doesn't understand what he's asking (about them letting him join their family as the dad) and that they're just bread. She then beckons the smaller slices, openly calling them "children" and mentioning that it's their father's birthday.
- Body Horror: The Twins and their family... are quite odd to say the least. Which is only elevated more when they begin to devour their meal, sporting grotesque mouths as they ferally devour chicken.
- Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: At the end of the episode, the trio conclude that a family can be a group that cares for each other, sticks together, share a lawyer and dies on the same day in the same way but in different locations.
- Calvinball: The rules of the Twins' family. We (sort of) hear part of them, but the rest are absent from the dialogue.
- Chekhov's Gun: At the beginning of the episode, an ad plays on the TV about a bucket of chicken called Grolton's Chicken, which has a special discount for families. It turns out that the entire reason why the twins kidnapped Yellow Guy was so that they could use him as a mother substitute so that he can order the same chicken bucket, since they are now eligible as a family again.
- Comically Missing the Point:
- While viewing the pictures on the great family tree, Red Guy takes note, as the camera zooms in on all the crossed-out faces... that the pictures have been framed.
- When Duck Guy points out that the twins' Spelling Song doesn't actually spell out a word, they then claim "family" is more than just a word.
- Continuity Nod:
- Duck Guy remarks that the trio go on picnics.
- Red Guy is again rejected by other Red Guys for being too unlike them.
- Creepy Family: The entire episode is focused around one. And they are quite disturbing! Aside from a skewed view of "family", they isolate Yellow Guy from his friends so he can live with them. Laser-Guided Karma kicks in when Roy appears to eat them, saving his son in the process.
- Creepy Twins: Lilly and Todney. EVERYTHING about them-their jerky movements, their wall-eyed stares, and their high-pitched creepy voices-, just make them look and sound off.
- Darker and Edgier: In stark contrast to the previous one, this episode leans mostly on horror, with small moments of comedic brevity. And the topic isn't even a morbid one!
- Disproportionate Retribution: Duck Guy toasts the youngest slice of bread child purely because their mother rejected his request to be the dad of the family.
- Dragged into Drag: Played for horror when Yellow Guy wakes up wearing pigtails and a dress, forced into the role of the family's new mother.
- Dwindling Party: The Twins slowly separate the trio until Yellow Guy is the only one left.
- Exact Words:
- Why do the Twins kidnap Yellow Guy? Because they want to order a family meal, and they're lacking a mother to round out their standard nuclear family.
- At the beginning of the episode, Duck Guy finds a bag of Chuddle Dollops in the pantry and gives Red Guy three guesses as to figure out what he discovered. Red Guy gets it right on his second try...but Duck Guy insists that he say something else, because he gave Red Guy three guesses and that means he has to use all of them.
- Family of Choice: Duck Guy already sees the trio as this at the start; with him as the father figure, Yellow Guy as the pet and Red Guy as... something, but he gets cut off before he can say what. Red Guy firmly denies this, but at the end of the episode, they agree that they are family — if only because they were all kicked out or lost their new families.
- Family Portrait of Characterization: Attempted with Red Guy's extended family.
- Fantastic Racism: Red Guy shows signs of this, believing he can't be family with Yellow Guy and Duck because "they're not even red", all the way to calling them "things". He gets better at the end when he's quick to realize the other Red Guys don't like him.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: Roy appears walking past the window a few seconds before he shows up at the door.
- Foreshadowing:
- The Twins kick Duck out of the house for holding "Mother's Piece" in the board game, saying that the piece can only be handled by Mother — despite Yellow Guy being allowed to hold it. Then we discover in the end that the Twins want to make Yellow Guy their new mom.
- When Yellow Guy has an Imagine Spot of Roy, the Twins throw him in the bin. The finale reveals that he's been "discarded" from his place of power on the show itself, with Lesley taking his place.
- Get Out!: Duck accidentally breaks the rules by grabbing the game piece that belonged to the Twin's mother. The Grandma then becomes furious and the twins agree with her that it's time for him to leave.
- The Ghost: Mother. Possibly in a very literal sense, as it's implied that Lilly and Todney ate her at their picnic.
- Godzilla Threshold: Yellow Guy crosses it when he summons Roy, his father, after being forced to become the creepy family's "mother." It's heavily implied that Yellow Guy knew that this was dangerous, given his understated reaction to Roy telling him to leave and the fact that his father devours the family whole, but he didn't see any other way to escape.
- Humble Goal: A rare negative example. The only reason why the Twins effectively kidnapped Yellow Guy and forced him to become their new mom was so their household could qualify for a family deal at a takeout restaurant.
- Insane Troll Logic: According to the twins, you aren't a real family unless you have a landline phone.
- Jump Scare: The family video is abruptly interrupted by a cut to Grandma, who, in addition to already looking extremely creepy, shrieks unintelligibly about it being "game time."
- Only Sane Man: Duck is the only one that isn't taken in by the twins' lectures about family and is fine being with Red Guy and Yellow Guy, even if they aren't "a proper family" by the twins' standards.
- Outdated Outfit: Lilly and Todney's outfits and hairstyles go for an early-70's look.
- Papa Wolf: One interpretation of Roy appearing to eat the Creepy Family is that he did so to save his son from them.
- Potty Failure: Twice. When Duck says family is just a word, Todney gets so mad he pisses himself. In the Spelling Song, both he and Lilly pee in their beds with smiles on their faces.
- Running Gag: Toward the beginning of the episode, Lilly chomps the sentient apple that was going to teach the gang about healthy snacks and throws him on the floor. He keeps showing up, still lying there and bitten and half, throughout the rest of the story.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: The episode starts off with the trio wanting to eat from a family-sized bag of Chuddle Dollops, only to be unable to get it open. At the end of the episode, they finally manage to open it... and two measly chips fall out of the bag.
- Signature Scent: Apparently, Lily and Todney’s home has their “family scent”. Yeah… Don't Ask.
- Shoo the Dog: A very cold example, but when Roy enters the family's home, instead of embracing his son, he silently yet coldly gestures for him to Get Out!
- Spelling Song: The family song appears to be this for the word "family", but by the end of it the spelled word ends up being "FAULBCHDT", and Duck clearly realizes that there is something very wrong with their grammar.Duck: That's not a word.
- Stylistic Suck: The twins' song, which has healthy doses of Rhyming with Itself, the singer straining his voice, and shoddy instrument playing. To top it all off, it starts as a Spelling Song for the word "family", but the twins go off track which results in the word becoming "FAULBCHDT".
- The Reveal: The small, childish family member is revealed to be the father, while the enormous, mature-looking one is Lilly and Todney's (possibly older teenage) brother.
- Villainous Rescue: Played-with. It looks like Roy came to save his son, but it also seems like he just wanted to eat the people keeping him hostage.
