Recap / Dr. Crafty Season 2 Month 5: Fighting Month

Dr. Crafty Recap Index
Season:
Season 1 | Season 2 | Season 3 | Season 4
Month:
#1: Season 2 Premiere Month | #2: Fakémon Month | #3: Nintendo Month
#4: Beach Month | #5: Fighting Month | #6: Yu-Gi-Oh Month
Bonus Content:
Season 2 Patreon Episodes | Season 2 Promotional Videos

Airing Range: 8/1/18 - 8/23/18

This month is unified by the fundamental idea of fighting. In a loving shout-out to Death Battle, Crafty and Nurse hold a contest on the main show, in which one of two characters per episode will succeed the other in battle. The spin-offs, meanwhile, cover fighting game characters of all sorts.

Tropes Applicable to the Month as a whole:

• Foreshadowing: The thumbnails for the main show's episodes this month are all Versus Character Splash screens depicting the characters who will be duking it out. Nurse and Crafty stand before who they're debating for, and they both interchangeably appear on the left and right sides of the images. The winner of each episode's debate is always on the left, with two victories going to Nurse and Crafty each.
• Let's You and Him Fight: For this month, each art piece from the main show depicts two characters fighting against each other. As the art is being prepared, Crafty and Nurse root for one of the combatants as they debate on who would win.

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Chara-Cafe E5: "Best Skullgirl"

Air Date: 8/1/18

Not wanting to miss out on Halloween like he did last Season, Crafty prepares for the holiday several months in advance. It's all the better, too, for he and Pepper are preparing a Skullgirls character based on a holiday that commonly intersects with Halloween.

Tropes Found in This Episode:

• Calacas: The design used for the Skullgirls fan-character is a skeleton that embodies the Mexican Day of the Dead.
• Call-Back: Crafty's early Halloween festivities in this episode are a direct answer to how late he was to air Season 1's Halloween episodes.
• Halloween Episode: This episode counts as an early Halloween episode, despite coming out in July. Crafty explains that he wants to celebrate Halloween early to make up for celebrating it late in the last season.
• Jerkass Has a Point: After Pepper's candy is stolen, Jedah drops by and serenades Pepper with an advertisement of his services. When she asks if he can get her candy back, Jedah declines. He's clearly just doing so to revel in Pepper's disappointment, but he is just a lawyer. Legally, it's not his place to interfere. Pepper offers nothing but a resigned sigh as Jedah leaves.
• Lame Pun Reaction: To start off the episode, Pepper tries being witty with a pun, which doesn't stick the landing for Crafty. Then she tries salvaging her attempt with another pun, but that just makes Crafty more annoyed.
  Crafty: I've been... dying to get started on this one. Pepper, take it away!
  Pepper: Abs-SKULL-loutely!
  Crafty: ... Really?
  Pepper: Ehehe... Sorry. That joke didn't have a ghost of a chance at landing, did it?
  Crafty: Just... just get to the art.
  Pepper: R-right away!
• Misplaced Retribution: Ryu and Ken want to make Crafty pay for not choosing Street Fighter for this month's Chara-Cafe concoction, so they opt to steal his Halloween candy stash. They end up making off with Pepper's instead, something that she's more upset about than she lets on.
• What the Hell, Hero?: After Pepper's candy stash gets stolen, Crafty immediately starts stuffing his face with his own right in front of Pepper. He does it twice, and during the second time, Pepper calls him out by name, doing so noticeably more assertively and defensively than she usually acts.

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Top Ten Tub E5: "Fighting Game Characters!"

Air Date: 8/1/18

Messi coaches Crafty to deal with the entries on this month's top ten list, which he'll have to fight all the way to the top to complete.

This episode's list contains the following:

• 10. Yoshimitsu
• 9. Leo Whitefang
• 8. Peacock
• 7. Morrigan Aensland
• 6. Elphelt Valentine
• 5. Nine the Phantom
• 4. Hakan
• 3. Jack
• 2. Jedah Dohma
• 1. Dr. Coyle

Tropes Found in This Episode:

• Graceful Loser: While Crafty is usually anything but a graceful loser, he makes an exception when he willingly loses a fight against the fighter taking the number 1 spot on this episode's list: Doctor Coyle.

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Main Show E43: "Banjo-Kazooie VS Yooka-Laylee"

Air Date: 8/2/18

The first clash of the month involves two collectathon platformer character duos, one of which is a direct successor to the other.

Tropes Found in This Episode:

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Main Show E44: "D.Va (Overwatch) VS Mechanica (ARMS)"

Air Date: 8/9/18

The next clash involves two young mech pilots, one of which being a mechanic and the other being a gamer-turned-soldier.

Tropes Found in This Episode:

• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Nurse is nonplussed by D.Va's backstory, specifically the fact that the Korean government enlisted professional video game players to pilot their mechs.

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Main Show E45: "Dio (Jojo) VS Alucard (Hellsing)"

Air Date: 8/16/18

This clash involves two very different vampires from two intense and combat-packed franchises.

Tropes Found in This Episode:

• Last-Second Word Swap: When talking about Alucard, Crafty almost says he has a gigantic dick, but he catches himself and says "ego" instead. Nurse still gets aroused by the statement, though.
• Reduced to Dust: Alucard fades to dust at the end of the episode. He even mentions "Infinity War" shortly before he dies.
• To Be Continued... Right Now: The fight between Dio and Alucard at the end stops on a JoJo-style "To be continued" screen, just as the art finishes. The scene picks up again immediately before the episode ends.

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Main Show E46: "Yugi (Yugioh) vs. Sakura (Cardcaptors)"

Air Date: 8/23/18

With failures mounting, Crafty gets a little bit desperate to win this final Death Debate. This one involves two card-game-playing protagonists.

Tropes Found in This Episode:

• Cliffhanger: The episode includes an extra scene after the end card, in which Nurse finds a package addressed to someone named Greta. She's even more taken aback when she finds that the sender called themself "Mom." Both pieces of information triggers a sinister flashback in which Nurse finds herself laying before a crazed, silhouetted figure digging through her exposed insides. When the flashback ends, Nurse becomes possessed by the spirit of the Millenium Ring inside of the package, leading into the events of the subsequent Yu-Gi-Oh Month.
• Sore Loser: "Yugi vs. Sakura" ends Fighting Month's Death Debate episodes with Crafty and Nurse's bets coming to a draw. Crafty simply can't accept the results even after Nurse thoroughly explains their justification, so he claims himself the winner by default, just so he and Nurse wouldn't be tied. This causes Nurse's temper with him to boil over once again, and she ends the episode chasing him down.
  Crafty: All right! The winner has been decided! Nurse will you please read the results from that conveniently placed envelope?
  Nurse: Yes. The winner is.... Sakura!
  Crafty: WWWWHAAAAAAT?!?!
  Nurse: It's true, Doctor. Sakura's deck of cards is much more versatile in the types of magic it can cast and isn't as limited in use as Yugi's. While Yugi and Sakura both have many counters to each other's cards, Yugi's cards are almost all single-uses, while Sakura can reuse cards. Yugi's deck is built around creating defenses with spells and traps, and then having his monsters power through. He's often been pushed into a corner by opponents, but found a way around their strategies. However, in this case, he's dealing with an opponent with a much wider offensive arsenal that can wear Yugi's limited defense down.
  Crafty: B-B-BUT, but-but, but that's—!
  Nurse: Then there's also the bit that shouldn't be ignored: Yugi's deck, while formidable, is still based around the rules of Duel Monsters, which restrict and prohibit what he can do with them. Sakura's Cloud Cards are under no such restrictions, meaning she can use them however she pleases and cast them whenever she needs to!
  Crafty: But... she's a TINY CHILD!
  Nurse: Hmph! Do not underestimate her! Sakura is also more physically athletic than Yugi is, having outsped the Fly Card's airspeed in roller skates, and even climb a vertical reach to get on top of it—and this was only when she had the Windy Card on hand to combat it with.
  Crafty: I am speechless.... Nurse Worse, bring out the scoreboard.
  Nurse: Very well!
  [The Death Debate scoreboard descends from the ceiling, and Yugi and Sakura arrive onscreen as well.]
  Crafty: Let me just say that this has been an honor to meet the both of you.
  Yugi: While I am a little stunned at the results, you can't win them all!
  Sakura: It was a pleasure dueling you!
  Yugi: Likewise!
  Crafty: Yes, of course... But, actually, it's come to my attention that the results are wrong! Yes! Very wrong indeed! And this week's winner is actually you, Yugi! I used my veto power to determine that you deserve this medal of honor!
  Everyone Else: Wait, what?!
  Crafty: Well, Nurse and I can't very well be tied. Someone has to win. So, if it means satisfying the audience—and myself—I think I can just let this one slide.
  Nurse: Ohhhhh, no. Nononono. Ohhhh no. You are not going to do this, Doctor! This girl won fair and square!
  Crafty: Did she, though? It's my show, so I get to say what goes!
  Nurse: I am DONE dealing with this! COME HERE, YOU!
  Crafty WAIT, NOOOO!!
  [Crafty makes a run for it off-screen as Nurse closes in on him. Cartoonish beating noises play from offscreen. Yugi and Sakura watch the altercation.]
  Yugi: You should really come by my grandpa's card shop soon! I would love to meet you and your friends.
  Sakura: Sure thing! I'll see you around, Yugi! I have to go meet them, actually. Isn't friendship awesome?
  Yugi: It's the best! Too bad for these two, though.

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