Two scoops of pixels in every scene
Lrrr, RULER OF OMICRON PERSEI VIII, is once again having problems with Ndnd. Kicked out of his castle, he finds refuge on Earth, and undergoes a mid-life crisis.
Tropes
- Ambiguous Situation: Did Lrrr kill J.J. Abrams, or was his face on display at Comic-Con?
- An Arm and a Leg: Lrrr tears off one of Kif's legs and eats it after Zapp offers him up as a sacrifice.
- Author's Saving Throw: In-Universe. After Leela criticizes Fry's Delivery Boy Man comic on the basis the titular Delivery Boy Man is an Invincible Hero with thirty-something powers, Fry revises the comic so Delivery Boy Man has no powers in an attempt to make him more relatable. This revised edition doesn't go over particularly well either, as Delivery Boy Man has become a Failure Hero who fails to save comic-Leela from being vaporized. The third edition fixes that problem by having Delivery Boy Man Taking the Bullet for Leela, which goes over much better with her.
- Blatant Lies: Lrrr's fake invasion of Earth is this with Fry's help. The "invasion" is done with the use of building blocks, toy cars, and trains, and the head of Orson Welles. The invasion broadcast is so obvious on its deception that logically no one would fall for it. However everyone did anyway including Ndnd.
- Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: Some of the talking ads in a digital comic book make an interesting list.Man Carrying Trunk: Throw your voice!
Sea Monkey: Sea monkeys!
Strongman: Throw your sea monkeys! - Brick Joke: At the Comicon, Lrrr's only success is that he buys J.J. Abrams' face for Ndnd, who complains there's no point to it, since he never takes her anywhere she can wear it. When they attend a play about how the Omicronians took over Earth, she uses it as a lorgnette.
- Celebrity Cameo: Sergio Aragonés appears as himself at the convention.
- Chekhov's Gun: Quite literal, in this case. In the beginning Farnsworth confesses that the vaporizing guns sold on the back of comic books are actually Teleport Guns. This comes in handy later on when Fry is hit with one.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: In her own way, Ndnd does not like anyone else bossing her husband around. She tries to make Lrrr choose between her or Leela and the one he doesn't choose will die.
- Continuity Nod: When Lrrr and Leela meet at Comicon, Leela nonchalantly remarks that Lrrr once tried to eat her, as seen in "The Problem With Popplers".
- Creator Cameo: Matt Groening and David X. Cohen appear as their own heads during Comicon.
- A Day in the Limelight: For Lrrr; the episode focuses on his mid-life crisis and failing marriage to Ndnd.
- Deus ex Machina: In the final revision of Delivery Boy Man, the titular hero tries to take a disintegrator shot for Leela, but jumps too early and misses his cue. A random asteroid then comes out of nowhere and kills the villain before he can take another shot. Subverted, as this is apparently an ability of Delivery Boy Man.Leelis Lane: Oh, Delivery Boy Man! You saved me by random chance!
Delivery Boy Man: Don't thank random chance. Thank my meteor-wishing power. - Disney Death: Fry's Heroic Sacrifice by taking a hit from a vaporizer, which turned out to be a teleporter.
- Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: Ndnd's domestic abuse of Lrrr through hitting him on the head with a frying pan so hard that it sticks to him is not taken seriously and is Played for Laughs. Leela and Bender do not see this as an issue with Bender giving both Leela and Ndnd frying pans to use on Lrrr.
- Double Standard Rape: Female on Male: Lrrr getting date-raped by a "cross-species-dresser" (a human woman in a incredibly convincing Omicronian costume) is Played for Laughs.
- Gone Horribly Right: The plan to get Ndnd to take Lrrr back by faking his conquest of Earth. Zapp overheard the fake broadcast, thought it was real, and surrender Earth's defenses to Lrrr, thus making his conquest real.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Ndnd. Whenever someone other than her nags Lrrr, she becomes highly jealous and possessive. This happens with Leela when she decides to nag Lrrr only to face Ndnd's wrath and jealousy.
- Humiliation Conga: Lrrr is on the receiving end for this due to botching an invasion at the comic con, was mistaken for a contestant, was domestically abused and kicked out by Ndnd, suffers a midlife crisis, is sexually assaulted by a human woman he contemplated having an affair with, is caught in a lie that was not really his due to Fry's involvement, and is forced to shoot someone.
- Idiot Houdini: Fry qualifies for suggesting a fake alien invasion in order to help Lrrr reunite with Ndnd. He ends up getting Earth conquered and enslaved by the Omicronians and places Lrrr in a compromising position with his wife.
- Invincible Hero: In-Universe; Leela points out there's no real peril to Fry's Delivery Boy Man comic as the title character, with thirty-something superpowers, is never in any real danger.
- Jerkass:
- Ndnd acts like a Spoiled Brat in the episode, forcing Lrrr to conquer Earth for her and then when Lrrr botches it, Ndnd domestically abuses him with frying pan, kicks him out, and causes him to undergo a midlife crisis.
- Bender as he hands frying pans out to Leela and Ndnd to sadistically use on Lrrr.
- Leela qualifies for also making Lrrr's midlife crisis worse by telling Lrrr to be fully submissive to his wife, verbally abusing him by yelling at him and calling him a crybaby, and even contemplating the use of a frying pan to assault him.
- Karma Houdini: Several in this episode:
- Ndnd does not receive any repercussions for her poor treatment of Lrrr, including hitting him on the head with a frying pan so hard that it nearly kills him, kicking him out of the house, refusing to take him back until he invades a planet, and forcing him to shoot Leela. She never apologizes to Lrrr for her terrible behavior either.
- Bender qualifies for making Lrrr's midlife crisis worse such as attempting to convince Lrrr to ditch Ndnd and have an affair as well as encouraging Ndnd and Leela to hit Lrrr with frying pans.
- Mail-Order Novelty: Fry's comic book includes mail-order ads for X-ray specs, Sea Monkeys, and Professor Farnsworth's novelty "Disintegration Ray" (actually a Teleport Gun, which is considered cheap garbage relative to the tech of the 31st century).
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Fry, Leela, and Bender all qualify as their attempts to help Lrrr get out of his midlife crisis and repair his marriage with Ndnd only make things worse for themselves and for Lrrr. Bender's help in getting Lrrr to embrace his youth only leads to him having a fling with a cross species dresser who rapes him. Leela and Fry on the other hand inadvertently get Earth invaded and enslaved by the Omicronians when they try to get Lrrr to reconcile with Ndnd by giving Ndnd what she wants. All three of the protagonists almost ruin Lrrr and Ndnd's marriage through their actions.
- Royal Brat: Ndnd. She demands Lrrr to conquer a planet for her but when he tries to do so only to botch it and end up being humiliated, Ndnd beats him up and kicks him out. She only takes him back when Lrrr gets Earth for her.
- Sadistic Choice: Lrrr is forced to choose between shooting his wife Ndnd and Leela, who helped reignite his marriage to Ndnd to begin with. He shoots Leela, but Fry takes the shot for her.
- Self-Parody: At Comic-Con, Matt Groening and David X. Cohen present their new animated show set 1000 years in the future. Fox cancels it before it even gets past the logo.
- Series Continuity Error: When Lrrr is chatting up Grrl at the nightclub, he claims that he got his signature cape by murdering his father, who was last seen alive and well and ragging on Lrrr at the poker tournament in Into the Wild Green Yonder.
- Lrrr could have lied to impress Grrl. He's certainly not above that. Or he might have murdered his father after the tournament, taking a cape of his father's that matches his own. He's not above that, either.
- Shmuck Bait: After Futurella is cancelled during its preview, the robot next to the crew of the show states that Matt Groening's head will now be taking questions, but requests they only be about Futurella and not about The Simpsons. Despite this, Bender asks when there's going to be a second Simpsons movie. Matt then exasperatedly shoots him.
- Shout-Out:
- Urrmrmrfrr or Consequences, otherwise known as Truth or Consequences.
- Orson Welles complaining about Fry's script is a reference to the infamous Frozen Peas commercial.
- When Fry mentions calling Orson, Bender paraphrases Mork of Mork & Mindy and his catchphrase ("Dork calling Orson, dork calling Orson.")
- Something Else Also Rises: Inverted. When Bender sees a fold-out of a naked Omicronian woman, his eyes flop.
- Stylistic Suck: Fry's Delivery Boy Man comic. Besides the bad artwork, the hero is incapable of being well-rounded, no matter what Fry does to try and fix his character.
- Take That!: While the heads of Matt Gorening and David X.Cohen show off their new show "Futurella" at Comic-Con, it suddenly gets cancelled only seconds into the intro, with Matt commenting that "Fox really streamlined the process."
- Taking the Bullet: Fry takes a hit from a Disintegrator Ray aimed at Leela. Fortunately, it was actually a Teleport Gun.
- That Makes Me Feel Angry: Ndnd tells Lrrr that she is experiencing arousal.
- The Unfair Sex: While Ndnd acts nasty to Lrrr with her domestic abuse and terrible behavior towards Lrrr, the episode treats Lrrr as the one in the wrong due to his botched invasion of Earth and that he failed to provide Ndnd things she was entitled too. He is the one who makes amends while Ndnd's behavior and domestic abuse is swept under the rug.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Lrrr's family life is the focus of the episode but Lrrr's son, Jrrr does not appear in the episode even though the Poppler crisis Jrrr was involved in was mentioned due to Leela saying that she was in Lrrr's mouth for 5 minutes.
- Whole-Plot Reference: The faked invasion is one both in and out of universe to the old The War of the Worlds broadcast that caused a panic.
- Who Writes This Crap?!: Orson Welles complains about Fry's poorly written scenario. He's bribed into compliance with a cheese log.
- Your Costume Needs Work: Lrrr invades Earth during the costume contest at the San Diego ComicCon and is mistaken for another contestant.
