Aja wakes up excited to start her first day of Warrior Training but is less then thrilled about Vex's first lesson, the art of patience. Meanwhile Krel wants to win a science fair so he can find intellectual equals. All seems normal until an evil Troll with trickster magic manages to keep resetting the day when he adds his powers to Akiridion tech.
Tropes:
- An Aesop: Patience is a virtue. Running in without a plan will get you nowhere.
- Borrowed Catchphrase: Showing that not everything was undone 100%, the Tarrons and The Trollhunters say each others catchphrases after bumping into one another at the end of the episode.
- Brick Joke: In "Terra Incognita Part Two", Miss Janet is accustomed to grading baking soda volcanoes in the science fair. Here, with the exception of Krel and Steve, everyone brought a volcano. This is likely part of the reason why Steve wins the science fair as the proliferation of baking soda volcanoes caused Miss Janet to become so frustrated that she was inclined to award the prize to the first person without one, no matter how ridiculous it was.
- Crossover: Its the first official episode where the cast of 3 Below and Trollhunters team up to stop a common enemy (the first episode they meet casually being the Trollhunters episode "In Good Hands"). Canonically, this is also the first time they officially meet, happening before the events of "In Good Hands".
- Dangerous Phlebotinum Interaction: The prankster troll's magic combined with the energy-absorbing Akiridion tech make time reset to the point where the troll first grabbed it.
- Does Not Know His Own Strength: When Varvatos gives his heartfelt speech to Aja, he grasps Jim's shoulder affectionately only for Jim to wince in pain from it.
- For the Evulz: Porgon is described as being a tricker that uses his magic to cause chaos for the thrill of it.
- "Groundhog Day" Loop: The whole episode is this. Jim is the first one who remembers thanks to his amulet, followed by Aja when she uses her shield. Jim comments that he had repeated the day thirty times on Aja's third restart. Bumping into Aja for the first time during one of Jim's resets keeps her in the planetarium long enough to see the attack and use her serrator shield so she also starts remembering the loop.
- Hypocritical Humor: Varvatos calls Blinky a "multi-eyed monster" despite having 2 pairs of eyes.
- In Spite of a Nail: Shannon's volcano gets destroyed in every time loop.
- Leeroy Jenkins: Aja's main flaw in this episode is her inability to be patient.
- Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Aja's Deflector Shield not only protects her from all physical damage, but it also protects her from the effects of the time loop, allowing her to remember everything that happened.
- Mental Time Travel: The Amulet of Daylight and the Deflector Shield are able to shield Jim and Aja from the amnesiac effects of the time-loop, allowing them to remember the past timeline when it resets. They are also able to protect the memories of the rest of the group when crowded together.
- Mistaken for Aliens: Varvatos immediately assumes that Blinky and AAARRRGGHH!!! are bounty hunters and attacks.
- Nepotism: Implied. Steve's traffic cone volcano wins, due to Coach Lawrence (who's dating Steve's mom) being one of the judges.
- Object Ceiling Cling: The pancakes Lucy makes, though no one minds and all happily eat them when they eventually come back down.
- Playing with Fire: Much of Porgon's magic involves this, usually throwing fireballs and throwing flaming trees.
- Reset Button: After stopping the troll has exposed the identities of both sets of protagonists, to each other and everyone else, Krel uses one final reset which will destroy the device before the troll can ever take it. This protects their identities, but also erases the memories of all involved.
- Running Gag: Shannon keeps having her volcano broken in each loop, in spite of the efforts taken by the main characters to avoid that fate.
- Status Quo Is God: Krel & Aja and the Trollhunters discover each other's secret identities and proceed to team up in order to defeat a troll who has been starting time loops by combining its trickster magic with a piece of Akiridion tech; while they are victorious in the end, they end up accidentally exposing themselves to various citizens. Krel is forced to set said technology to turn back time one final time which will result in it self-destructing before the troll can find it, meaning that the events of the episode will have never transpired and neither team will have found out each other's secret identities.
- The Story That Never Was: After both their secrets have been very publicly undone, Krel uses the deceon charger to reset the time loop one last time, rigging the charger to detonate the moment Porgon finds it, thus undoing the "Groundhog Day" Loop and all the the memories the Trollhunters and Akiridians have gained from the experience.
