The first in a long, long series.
The Matchmaker
When Wander finds a love letter to Lord Dominator, he assumes it's written by Lord Hater and makes it his mission to deliver it to her. But Sylvia, worried for what will happen if they walk straight up to Dominator or even Dominator Bots, keeps distracting Wander with various tasks, one after the other, but he manages to resist every task.
Tropes appearing in The Matchmaker
- Added Alliterative Appeal:Sylvia: Wander, why would you want to get those two terrible terrors together?
- An Aesop: Be straightforward with your friends if you think they're doing the wrong thing; it could be a miscommunication.
- Art Shift: After running through the mysterious door, Sylvia and Wander are subjected to a number of these, including 8-bit, old-timey rubberhose, and Kaiju.
- Babies Ever After: Wander’s idea of Dominator and Hater’s potential children isn’t a far stretch from what Hater imagined them as in “The Battle Royale", only that they all form a Band of Relatives.Imaginary Hater: Daddy strums hard-Imaginary Dominator: -Mama strums right-
- Bad "Bad Acting": Sylvia does this to make it seem like Something the So-and-So is a diabolical villain that Wander has to stop. Wander's response to this? See Leaning on the Fourth Wall below.
- Balloon Belly: Sylvia gets one after eating a bunch of food at the diner.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Wander shows it halfway through the episode; when he realizes Sylvia is trying to stop him from delivering the letter, he completely drops the goody-two-shoes outlook and goes to complete fury. When Wander leaves Sylvia be at the cafe and she chases him, Wander is even clearly annoyed as he tries to accomplish his task.
- Break the Cutie: Wander becomes furious in the third half when he ignores Sylvia's diversions and realizes she's trying to stop him from delivering the letter.
- Broken Smile: Sylvia delivers one of these after learning Wander was just going to put the love letter in the mailbox the whole time. Followed by Faint in Shock.
- The Cameo:
- Hater and Peepers briefly appear in "The Wrong Characters".
- Something the So-and-So appears under the title "The Surprise Villain".
- Continuity Nod:
- Sylvia uses a bunch of brochures from previous spots they visited in "The Tourist" to distract Wander from delivering the letter, and also references Balzaria X from "The Ball".
- Sylvia also tries to distract Wander with various quests that they had already done in past episodes. A lost sock ("The Epic Quest"), a lost baby ("The Toddler"), wondering what's in a box ("The Box"), Sylvia being thirsty and needing a drink ("The Nice Guy"). Complete with title cards hanging a lampshade on it.
- Wander and Sylvia end up going through another inter-dimensional door.
- Many of the other title cards are parody references to older episodes, such as "The Dark Ages" for "The Hero".
- Determinator: NOTHING stops Wander from delivering Hater's letter to Dominator. When Sylvia tries to distract him with a bunch of quests and tourist spots, Wander either immediately solves them all or brushes them off, all while walking toward Dominator's bots.
- Episode Title Card: Used as a Running Gag, as each plot point gets one of its own. There are over 30 of them by the end.
- Evil Doppelgänger: Wander and Sylvia briefly turn into evil twisted versions of themselves with a title "The Nega-Doppelgangers" appearing.
- Exact Words: When Wander finds the letter, he only says he wants to deliver it to Dominator. He never said he wanted to give it to her in person.
- Eyedscreen: Wander gets one when being encouraged by Sylvia to fight Something the So-and-So as a diversion to distract him from delivering the letter, but he immediately snaps out.
- Foreshadowing: Wander is at one point shown looking at a map. It would be difficult to find robots on a map, but much more easy to find a post office.
- Fountain of Youth: While running through different dimensions due to the mysterious door, Sylvia and Wander briefly shift into babies. Inverted when immediately afterward, they turn into elderly versions of themselves.
- Gender Bender: While running through different dimensions, Sylvia and Wander briefly have their genders flipped. While this is happening, the title "The Swap" appears.
- Genre Savvy: Wander knows better than to just drop the letter straight to Dominator's ship or to walk right up to her robots. He was just going to put it in a mail slot.
- Humongous Mecha: Wander and Sylvia turn into giant robots with the title "The Mechs" appearing.
- Inkblot Cartoon Style: Wander and Sylvia are drawn as black-and-white rubber hose cartoon characters in "The Oldsy Timesy"
- Kaiju: Wander and Sylvia briefly turn into giant monsters and stomp through a city with a title card reading, "The Kaiju".
- With "the" in katakana.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall:Wander: Excuse me, Mr. So-and-So? Normally I would spend at least 11 minutes on this sort of thing, but since love is compelling me toward another quest, I'd just like to ask: is this really what you want to do with your life?
- Love Letter: Obviously. With Sylvia attempting to foil the delivery, this escalates to Love Letter Lunacy.
- The Matchmaker: Title Drop aside, Wander is upgraded to this trope from Shipper on Deck now that Hater is attracted to Dominator.
- Medium-Shift Gag: After running through the mysterious door, at one point, Wander and Sylvia shift into live-action with their voice actors in their place and the title "The ???" appearing.
- Mood Whiplash: When Sylvia convinces Wander to fight Something the So-and-So, Wander looks determined with an Eyed Screen, ready to strike, as the dramatic music swells... then the music suddenly stops as he politely declines it.
- Never Say "Die": Averted during Wander's Wham Line below.
- Only Sane Man: Sylvia continues to be this, knowing two evil overlords hooking up could lead to even bigger mass destruction.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When Wander begins to suspect Sylvia is sidetracking him, he immediately drops every single trace of Cloudcuckoolander and The Pollyanna and starts showing shades of annoyance and near-complete fury.
- Plot Detour: Invoked by Sylvia. She's having Wander do Loads And Loads Of Side Quests to get him Sidetracked by the Gold Saucer. Naturally, he keeps resisting.
- Poor Communication Kills: Wander just wanted to put the love letter in the mailbox, not deliver it to Dominator directly. This is lampshaded by "The Wacky Misunderstanding" appearing above Sylvia after he does so.
- Rage Breaking Point: Wander nearly loses it when he realizes Sylvia is trying to distract him.
- Running Gag: The title "The Matchmaker" constantly appearing, followed by alternate titles based on what is trying to distract Wander from delivering the letter.
- Schmuck Bait: Sylvia uses loads of these in an attempt to stop Wander from delivering the letter. He resists every one.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story:
- In "The Epilogue" when Lord Dominator finally gets the letter, it turns out to be more of a "Do you like me? Check Yes or No" note. Unfortunately, she doesn't know who it's from since it doesn't actually have Lord Hater's name on it.
- And earlier, it turns out Wander was actually going to put the letter in a mailbox, instead of give it to Dominator in person. Lampshaded by the title "The Wacky Misunderstanding".
- Shout-Out:
- Wander and Sylvia trapped in a trash compacter aboard Lord Hater's ship is a Shout-Out to Star Wars: A New Hope
- Sylvia tries to distract Wander by suggesting a trip to find lost antiques, but Wander declines by saying they will just end up in a temple, solving a bunch of riddles, dodging poison darts, and being chased by a giant boulder.
- Wander turns down Sylvia's offer of a ghost hunt, saying it'll probably turn out to be Old Man Jenkins in disguise.
- Sylvia's first attempt to sidetrack Wander is to hop aboard a train hurtling through space.
- The way title cards are used is somewhat reminiscent of the Canis Latinicus scientific names for Wile E Coyote And The Roadrunner.
- Spinoff Babies: Spoofed when Wander and Sylvia appear as babies in carriages in "The Babies".
- Title Drop: Parodied when the title repeatedly appears to sometimes finish Wander's sentence.
- Tranquil Fury: Wander barely raises his voice upon realizing Sylvia is distracting him.
- Wham Line:Wander: Whoa, whoa, whoa! Sylvia, are you nuts? We can't just go up to Dominator's bots, we'll get killed!
(He sneaks past Dominator's robots and drops the letter in a mailbox)
Wander: I was just gonna put it in the mail.
Not available at a toy store near you.
The New Toy
In their latest plan to stop Lord Dominator, Peepers invents a ray that freezes anything, or even anyone. However, Hater's new crush on Dominator constantly gets in the way as he tries recklessly to get her to notice him in his new ride, HateRV.
Tropes appearing in The New Toy
- Abhorrent Admirer: Dominator reacts in disgust when Hater expresses "I love you!"Dominator: Ugh, I know.
- Abnormal Ammo: The HateRV can shoot pizzas.
- Art Shift: Hater's video presenting the HateRV shows a live-action gloved hand holding action figures of Hater and Dominator.
- Awesome, but Impractical: The HateRV. It can't fly that high off the ground, can't even float that well on water, and the weapons tend to have high backlash.
- Boring, but Practical: Hater considers Peepers's more sensible plan this, which is simply to blast Dominator at a close range.
- Circling Monologue: Dominator does a variation of this when she's seducing Hater into surrendering the HateRV and Frostonium weapon.
- Comically Missing the Point: When the froztonium is used against his ship, foiling their victory, Hater's gushing about how Dominator likes his car.
- Cool and Unusual Punishment: The end credits show Lord Hater using a hair dryer to melt the ice off the Skullship while the Watchdogs watch. When he stops to take a breath, Peepers angrily points a demanding finger at him and Hater continues working.
- Cool Car: Hater’s vehicle, the HateRV. Only Hater thinks it's cool.
- Dating Catwoman: Peepers makes it clear that hitting on Dominator falls into this category.
- Defeat Means Friendship: In Hater's recreation of his plan with the HateRV, he hopes "defeat means marriage".
- Failure Is the Only Option: No matter what Peepers does to try and destroy Dominator, Hater's actions foil them.
- Foreshadowing: Dominator being "wooed" by the H.A.T.E.R.V. as well as her response to Hater's love. She doesn't really love him, she's manipulating him.
- Freeze Ray: The froztonium weapon, which is meant to be used on Dominator. Dominator uses it on Hater's ship instead.
- Fun with Acronyms: H.A.T.E.R.V stands for “Hater's Amazing Totally Excellent Rampage Vehicle”.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Dominator plays on Hater's desire to impress her to not only take the keys to his car, but also the "gift" froztonium weapon.
- Ironic Echo: "I love you." "I know."
- Love Makes You Dumb: Yeah, Hater, giving the car keys to your biggest enemy didn't work out that well, did it? Especially giving her the weapon that Peepers meant to destroy her ship.
- Medium-Shift Gag: The ad for the HateRV is done in live-action. The live-action was done by Stoopid Buddy Studios, best known for Robot Chicken.
- Parody Commercial: Hater's spot for the HateRV is done in the style of commercials for toys from Merchandise-Driven shows from The '80s.
- Pretentious Pronunciation: Hater pronounces the H.A.T.E.R.V. as "Hate RV". When Peepers points out it should technically be pronounced as "Haterv", Hater insists on the former.Peepers: We are not building a...the Haterv!
Hater: You're saying it wrong, "Hate RV"! - Rattling Off Legal: The H.A.T.E.R.V. commercial narration ends with Lord Hater rapidly stating "Potential choking hazard for Kremlons and Binglebops."
- Shout-Out: Twice in the episode, Hater strikes the same pose as Speed Racer in his title sequence.
- When Hater tells her he loves her, Dominator replies "I know" like Han Solo, except in a disgusted tone. This is also an Ironic Echo that refers back to the HateRV commercial where their roles are reversed.
- The HateRV shoots pizzas like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Pizza Thrower toy (and in turn, a Chicken Run toy that reused the mold).
- Something Else Also Rises: Hater's hood when Dominator strokes his chin during his attempt to impress her with the HateRV.
- Spanner in the Works: Hater messes up Peepers's plans four times while trying to impress Dominator.
- Sure, Let's Go with That: When Hater asks if the freeze ray is a "cool gift" for Dominator, after a few seconds, Peepers says, "Yes. It's a gift. A very cool gift."
- Time for Plan B: Peepers has plenty of Plan Bs, Cs, and Ds. The initial plan was to storm Dominator's ship as it was refueling. When that didn't work, he tried for an air strike. When that didn't work, he attempted climbing up to her ship. Finally, he thinks to use Hater to sneak in the weapon close to her. This would've worked if he hadn't trusted Hater to be the one to detonate the device rather than doing it remotely.
- Trojan Horse: Peepers's Plan D was to have Hater drive up the HateRV with the froztonium weapon, and then he would blast her, on the pretense of delivering it as a "gift". It doesn't go well.
- Unreadable Disclaimer: The H.A.T.E.R.V. commercial ends with a glamour shot of the toy with a small disclaimer beneath:WARNING: This is not a real toy. This will NEVER be a real toy. It is both insanely dangerous and commercially unsound. Lord Hater is neither a licensed toy designer or engineer. Please do not try to build or bootleg this toy yourself.
- The Vamp: Dominator strikes a sexy pose and uses a Supermodel Strut to trick Hater into giving her the HateRV's car keys.
- Villain Episode: Hater and Peepers, with Dominator as the "antagonist."
- Watch the Paint Job: Poor HateRV.
- Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Peepers tries to do this while Dominator is refueling her ship, but the problem is that the froztonium gun isn't a long-range weapon and they can't get close enough to Dominator to fire.
- Would Hit a Girl: Peepers definitely would, except he never gets the chance.
