Multiple Videos
- Every video from the WW2 videos onwards would advertise a website or MMORPG, sometimes integrating parts of the story told by the videos into the sponsoring itself, such as the idea of Winston Churchill logging on to Skillshare, an education website, to learn new skills through online courses, a lord using a Honey promo code to buy a church position, and NordVPN being mentioned in the context of information leaks.
- Whenever OverSimplified sponsors NordVPN, he always mentions how his Hitler videos are blocked in several countries.
- Now some of you might be thinking, "But OverSimplified, [X] didn't discover [subject matter]. The Vikings did." And you'd be [partially right/wrong], but hey, if you love Vikings so much, why don't you check out today's sponsor? This segues into the ad for Vikings: War of Clans game.
- Any time a group of characters are looking at an oversimplified military map one of them will comment, "Fascinating." The map itself always consists of simple arrows showing the general direction of the attack. There will also be arrows showing directions that the military never goes for.
- "This enraged his father, who punished him severely," accompanied by a picture of Alois Hitler spanking young Adolf. First used to describe every way in which Hitler's father beat him growing up, later the animation was used to show how badly Yuan Shao's army was pillaging the Eunuchs.
- The quote itself also became one later, even without Alois spanking anyone, another person would also spank in his place instead.
- This gag was even referenced in the Cold War video, where Stalin mentioned that his dad punished him severely when he was young.
- Fabius Maximus asks the Carthaginians in the Second Punic War to hand Hannibal Barca to the Romans so they could punish him severely.
- Whenever something unfortunate happens to someone behind his back, expect them to say, "Dude... uncool."
- Hamilcar Barca is interrupted by the Romans bailing before he can say the second part when he finds out they ramped up the indemnity to be paid in half the time than was initially proposed.
- "More economic downturn," used when something happens to worsen a country's financial situation, first used to describe the situation that helped lead to the Emu War.
- Any time someone is thrown into a situation in which they know This Is Gonna Suck, they always have the same Oh, Crap! exclamation."D'oOoOoOh NoOoO!"
- Someone will ask Stalin to do something, Stalin will agree, and immediately do the opposite before declaring, "If this isn't [X], I don't know what is."
- If someone gets bad news or a lot of stress dumped on them, there will be a beat before their face twists into the LOL Guy
face while they scream in panic. - The Pope is always shown counting stacks of money whenever someone asks him for permission to do something.
- One person will say, "I hear [X] is coming to kill us," get the response "Then why don't we kill them first?", and the narrator will say "And so it was" and that proceeds to happen — except in the French Revolution video, where the response is "No, you idiots, we are definitely not ready for war yet," and the person making the suggestion sheepishly asks if somebody said something.
- Any time someone riots or protests against something, they are shown pushing over a trashcan.
- Spaghetti Jeff makes his first appearance in "The War of the Bucket" as one of the candidates for Bologna Town Magistrate. After that he can be seen in a bathroom party in "King Henry VIII" and among the characters holding hands, as Orthodox Church art, on the cover of a tabloid magazine in "The Russian Revolution" and "Prohibition", as a frequent guest to Napoleon's court in "The Napoleonic Wars", in a pop-up video in "The Pig War" as part of the NordVPN sponsorship message, and among the Roman soldiers caught in various storms in "The First Punic War".
- Starting at "The Russian Revolution", someone is told not to do something, they do it anyway, and the person who forbade them says, "We're screwed."
- The Russian economy is doing great and the people are satisfied. All Tsar Nicholas II has to do is not do anything stupid... and then he brings in Grigori Rasputin.
- In the "Napoleonic Wars", Prince Alexander I tries to warn the other two leaders to not mess with Napoleon. King Frederick William III does just that.
- Several videos will casually mention that a specific historical figure accomplished something great at a relatively young age, before suggesting that the viewer move out of their parents' house or something to that effect. Taken to extremes in the Napoleon video where the narrator does this multiple times over the course of both videos.
- Whenever a leader implements military reforms or improves training, it is depicted as them correcting a soldier holding their weapon backwards, with the soldier giving a playful "oops!" for their mistake.
- Sometimes people come up with the smartest strategy for facing opposing armies: running away from the opposition.Commander: When they approach, we run... away.
Officer: Sir, you're a genius.Fabius: When [Hannibal] approaches, we run... away.
Roman Senate: (Boos him before pelting him with tomatoes) - Whenever OverSimplified brings up a conflict that causes later casualties, he always says, "Hopefully this won't cause anyone… to die!", while the faces of the opposing sides get angry eye brows, a Scare Chord plays and the background is changed to a fire animation.
- Several videos refer to a widespread debate over whether cereal is a soup.
- Many prologues start with a relevant character exhibiting Troubling Unchildlike Behavior. Napoleon and Lincoln "leave the womb" in uniform and already giving a speech, respectively, while Henry VIII as a child is already obsessed with divorce, beheadings and being the temporal authority of the church.
Exclusive to Specific Videos
- Every time there's a presidential election in the Cold War videos, the line describing it is "Americans decided they wanted a new president, who would be tough on communism. So they elected [Dwight Eisenhower/John F Kennedy/Lyndon Johnson/Richard Nixon/Ronald Reagan]." note
- Wayne Wheeler tends to release the lions on those who criticize him or the 18th amendment.
- In the video on the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln repeatedly tells General George McClellan to do something, usually because the North has an overwhelming advantage over the South, only for McClellan to let out a Little "No".
- Also in the Civil War video, there's Wilmer McLean getting annoyed by his wife Martha while he's in the middle of doing something, usually trying to escape from the war.
- In the Russian Revolution video, the Russian Tsars use rocket launchers to kill advisors who tell the Tsars that industrialization, power-sharing, and human rights are needed. When Nicholas II tries to pull this off, poop falls out of the launcher.
- Alexander Kerensky's Genre Blindness and complete inability to see anything bad coming of him just willy-nilly giving power to the wrong people.Kerensky: I did not see this coming!
- Al Capone saying "WOOAAAAAAHHHH!" in the Prohibition video whenever someone accuses him of something. First when he uses Deadly Euphemism and a reporter lampshades it multiple times, and later, when he's getting arrested for not paying his taxes.
- Napoleon being annoyed with his titular trope in the Napoleonic War videos and reminding people he was of average height for the time whenever someone calls him short.
- In the "Pig War" video:
- Charles Griffin apparently being in love with his pig, eventually culminating in a Good-Times Montage after Lyman shoots it.
- The American map maker shooting off guns every time something beneficial happens in his favor.
- The British map maker suggesting a compromise on land division, which the American map maker recognizes as fair and equitable before vehemently rejecting it anyway and punching out the British map maker.
- In the "Second Punic War" videos:
- A few scenes have a Roman character recognizing that the Carthaginians have set a trap, with other Roman characters falling for it knowing it's one.
- While Hannibal is conferencing with his commanders, one will point out a dangerous and impractical option to get past Roman forces (crossing the Alps in winter, fording the Arno marshes), but there's no way Hannibal would be crazy enough to take that route, right? There's a beat as Hannibal is silent before the nervous commander asks what he's thinking, then a Smash Cut to Hannibal leading his army down that dangerous route.
- The logistical nightmare that was the Crossing of the Alps is represented several times as the icy cliff faces crumbling under the feet of the Carthaginians, sending them falling to their deaths. This culminates in a scene where Hannibal tempts fate repeatedly, ending with all the soldiers around him dead and him standing on a cliff a third of its former size.
