Sandbox / Nuclear Sheep

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Colin

• Brainy Brunette: A Scholarship Student because of his maths skills.
• The Defroster: To both Joel and Noah.
• Nice Guy: To the point of even being described as such by Julia in-universe.

Noah

• Absent Animal Companion: His dog Freddy only appeared on-screen in season 26 and is only mentioned once in season 27. In
• Commitment Issues: Noah is afraid of getting into a relationship with Colin because he fears it'll end like his parents marriage.
• Love Confessor: Confesses his love for Colin to Ava while they're both locked in the basement.

Noah & Colin

• First Love: Noah and Colin for each other, with both of them saying they've never been in love before.
• Foreshadowing: In episode 1053, Noah claims that love ruins everything. Two episodes later, Colin talks to Noah about his romantic feelings for him, leading to Noah lashing out at him and Colin leaving the school.

Colin & Joel

• Big Damn Hug: Joel runs after Colin and they share one last hug before Colin leaves for Cologne.
• Friendship Moment: Episode 1056 has Joel desperately trying to keep Colin from leaving, even to the point of trying to build a dividing wall in their room to physically seperate him from Noah.

Noah & Joel

• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Joel calls Noah out because he made Colin leave the school and doesn't even have the courage to say goodbye to him.
• Misdirected Outburst: Noah lashes out at Joel but, as Ava puts it, he's actually angry because he made Colin leave.

Joel

• Character Development: Goes from being an arrogant loner who only cares about his business to being a caring and protective friend for Colin.
• Comically Missing the Point: When Ms Schiller catches him trying to build a dividing wall in his room.
  Ms Schiller: You didn't mention you were going to wall Noah in !
  Joel: Nobody's getting walled in. To build a plasterboard wall, you only need a hammer, nails and a drill. And Noah gets his own door of course.
• Feather Boa Constrictor: Wears a fake one at Nesrin and Annika's party.
• Out of Focus: Enforced. His actor had to focus on his schoolwork, so Joel's appearances after episode 1062 are limited to a few lines if he even appears at all.
• Suddenly Always Knew That: When he sees Noah prepare his Kung Fu sequence, Joel casually mentions that he attended a Kung Fu workshop once and offers to help him.

Io & Leon

• Amicable Exes: Io and Leon break up because Io realised she's no longer in love with him but they are both thankful for the time they spent with each other.
• Bathroom Stall of Angst: Io cries in a bathroom stall because she can't figure out how to break up with Leon and tell everyone she's leaving for England.

Nesrin & Marlon

• Imaginary Love Triangle: Annika knows Marlon has a crush on Nesrin but believes Nesrin has a crush on Simon. As it turns out, Nesrin doesn't have a crush on anyone but later develops feelings for Marlon.
• "Shut Up" Kiss: Their first kiss has them talking after Nesrin rescued Marlon and Annika from Toni Hoppe

Tahmi

• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!
• The Klutz: Her first apperance shows her accidentally crashing into a plant. One episode later, she breaks a toaster and accidentally lets the washing machine overflow.

Joshua

• Aloof Big Brother
• Birthday Episode: Episode 1058 has Elly, Reena and Massuda organize a Surprise Party for his 14th birthday, much to his dismay.
• Birthday Hater
• Bookworm: A big fan of fictional author J.J. Dutton's sci-fi saga.
• Deadpan Snarker

Elly

• Agree to Disagree: Elly and Chiara resolve their conflict by realising that they don't have to like each other to stop fighting.
• Annoying Younger Sibling: Joshua thinks of her this way.

Ava

• Gamer Chick: A big fan of the fictional video game Shields of Dalos
• Wrench Wench: A skilled bike mechanic

Chiara

• Girlish Pigtails: Often sports them on either her real hair or her anime-style wig, fitting with her general optimism and cheerfulness.
• Granola Girl: Uses singing bowls and and incense sticks, often talks about the colour of people's auras (including her own) and other esoteric concepts, believes in the power of the universe and treats her plants like they're human beings.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To Rike who in turn was one to Alva.

Treasure Hunt Plot

• Cannot Tell a Lie: Karl is unable to lie and has to learn three sentences by heart to cover for Maxi.
• Chekhov's Gun: The painting Tahmina almost destroys in the first episode turns out to contain a hint about where to find the third piece of the treasure map.
• Conveniently Timed Attack from Behind: Just when Toni Hoppe has Marlon and Annika cornered, Nesrin suddenly appears from behind and pours a bucket of slime over him.
• Covered in Gunge: Nesrin saves Marlon and Annika from Toni Hoppe by pouring a bucket of slime over his head. Annika then mentions that slime is so last school year.
• Didn't See That Coming: Maxi's team and Joshua and Chiara both think they got the real Stasi file and thwarted the other team's plan. Instead Elly thwarted the plans of both teams and acquired the real file.
• Et Tu, Brute?: Chiara betrays Joshua and hands their piece of the map to Maxi and Karl in front of Joshua because she's fed up with the conflict the treasure hunt caused.
• MacGuffin: The Überall family's buried toy collection.
• Rivals Team Up: Episode 1066 has Maxi and Karl form one big team with Tahmina and Mikka and Marlon and Annika, who were each looking for the treasure individually, to prevent Joshua and Chiara from finding the treasure before them.
• Treasure Map: Maxi owns one piece of a treasure map that leads to a box hidden by a family who fled the GDR. Her grandmother and her friends found and re-buried it when they were 13.
• "What's Inside?" Plot: Karl wants to find out what's in Maxi's secret box.

General/Other

• "Blackmail" Is Such an Ugly Word: Massuda doesn't want to blackmail Mr Zech, she wants to "suggest a deal" to him.
• Breather Episode: Episode 1058 and 1059 both feature parties right after Colins emotional farewell in episode 1056.
• Cheaters Never Prosper: Massuda is guilt-ridden after using AI to write her essay and comes clean to Mr Zech who gives her 0 points on her essay.
• Gleeful and Grumpy Pairing: Joshua (grumpy) and Chiara (gleeful).
• Locked in a Room:
  • Season 23: Moritz locks Mr Hauser and his son Anton in a freezer to make them talk things out.
  • Season 26: Joel locks Ava and Noah in the basement to make them talk about their feelings and fears.
• One-Person Birthday Party: Elly tells Reena and Massuda that nobody came to Joshua's birthday party in first grade. This turns out to be a lie by Elly to get back at her brother by throwing an unwanted birthday party for him.
• Rain, Rain, Go Away: Episode 1059. Nesrin and Annika try to have fun together which turns into a room party, Dr Zech hosts a book club and Massuda and Elly study for a test.
• Senior Year Struggles: Season 25 shows Viktor, Badu, Pawel and Sibel preparing for their graduation. Sibel struggels with a pressure to perform because she wants to study medicine, Viktor has to learn courtly dances for his exam and Pawel worries that his fellow students will forget about him after he graduates.
• Sibling Rivalry: Elly and Joshua
• Two Aliases, One Character: Gabriele Knauer is the legal name of Gaby Saalfeld.
• Written-In Absence: Chiara is absent for the first 8 episodes of season 27 because her actor was busy with exams. In-universe this was explained as Chiara touring Germany to present her project from season 26 in schools.

YMMV

• Crack Pairing: Leon/Simon in season 27 which started due to a picture showing them sitting next to each other in the dark with the caption "Simon comes to realise something during a talk with Leon."
• Diagnosed by the Audience:
  • Joel is commonly interpreted as autistic due to him struggling with social cues, his intense interest in his juice business and his Comically Missing the Point moments.
  • Tahmina is often interpreted as having ADHD due to her Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny! moments and her tendency to do things without thinking them through.
• Portmanteau Couple Name:
  • Avalia for Ava and Julia
  • Neslon for Nesrin and Marlon
  • Limon for the Crack Pairing Leon and Simon
• Tear Jerker:
  • Colin crying alone in the dark because Noah doesn't seem to feel the same for him in episode 1050
  • Noah screaming at Colin to leave because his feelings ruin everything in episode 1055.
  • Colin saying farewell to his friends while Noah lies in Colin's empty bed in episode 1056
• Trans Audience Interpretation: Joel being a trans boy is probably one of the most commonly accepted headcanons in the fandom due to his popularity with the LGBT Fanbase.
• WTH, Costuming Department?: Colin's emotional farewell scene in episode 1056 has everyone in colourful raincoats.

Trivia

• The Cast Showoff: Mia Stieber and Yalany Marschner show off their dancing skills in season 27.
• Spin-Off Cookbook: An official cookbook was released in 2024, feauturing recipes such as Joel's parsnip juice and Marlon's toasts.
• What Could Have Been: Finja and Tahmina were originally planned to be boys called Finn and Bijan but were rewritten to be girls during the casting process.